Is a wifi card compatible with my setup?

[TunaFishnSky]

Hi im here asking of a wifi card is compatible with my computer and will actually work.

 

 

i have,

 

Intel I3 8100

MSI B360M mortar

GTX 960 2gb

16gbs of ram

 

Thank you.

[Bombastinator]

Mortar is mini atx which is 3 slots.  Gtx 960 is generally 2 slots (sometimes maybe less.) depending on the size of the wifi card it could impinge on video card fan airflow causing weird things.  Ignoring possible airflow issues though I can’t think of any.  Iirc some mortar boards are “wifi” which on many boards means there is a populated e key slot with an m.2 wifi card sticking out of it. If this is a working and functional slot, one might be able to simply stick an e key m.2 in it this avoiding any airflow issues. 

Edited November 28, 2021 by Bombastinator

[Falcon1986]

2 hours ago, TunaFishnSky said:

MSI B360M mortar

That board's M.2 slots are the M-key type, which are designed for storage devices. Typically, WiFi cards are of the A/E key type.

 

If you have an empty PCIe, get a PCIe WiFi card instead.

[Bombastinator]

2 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

That board's M.2 slots are the M-key type, which are designed for storage devices. Typically, WiFi cards are of the A/E key type.

 

If you have an empty PCIe, get a PCIe WiFi card instead.

This is why I was saying e key.  If it has one it will be in a corner of the board pointed straight up..  good only for m.2 wifi cards.  E key and M key are literally designed to be incompatible and not fit with each other. Sometimes the e key slot isn’t mentioned because it’s use is so limited. For it to even exist on a non-wifi version of a board it would have to be because the company found it simpler to make just the wifi version and then just not put a card in the e-key slot.  Doesn’t even happen with all versions of motherboards that have wifi and non wifi versions.  I don’t specifically know that the mortar is or is not that way so it can’t be relied upon as information.  If you happen to have one to hand though you could turn it over and look, so to speak.