Question about M.2 Wi-Fi cards on the MSI B150M Mortar Motherboard

Persomatey

Commendable
Jul 9, 2016
1
0
1,510
I am new to the whole M.2 thing. I only just learned that it can be used for Wi-Fi. When I was looking at the specs for the B150M Mortar, under Wi-Fi, it says that you can connect using M.2. I searched online for M.2 Wi-Fi cards and found many. Some places where I look say that I need antennae, however. The instructions for the mobo aren't exactly helpful and haven't found anything helpful online either. I have used mobos in the past that don't have this issue, why is this the case with this one?

Do you need antennae for an M.2 Wi-Fi card such as the Intel 7260NGW for this mobo?

If so, is there another M.2 Wi-Fi card that I can use that does NOT require antennae?

If no, is there a similar mobo I can use that negates this problem?

If you're curios about the rest of the build (I'm making it for a friend), you can check it out here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/4q98hk/building_a_microatx_gamingrendering_pc_for_a/
 

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
1| Yes you're going to need these antenna's and the I/O shield for your intended motherboard has mounts for the antenna's points to mount onto.

2| No, your signal strength will essentially be crippled an the point of using an add-on wireless card would be moot.

3| Buying a motherboard that has WiFi card bundled and installed on the board like many ITX boards from Gigabyte, MSI, Asus and ASRock. You can try and look at the Gigabyte GA-B150N Phoenix-WiFi board though you're going to have to connect the included external antenna's to the board during installation to get favorable signal reception.

4| If you're looking for more of an internal solution, you might as well go for this 7260NGW bundle meant for an OptiPlex unit.

The Hyper 212 can be replaced by a Cryorig H7 unit but you're goig to be fine with no aftermarket cooler since you'e not going to be able to overclock the CPU on the B150 chipset. You should increase the size of yoru BOOT drive to at least 350GB. Move for a Coolermaster N200 and stay away from that PSU!
 
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