Vertical m.2 question

[smh410]

Just decided to build an opnsense box. Purchased this motherboard (because it was dirt cheap) that has a v-m.2 slot for wifi. 
 

I was going to use an old discrete graphics card so I don’t have to run headless but it only has 1 pcie port which I was going to use for a 4x gig card (in transit). 
 

Is there any chance at all the pcie 1x for the nic can fit in the v-m.2 (e-key) or do I need to spring for an APU? 

 

 

 

 

[Crunchy Dragon]

No, the M.2 WIFI slot is physically smaller than PCIe x1.

[Alex Atkin UK]

Its going to be very over-powered (both in CPU and power consumption) for a opnsense box.

 

You're generally better off with an appliance built based on laptop hardware, will use less power than a basic GPU idling for the whole box.

 

I have this one which is easily able to do above Gigabit.

[smh410]

Understood. Thanks for the feedback. 
 

Agreed on the power usage. I’ll get a low spec APU and check out the power consumption and maybe consider one of those boxes if it’s not sustainable.