How common is Bluetooth on Motherboards?

[GamerBlake]

Hey everyone,

 

I recently bought an MSI MEG z390 ACE (Because I got a great deal of $219.99 brand new vs. MSRP $289.99) for my new build to replace my MSI z370-a Pro and I installed it and just found out it has its own Bluetooth capability when I tried to use my Switch Pro controller on Steam.

 

But I also noticed my old MSI z370-a Pro did not have Bluetooth capability so I’m wondering how common it is to have Bluetooth capability on a motherboard?

 

Why do some have it and others don’t? Is it more of a thing for high end boards or is it something certain low end boards have too?

 

Im asking because I prefer using controllers to play some Steam games rather than a keyboard & mouse and having Bluetooth on a motherboard really helps for people like me who prefer that.

[JoostinOnline]

Just now, GamerBlake said:

Hey everyone,

 

I recently bought an MSI MEG z390 ACE (Because I got a great deal of $219.99 brand new vs. MSRP $289.99) for my new build to replace my MSI z370-a Pro and I installed it and just found out it has its own Bluetooth capability when I tried to use my Switch Pro controller on Steam.

 

But I also noticed my old MSI z370-a Pro did not have Bluetooth capability so I’m wondering how common it is to have Bluetooth capability on a motherboard?

 

Why do some have it and others don’t? Is it more of a thing for high end boards or is it something certain low end boards have too?

 

Im asking because I prefer using controllers to play some Steam games rather than a keyboard & mouse and having Bluetooth on a motherboard really helps for people like me who prefer that.

It's not very common, even among high end boards, and pretty much non-existant on lower to mid range ones. As for using it with a controller, I think it's much more common to plug controllers in on a PC anyway. There's less latency that way. Bluetooth is pretty slow, which is why consoles don't use it.

[GamerBlake]

7 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

It's not very common, even among high end boards, and pretty much non-existant on lower to mid range ones. As for using it with a controller, I think it's much more common to plug controllers in on a PC anyway. There's less latency that way. Bluetooth is pretty slow, which is why consoles don't use it.

Oh ok thanks!

 

Darn I didn’t know it was slow. I really loved playing Dark Souls and Resident Evil 2 with a wireless controller and convenience of having BT on my motherboard :/.

 

The way my computer and desk are setup makes having wires a huge hassle so when I unplugged the controller and saw it detected by my motherboard and could play wirelessly I was so happy since I wasn’t expecting it.

[Juular]

Generally, modern boards with Wi-Fi would have BT too, because they use Intel wireless chipsets mostly, which support both.

[Kisai]

53 minutes ago, GamerBlake said:

Hey everyone,

 

I recently bought an MSI MEG z390 ACE (Because I got a great deal of $219.99 brand new vs. MSRP $289.99) for my new build to replace my MSI z370-a Pro and I installed it and just found out it has its own Bluetooth capability when I tried to use my Switch Pro controller on Steam.

 

But I also noticed my old MSI z370-a Pro did not have Bluetooth capability so I’m wondering how common it is to have Bluetooth capability on a motherboard?

 

Why do some have it and others don’t? Is it more of a thing for high end boards or is it something certain low end boards have too?

 

Im asking because I prefer using controllers to play some Steam games rather than a keyboard & mouse and having Bluetooth on a motherboard really helps for people like me who prefer that.

Bluetooth is just a USB device, it can be added to any motherboard. Some motherboards come with a M2 PCIe just for WiFi, and attach to to the 2.4Ghz antenna, and enabling Bluetooth at the same time.

 

One reason why you don't see it on desktops, is the same reason you don't see WiFi on desktops that frequently, it's simply a rubbish-tier feature that costs the OEM dollars to put on, but quickly obsolete. So may as well just let the end-user buy a USB BT device and a separate PCIe WiFi card if they want it.

 

Now I say it's rubbish-tier, because the parts are usually cheap, and up until BT 4.0 most of the BT support was pretty poor in the OS. Even then, many of the cheapo parts lack complete profile support. You can actually use a some of the AX200 parts to get Wifi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0

 

However if you only need bluetooth, just get a USB dongle.

[tp95112]

Usually on itx and $200+ boards. Id rather just buy one from aliexpress for 5 bucks

[Kisai]

25 minutes ago, Juular said:

Generally, modern boards with Wi-Fi would have BT too, because they use Intel wireless chipsets mostly, which support both.

Not true. Several of the office laptops were ordered with Intel WiFi 6 parts but no Bluetooth.

 

Generally Bluetooth is "Wireless USB", and "bluetooth optional" is actually a feature for military/government devices due to security concerns.

[Juular]

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

Not true. Several of the office laptops were ordered with Intel WiFi 6 parts but no Bluetooth.

 

Generally Bluetooth is "Wireless USB", and "bluetooth optional" is actually a feature for military/government devices due to security concerns.

Well, i'm talking about DIY desktop market (so are OP). And even then on laptops it were probably disabled intentionally because of reasons you've mentioned, just to offer an option.

[Snowarch]

Bluetooth iwnt on all 200+. Wifi adapter/antenna is need on taichi