Wi-fi Options

Russpb · 23 May 2025 at 15:05

Hello everyone!

I'm after some advice if possible please.

I have a Gigabyte Aorus B550 Pro-P Motherboard with and EVGA RTX 2060 GPU which until now has been connected to the internet via an Ethernet Cable but that won't be an option for much longer as I'm moving. As a result I'm hoping someone can offer some advice on the best option to connect to the internet whether that be a Network Card or USB option?

Any guidance would be appreciated!

Russ

MissChief · 23 May 2025 at 15:12

A dozen people will be along shortly to tell you to run a cable no matter how many holes and walls you have to drill. And while they'd be right, I'd be looking at Power lines before WiFi if Ethernet really isn't an option.

Avathar77 · 23 May 2025 at 15:21

Run a cable no matter how many holes and walls you have to drill.

MissChief · 23 May 2025 at 15:31

Avathar77 said:
Run a cable no matter how many holes and walls you have to drill.

Told you.

Tetras · 23 May 2025 at 17:13

Russpb said:
whether that be a Network Card or USB option?

In my experience, PCI-E wifi cards are better than the USB ones (they're somewhat prone to overheating and disconnecting), but you do need to have a spare slot on your board. It does also depend on what speed the wireless needs to be.

Russpb · 23 May 2025 at 18:17

Running a cable, while preferable obviously, isn't likely to be practical unfortunately. The concern over a Wi-Fi card is whether it would fit on my board with the graphics card I have?

Tetras · 23 May 2025 at 18:27

Russpb said:
The concern over a Wi-Fi card is whether it would fit on my board with the graphics card I have?

I can only find a B550M Pro P and not a B550 Pro P. B550 is usually ATX, whereas B550M is micro-atx.

If the former is correct, then the answer is almost certainly no, it will not fit (since I'd expect the graphics card to cover both slots).

Russpb · 23 May 2025 at 19:06

Tetras said:
I can only find a B550M Pro P and not a B550 Pro P. B550 is usually ATX, whereas B550M is micro-atx.

If the former is correct, then the answer is almost certainly no, it will not fit (since I'd expect the graphics card to cover both slots).

Sorry yes it's definitely a B550M Pro P! Does that mean my only option is a USB one?

Jamin280672 · 23 May 2025 at 19:12

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Does you GPU cover 2 slots or 3 slots, if its only 2 slots, then you should just about have access to the bottom slot, but beware, you will be blocking air access to the GPU as it will be right up against the GPU fans unless you can find a very small form factor WiFi card.
There is however another option, if you are not using all M.2 slots you could have a look at an M.2 WiFi card which is like a laptop WiFi card and would plug into one of your M.2 slots, ive never usedd one, ive just seen them around and dont know what the performance is like.

Tetras · 23 May 2025 at 19:18

Russpb said:
Does that mean my only option is a USB one?

Probably, but take the side panel off and have a look!

Jamin280672 said:
There is however another option, if you are not using all M.2 slots you could have a look at an M.2 WiFi card which is like a laptop WiFi card and would plug into one of your M.2 slots, ive never usedd one, ive just seen them around and dont know what the performance is like.

So far as I'm aware, that only works for key-E slots and I don't know if a standard M.2 slot meant for SSDs would have support for that?

Jamin280672 · 23 May 2025 at 19:24

Tetras said:
So far as I'm aware, that only works for key-E slots and I don't know if a standard M.2 slot meant for SSDs would have support for that?

You would have to buy a converter that looks like this, converts M.2 to key E, they are pretty cheap.

Russpb · 23 May 2025 at 19:33

Tetras said:
Probably, but take the side panel off and have a look!

So far as I'm aware, that only works for key-E slots and I don't know if a standard M.2 slot meant for SSDs would have support for that?

I took the panel off as suggested and two of the three slots are covered though there's not a lot of room between the 3rd slot and the bottom of the gpu.

Jamin280672 · 23 May 2025 at 19:40

Russpb said:
I took the panel off as suggested and two of the three slots are covered though there's not a lot of room between the 3rd slot and the bottom of the gpu.

The PCI cards are pretty small, as I said earlier its doable, but just watch you're not obstructing too much of the air intake for the GPU, the back of the wifi card that will sit against the GPU will be pretty much flat, they are pretty much a laptop card on a PCB some with a heatsink added to try and make them look good, others you can change the key E card on all together for an easy upgrade say to WiFI 7 in the future.

Or as another suggested, Run a cable no matter how many holes and walls you have to drill, it what I would do LOL