HOW TO FIT WIFI/BLUETOOTH IN PC

[Aden101]

So basically this was supposed to be the first pc i properly built after migrating from a gaming laptop and i made the mistake of getting a non wifi motherboard.

its an m-atx case and my gpu is blocking every pcie slot on my motherboard.

Motherboard:

AORUS ELITE B550-M

 

[Anghammarad]

use a wifi/bt usb dongle?

[Aden101]

22 minutes ago, Anghammarad said:

use a wifi/bt usb dongle?

They have horrible latency, and the bt ones straight up suck

[demonix00]

5 minutes ago, Aden101 said:

They have horrible latency, and the bt ones straight up suck

Then wouldn't the PCI-e cards have the same issue since the BT is run via USB and not through the PCI-e bus.

[Aden101]

Well the pcie ones have strong antennas that help get the signal through walls and proper ranges. Do u know of any bluetooth/wifi adapter like that?

[Aden101]

5 minutes ago, demonix00 said:

Then wouldn't the PCI-e cards have the same issue since the BT is run via USB and not through the PCI-e bus.

Couldnt i shove a pcie on extension cable behind the gpu?

[mariushm]

You can get a M.2 to miniPci-e adapter card to convert the second m.2 connector (which has 2 pci-e lanes) into a single miniPCIe connector (one pci-e lane) : https://www.ebay.com/itm/363994816994

 

 

Then you could plug a miniPcie wireless card in the adapter, and buy the antennas separately. 

 

For example Intel 7260 will do up to 866 mbps on 5 ghz and it's on miniPcie  : https://www.ebay.com/itm/283461934570  or https://www.ebay.com/itm/271412761476

 

You can even get wifi 6 on minipcie , here's AX 210 HMW for $18 : https://www.ebay.com/itm/235296205456

 

Or AX3000 HMW 3000 mbps for $18 : https://www.ebay.com/itm/325556511366

 

 

For the antennas, you want the antennas and the cable ... the antennas usually come with a cable that ends in a SMA connector with threads, and you would need a cable with SMA on one end (usually connects to a metal bracket) and the other end with IPEX connector (the connectors on the wireless card).

 

Here's an example of such https://www.ebay.com/itm/266407801173 or https://www.ebay.com/itm/175879195337

 

here's bracket with just the sma-ipex cables : https://www.ebay.com/itm/266120264385 or https://www.ebay.com/itm/394641582469

 

 

 

You may be able to find a M.2 adapter that converts  M.2 key E (pci-e + usb usually that wireless cards with bluetooth expect) to just M.2 key M (pci-e), but be careful because most adapters on eBay are the other way - so you could put a m.2 ssd into a wifi slot in laptops. 

 

There's another option, you could get a low profile pci-e x1 riser cable  and a low profile wireless card or a low profile pci-e x1 adapter to miniPcie or M.2 E and put the wireless card above the video card 

 

For example, low profile 1200 mbps wireless card with low profile bracket  : https://www.ebay.com/itm/285514894252

 

or commercial ones from amazon as you'll also have antennas bundled :  https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-Archer-T2E-High-Gain/dp/B094T99RZ4/

 or https://www.amazon.com/PCIE-WiFi-Card-Networking-adapter/dp/B07NFMSGGR/

 

 

Example or riser cable (select length, even 15cm should be fine, and whatever you like more) : https://www.ebay.com/itm/284918252435

or https://www.amazon.com/ADT-Link-90Degree-Extension-R11SL-TL-Extender/dp/B07TBLRZYJ/

or https://www.amazon.com/GODSHARK-Extender-Extension-Gold-Plated-Connector/dp/B07RWGC441/

 

 

You put the riser cable into x1 slot under the video card, route the flat ribbon cable under the video card to go to the other side, plug the wireless card into the pci-e x1 slot and you leave it floating above the m.2 SSD, because the wireless card being low profile, will not reach the motherboard.

 

[Aden101]

13 minutes ago, mariushm said:

You can get a M.2 to miniPci-e adapter card to convert the second m.2 connector (which has 2 pci-e lanes) into a single miniPCIe connector (one pci-e lane) : https://www.ebay.com/itm/363994816994

 

 

Then you could plug a miniPcie wireless card in the adapter, and buy the antennas separately. 

 

For example Intel 7260 will do up to 866 mbps on 5 ghz and it's on miniPcie  : https://www.ebay.com/itm/283461934570  or https://www.ebay.com/itm/271412761476

 

You can even get wifi 6 on minipcie , here's AX 210 HMW for $18 : https://www.ebay.com/itm/235296205456

 

Or AX3000 HMW 3000 mbps for $18 : https://www.ebay.com/itm/325556511366

 

 

For the antennas, you want the antennas and the cable ... the antennas usually come with a cable that ends in a SMA connector with threads, and you would need a cable with SMA on one end (usually connects to a metal bracket) and the other end with IPEX connector (the connectors on the wireless card).

 

Here's an example of such https://www.ebay.com/itm/266407801173 or https://www.ebay.com/itm/175879195337

 

here's bracket with just the sma-ipex cables : https://www.ebay.com/itm/266120264385 or https://www.ebay.com/itm/394641582469

 

 

 

You may be able to find a M.2 adapter that converts  M.2 key E (pci-e + usb usually that wireless cards with bluetooth expect) to just M.2 key M (pci-e), but be careful because most adapters on eBay are the other way - so you could put a m.2 ssd into a wifi slot in laptops. 

 

There's another option, you could get a low profile pci-e x1 riser cable  and a low profile wireless card or a low profile pci-e x1 adapter to miniPcie or M.2 E and put the wireless card above the video card 

 

For example, low profile 1200 mbps wireless card with low profile bracket  : https://www.ebay.com/itm/285514894252

 

or commercial ones from amazon as you'll also have antennas bundled :  https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-Archer-T2E-High-Gain/dp/B094T99RZ4/

 or https://www.amazon.com/PCIE-WiFi-Card-Networking-adapter/dp/B07NFMSGGR/

 

 

Example or riser cable (select length, even 15cm should be fine, and whatever you like more) : https://www.ebay.com/itm/284918252435

or https://www.amazon.com/ADT-Link-90Degree-Extension-R11SL-TL-Extender/dp/B07TBLRZYJ/

or https://www.amazon.com/GODSHARK-Extender-Extension-Gold-Plated-Connector/dp/B07RWGC441/

 

 

You put the riser cable into x1 slot under the video card, route the flat ribbon cable under the video card to go to the other side, plug the wireless card into the pci-e x1 slot and you leave it floating above the m.2 SSD, because the wireless card being low profile, will not reach the motherboard.

 

Would the m.2 to wifi thing work with good range and speed equivalent to an oem wifi bluetooth motherboard? Cause that seems like the best solution right now 

[mariushm]

4 minutes ago, Aden101 said:

Would the m.2 to wifi thing work with good range and speed equivalent to an oem wifi bluetooth motherboard? Cause that seems like the best solution right now 

The range and everything you're concerned about is all about the ANTENNAS you put outside the computer case.  The miniPcie to M.2 adapter doesn't influence the performance at all, to the computer all it sees is a pci-e x1 wireless card. 

 

USB wireless cards are generally lower performance because the antenna is smaller and built into the usb adapter, and because it takes a bit more processor to process the USB traffic, and USB by design is different then pci-e.  You can buy usb wireless cards that will have that SMA connector to screw an external antenna to them, and they will then have better signal and work better.

For example  https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-USB-WiFi-Adapter-PC/dp/B07V4R3QHW/ - I think you can unscrew the antennas, use a sma-sma cable to extend and put better or same antennas, but in better location. 

 

Pci-e cards can right away tell the processor some new data has arrived and will use less cpu, USB works by design through polling as in the usb adapter has to wait for the usb controller to ask every 10ms or so "is there new data you want to give me?" and then the usb adapter can reply "yes, here's new data from the internet" and give the usb controller the data. 

 

The miniPcie cards are just like the M.2 adapters, and they're identical to the ones used in laptops - in fact often they're pulled from laptops. 

 

On laptops, the antenna wires go to the back of the LCD display and the antennas are flattened to sit on the back of the lcd display.  Sometimes, they're stretched along the edge of the laptop.  On computer, you use those thin wires to a bracket and then have the external antennas. 

 

The low profile pci-e x1 wireless cards are as fast and good as regular pci-e x1 adapters. Just being low profile cards, the pci-e connector will float in the air, which would allow you to plug that riser cable in the edge connector and connect the other end of the riser cable into the pci-e x1 slot under the video card heatsink... or the bottom x16 slot, you can plug that x1 riser cable into the x16 slot, it will work. 

 

 

[Aden101]

22 minutes ago, mariushm said:

The range and everything you're concerned about is all about the ANTENNAS you put outside the computer case.  The miniPcie to M.2 adapter doesn't influence the performance at all, to the computer all it sees is a pci-e x1 wireless card. 

 

USB wireless cards are generally lower performance because the antenna is smaller and built into the usb adapter, and because it takes a bit more processor to process the USB traffic, and USB by design is different then pci-e.  You can buy usb wireless cards that will have that SMA connector to screw an external antenna to them, and they will then have better signal and work better.

For example  https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-USB-WiFi-Adapter-PC/dp/B07V4R3QHW/ - I think you can unscrew the antennas, use a sma-sma cable to extend and put better or same antennas, but in better location. 

 

Pci-e cards can right away tell the processor some new data has arrived and will use less cpu, USB works by design through polling as in the usb adapter has to wait for the usb controller to ask every 10ms or so "is there new data you want to give me?" and then the usb adapter can reply "yes, here's new data from the internet" and give the usb controller the data. 

 

The miniPcie cards are just like the M.2 adapters, and they're identical to the ones used in laptops - in fact often they're pulled from laptops. 

 

On laptops, the antenna wires go to the back of the LCD display and the antennas are flattened to sit on the back of the lcd display.  Sometimes, they're stretched along the edge of the laptop.  On computer, you use those thin wires to a bracket and then have the external antennas. 

 

The low profile pci-e x1 wireless cards are as fast and good as regular pci-e x1 adapters. Just being low profile cards, the pci-e connector will float in the air, which would allow you to plug that riser cable in the edge connector and connect the other end of the riser cable into the pci-e x1 slot under the video card heatsink... or the bottom x16 slot, you can plug that x1 riser cable into the x16 slot, it will work. 

 

 

By under do u mean below the gpu? Because both those slots are covered by the gpu or can the riser fit behind it?

[mariushm]

yes, there should be about a inch or half inch worth of space between the video card heatsink and the pci-e slot top. The small pci-e x1 card of the riser cable will fit under the heatsink. 

 

The video card should be about where the orange line is (see picture at the bottom), maybe even more space would be available between the card and the slots. You can gently bend the cable so that it will barely touch the video card and if you're worried about the video card heatsink melting the cable insulation, you can put a bit of mylar tape or aluminum foil on the cable where it touches the video card (aluminum foil for cooking would be fine)

 

But if you don't want to bend, you can get right angle connectors : https://www.amazon.com/JMT-Extension-Gold-Plated-Connector-Vertical/dp/B08W1VJMR4/

 

part in the top left goes in the pci-e x1 or botom x16 slot, cable goes under the video card to the other side, and the bottom right connector you use to plug the pci-e x1 edge connector of the low profile wireless card in it (after removing the plastic cover)

 

Picture is from https://www.amazon.com/GODSHARK-Extender-Extension-Gold-Plated-Connector/dp/B07RWGC441/