Wifi and bluetooth card

[eowens0124]

While I have assembled some PC’s in the past, I’ve never actually done the component selection. I’m fed up with continual price increases from Comcast, and since I live in an area with good over-the-air TV selection, it seems now is the time to ditch cable TV. So I'm in the process of designing a HTPC.

I only have wifi for an internet connection without a lot of expense, and I want to use the wireless Bluetooth keyboard and mouse from my existing Mac Mini. Looks like Intel has a Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 130 card that provides both wifi and Bluetooth in a single card. It fits in a PCIe Half-Mini card slot, which is available.

I can't figure out if an external antenna is needed, or is this card enough? It seems that sticking it into a metal case would block any signals.

Anyone with some experience here?

Thanks

 

[WR2]

Hello eowens0124;

That PCIe Half-Mini card is the type usually used in laptops and notebooks.
What are you using for a motherboard?

 

[eowens0124]

I'm planning an Intel HD77EB motherboard with an i3-2120T processor. There are 4 PCIe slots and I'm using three: two ATSC tuner cards, a 1394b/a card. There is also a PCIe mini-card slot, so this seemed like a way to get both wifi and bluetooth in a single port.

Is there a better approach?

 

[WR2]

That PCIe mini-card slot's main purpose is a small SSD supporting Intel Rapid Start Technology.

In a laptop that wireless combo card you linked before has access to the laptops already installed internal antennas.

Lets look around for some PC type wireless networking options.

 

[eowens0124]

I was afraid that an antenna was needed. Thanks. Wifi, Bluetooth, and just "plug it in" seemed too good to be true.

 

[WR2]

Intel® Desktop Board DH77EB specs
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/motherboards/desktop-motherboards/desktop-board-dh77eb.html

Under Expansion capabilities;
"One PCI Express Mini Card connector with support for mSATA Solid-State Drive"

 

[WR2]

What case will you be using?
Right now I'm thinking a USB based Bluetooth Dongle
and a PCI-e based WiFi card in that extra slot.

 

[eowens0124]

yep, that's the connector I was planning to use. It looks like all the PCIe connections are there, and if I later need an SSD, there are enough SATA ports to put it in a 2.5" drive slot elsewhere.

 

[eowens0124]

I haven't found a case yet. This is the most frustrating part of this effort! I'm frustrated about how difficult finding a case has become. This shouldn't be hard! I'm looking for a horizontal micro-ATX case, 3 PCIe half-height openings (unless this wifi card creates more demand), 1-3.5" bay, 1-2.5"bay, an optical drive slot (slot load is ok), and an IR port. There just don't seem to be any good case selection tools.

 

[WR2]

See how close this one comes to meeting your requirements:
Wesena HTPC-e7
More options on the same website.

 

[eowens0124]

See how close this one comes to meeting your requirements:
Wesena HTPC-e7
More options on the same website.

Thanks for the lead! It looks like the Wesena HTPC-e6 is a great fit, as long as I can get all the PCIe connections as half-height cards. The tuners and the 1394 cards are, so this adds another requirement to the wifi / bluetooth search.

 

[WR2]

The WiFi card I linked above had the half height bracket in the accessory pack.
Still looks like the Bluetooth USB dongle is the best option there.

 

[eowens0124]

The WiFi card I linked above had the half height bracket in the accessory pack.
Still looks like the Bluetooth USB dongle is the best option there.

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/33-320-074-Z05?$S640$

Another option is a card from Gigabyte. Just looking at the picture, I don't think that the card will fit in the half-height profile. It's pretty clear that my original selection won't work without an antenna connection.

 

[WR2]

It's really a shame that Gigabyte WiFi/BT combo card doesn't come with a half height bracket.
That looked ideal for what you want.

 

[WR2]

Here is a Z77 mSATA PCI-e connector on a Gigabyte MB

source

 

[eowens0124]

I could cobble up a bracket, but if the card is too tall, that won't help. Of course, I can't find any measurements.

 

[eowens0124]

Best answer selected by eowens0124.