D-Link DWA-556 Xtreme Desktop Adapter IEEE 802.11g/n PCI Express

Pros: Worked with every OS that I threw at it, Linux, Vista, Vista 64bit, Linux 64bit, XP.
Stronger signals with ndiswrapper under linux for some reason but above 80% in all OS's anywhere in my house.

Cons: Atheros chipset on card not natively supported by linux madwifi but works perfect with ndiswrapper and the XP driver.

Overall Review: None

Pros: None.

Cons: On Windows 7 Home Premium x64 (SP1, oem brand new computer), the connection is unstable and the signal goes from 2 bars to 4 bars to 1 bar etc etc. This is a desktop. It doesn't move. It would routinely run at half the throughput of even old laptops around my house.

A quick internet search yields many reports of problems with these things on Windows 7 x64. Pretty much, it's hit or miss whether it works properly with your system and if the card you get itself is good.

Also, the card itself is flimsy. The antenna connectors weren't even perfectly parallel to each other. Maybe this had something to do with the signal; but I tried every antenna configuration, checked and rechecked to make sure the antennas were tight, tried multiple drivers (with antivirus removed, cleaning registry, etc etc).

Overall Review: TL:DR - I tried everything and it's pretty much a failure of a product for my application.

Research revealed a lot of problems with this thing, and the fact that it's old (came out in '07 IIRC) may have something to do with these problems. Add to that the fact that it's built kinda flimsy, and it just wasn't fun.

Waste of time. I recommend an ethernet bridge for desktops if you need them to be wireless.