Jump to content

M.2 wi-fi vs. PCI wi-fi

xwrench3
By xwrench3
in Networking
 Share
Posted

would there be any advantage to running wi-fi in a M.2 wi-fi slot over running a regular wi-fi card in a PCI slot? could there be that much of a speed advantage that they would build in a special M.2 slot into a motherboard just for that?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Unless your wifi is blazing fast then no. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Honestly usb3 adapters can handle wifi, if you ever needed m.2 for wifi then your router is straight from IBM development.  

                     .
                   _/ V\
                  / /  /
                <<    |
                ,/    ]
              ,/      ]
            ,/        |
           /    \  \ /
          /      | | |
    ______|   __/_/| |
   /_______\______}\__}
Spoiler

[i7-7700k@5Ghz | MSI Z270 M7 | 16GB 3000 GEIL EVOX | STRIX ROG 1060 OC 6G | EVGA G2 650W | ROSEWILL B2 SPIRIT | SANDISK 256GB M2 | 4x 1TB Seagate Barracudas RAID 10 ]

[i3-4360 | mini-itx potato | 4gb DDR3-1600 | 8tb wd red | 250gb seagate| Debian 9 ]

[Dell Inspiron 15 5567] 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Are you streaming 4K content or transferring HUGE AMOUNTS OF DATA? M.2 slots have a shit ton of bandwidth but if your wi-fi m.2 card doesn't have the hardware to saturate the m.2 slot on your motherboard then it's useless. In conclusion stick to PCI-E or USB Wi-Fi. Cable for stability. Also Intel series 100 motherboard fully support the m.2 bandwidth I believe only some intel series 9 motherboards support it, the rest run through the sata lanes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

If your M.2 slot is PCIe based, then no difference in performance with a wireless adapter made for a PCIe slot.

Frost | 7700K @ 4.9GHz 1.36v, delidded | Asus DUAL GTX 1060 6GB OC | Corsair LPX 16GB DDR4 2800MHz | Samsung 960 EVO 250GB SSD + Toshiba 1TB HDD + Toshiba 2TB HDD + Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SSD for macOS | Asus PRIME Z270-A | Fractal Design Celsius S24 | Seasonic M12-II 620W PSU | Corsair 400C White | NZXT Hue+

Samsung Galaxy S8 | Stock

Ticwatch E (Black) | Ticwatch Brown Leather Strap

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

M.2 runs of pci lanes

 

m.2 would probably add more latency due to it going through an additional step

 

thats like,,man i cant even think of an example,,

 

brb let me think of something

 

its like wearing a shoe ontop of another shoe

 

why?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
12 minutes ago, Bobby_Joe_90 said:

Unless your wifi is blazing fast then no. 

m.2 wouldnt be as fast as pci?

 

dont every motherboard limit the amount of lanes an m.2 slot can use?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
1 minute ago, El Diablo said:

M.2 runs of pci lanes

M.2 is just a connector. What leads to the connector varies with manufacturer implementation. M.2 can run off PCIe lanes, and also SATA. And what kind of extra latency will it even add? PCIe is already so quick.

Frost | 7700K @ 4.9GHz 1.36v, delidded | Asus DUAL GTX 1060 6GB OC | Corsair LPX 16GB DDR4 2800MHz | Samsung 960 EVO 250GB SSD + Toshiba 1TB HDD + Toshiba 2TB HDD + Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SSD for macOS | Asus PRIME Z270-A | Fractal Design Celsius S24 | Seasonic M12-II 620W PSU | Corsair 400C White | NZXT Hue+

Samsung Galaxy S8 | Stock

Ticwatch E (Black) | Ticwatch Brown Leather Strap

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
10 minutes ago, RedWulf said:

if you ever needed m.2 for wifi then your router is straight from IBM development. 

I'm trying really hard to understand the reference..:/

\/Specs\/

Xeon E3 1230 V3-Maximus vi hero-2x4gb G skill RipjawsX 2133-EVGA supernova-1 tb seagate-Samsung 840 EVO 1TB-NZXT H440-EVGA 6Gb 780 Razer-Blackwidow Ultimate-Corsair M65

MSI Ghost Pro GS60 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
Just now, imperialplanet said:

I'm trying really hard to understand the reference..:/

IBM- the maker of super computers 

                     .
                   _/ V\
                  / /  /
                <<    |
                ,/    ]
              ,/      ]
            ,/        |
           /    \  \ /
          /      | | |
    ______|   __/_/| |
   /_______\______}\__}
Spoiler

[i7-7700k@5Ghz | MSI Z270 M7 | 16GB 3000 GEIL EVOX | STRIX ROG 1060 OC 6G | EVGA G2 650W | ROSEWILL B2 SPIRIT | SANDISK 256GB M2 | 4x 1TB Seagate Barracudas RAID 10 ]

[i3-4360 | mini-itx potato | 4gb DDR3-1600 | 8tb wd red | 250gb seagate| Debian 9 ]

[Dell Inspiron 15 5567] 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
Just now, RedWulf said:

IBM- the maker of super computers

ohhh....ok, thanks

\/Specs\/

Xeon E3 1230 V3-Maximus vi hero-2x4gb G skill RipjawsX 2133-EVGA supernova-1 tb seagate-Samsung 840 EVO 1TB-NZXT H440-EVGA 6Gb 780 Razer-Blackwidow Ultimate-Corsair M65

MSI Ghost Pro GS60 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

The bottleneck is NOT the PCIe/M.2, it's the speed of your WiFi. So unless your WiFi is as fast as M.2, there won't be any difference. 

Attached images show 802.11ac speed vs M.2 Speed- Even the highest theoretical speed won't match M.2

Screen Shot 2016-03-29 at 2.29.02 PM.png

Screen Shot 2016-03-29 at 2.28.53 PM.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

I would assume the only thing affected is convenience in your setup.

 

It depends on the hardware - for example on my Maximus VII Gene motherboard, the M.2 slot shares bandwidth with the lowest (of three) PCIe slot and the mPCIe slot in the upper corner of the board. Using one effectively disables the others automatically.

 

I personally went with a PCIe network card because it was the better value for money at the time, also allowing me to use an M.2 SSD as long as I only had one graphics card. 

 

This of course is more likely to be an issue in small form factor motherboards such as the mATx model I have.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

the reason for asking is i am looking at an MSI B150M MORTOR motherboard. and in the specs, and even on MSI;s web page, the M.2 slot is labeled an "M.2 wi-fi "slot. there is no mention of how fast it is, so i am left with the impression that it is not a "standard 32gb/s M.2" slot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author
Quote

if you ever needed m.2 for wifi then your router is straight from IBM development. 

i caught this as soon as i read it, i knew what you meant. it might be a tie however between one of the super tech companies, and the government. i am sure the military, and numerous spy agencies would be happy to have something no one else has.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

@Killervolt

Pretty much. And if you sort them from slowest to fastest.....

 

<100Mbps: WiFi N, 100Mbps Ethernet, CDs

<500Mbps: WiFi AC, USB 2.0, DVDs and Blu-Ray

<1Gbps: HDDs, Gigabit Ethernet

<5Gbps: SATA, Mass storage SSDs, USB 3.0

>5Gbps: 10Gbps Ethernet, Enthusiast SSDs, USB 3.1, M.2

Fools think they know everything, experts know they know nothing

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
On 29/03/2016 at 4:27 AM, Killervolt said:

The bottleneck is NOT the PCIe/M.2, it's the speed of your WiFi. So unless your WiFi is as fast as M.2, there won't be any difference. 

Attached images show 802.11ac speed vs M.2 Speed- Even the highest theoretical speed won't match M.2

Screen Shot 2016-03-29 at 2.29.02 PM.png

Screen Shot 2016-03-29 at 2.28.53 PM.png

does not show its latency

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing Networking

×