How do I upgrade the Pre-installed Wifi card in the M.2 slot (Key-E) on my MSI MPG Z490 GAMING CARBON WIFI motherboard?

[darwin.j.varga15c202e4]

I have the MSI MPG Z490 GAMING CARBON WIFI motherboard. This motherboard's manual states the Wifi card is pre-installed in the M.2 slot (Key-E). Because the wifi card is preinstalled and possibly hidden behind the I/O because I can't seem to find it, does that mean I could never upgrade the M.2 Wifi Card to a better version? The preinstalled card has an Intel® AX201 and I want to upgrade this preinstalled Wifi card to an Intel® Wi-Fi 6E AX411. Do you know if it's possible to remove and upgrade the pre-installed M.2 Key-E Wifi card on this motherboard and if so how? Thank you.

 

[dvair]

It is usually mounted vertically right near the antenna ports under the shield. Should be able to unscrew the shield and replace the card with a new one, you will have to attach the antenna leads to the new card.

 

[darwin.j.varga15c202e4]

It is usually mounted vertically right near the antenna ports under the shield. Should be able to unscrew the shield and replace the card with a new one, you will have to attach the antenna leads to the new card.

Thank you for your quick response! Do you know if I have to remove my motherboard from the case to remove the shield or can I do it from the back of my case?

 

[darkhawk]

You're probably going to have to remove the board from the case, even just to get an idea. Given the complexity of the shroud over the ports, it might not even be easily possible to change the card, if at all.

Why do you want to change it?

 

[darwin.j.varga15c202e4]

You're probably going to have to remove the board from the case, even just to get an idea. Given the complexity of the shroud over the ports, it might not even be easily possible to change the card, if at all.

Why do you want to change it?

It's mainly to upgrade to Wifi 6e from Wifi 6. Also, to upgrade Bluetooth 5.2 to 5.3. I'm just trying to extend my board for as long as possible so I don't have to upgrade for a long time. Maybe, one of these days I'll pull the motherboard out of the case and see if the shield/shroud can be removed. I don't see any screws from the outside of the shield but maybe behind it somehow? I wish there was someone who managed to open it and upgrade it. Also, according to my research, I don't want to buy a PCIe x1 Wifi card cause going M.2 will perform better or faster. I attached a picture of this Motherboard's shield.

 

[darkhawk]

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www.intel.com

So let's talk about a few things.....

There's virtually no speed differences between WIFI6 and WIFI6E, at least from a throughput standpoint. You're not really gaining anything except slightly less congestion possibilities. Unless you live in an apartment building, and everyone else is using wifi6e, there's probably zero benefit.

Taken from Intel on Wifi6 vs wifi6e :
The most impactful difference is that Wi-Fi 6E devices use a dedicated 6E spectrum with up to seven additional 160 MHz channels while Wi-Fi 6 devices share the same congested spectrum — and only two 160 MHz channels — with other legacy Wi-Fi 4, 5, and 6 devices.

As far as Bluetooth, again, from Intel :
Most of the features make Bluetooth 5.3 a more stable and secure version of Bluetooth when compared to Bluetooth 5.2. Several of these features also makes Bluetooth 5.3 significantly more efficient when compared to Bluetooth 5.2.

Are you using Bluetooth that much? With many devices? Have you had issues with it?

Longevity is a minor point, if I'm honest. Tech is going to always move forward, and in another year, we'll have Wifi7 or 8 or whatever the next incarnation is, and it'll obsolete what we currently have. Same with Bluetooth.

But ya know what? My old Bluetooth 2.0 devices still work perfectly fine without issue on anything newer. I'm still using some devices that old, because they still work, even though everything else is much much newer.

I don't know how often you upgrade. Me personally, I upgrade at this point every 3 to 5 years. In fact, just this past month, I upgraded from an i9 9900k/Z390 to i9 13900k/Z790 system. Ultimately though, that's a decision you have to make for yourself.

Wifi/Bluetooth longevity though? That's probably an afterthought anymore....atleast for me. I suppose it could be different for some, but I would wager not most.

Lastly, there's no guarantee that a newer CNVI module will work either. While it's still a CNVI module, Intel does put out a list of known modules that will work for each generation of CPU/chipsets. I wouldn't count on a newer module necessarily working either, but I'll be honest, I've not tried or investigated that myself.

 

[darwin.j.varga15c202e4]

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www.intel.com

So let's talk about a few things.....

There's virtually no speed differences between WIFI6 and WIFI6E, at least from a throughput standpoint. You're not really gaining anything except slightly less congestion possibilities. Unless you live in an apartment building, and everyone else is using wifi6e, there's probably zero benefit.

Taken from Intel on Wifi6 vs wifi6e :
The most impactful difference is that Wi-Fi 6E devices use a dedicated 6E spectrum with up to seven additional 160 MHz channels while Wi-Fi 6 devices share the same congested spectrum — and only two 160 MHz channels — with other legacy Wi-Fi 4, 5, and 6 devices.

As far as Bluetooth, again, from Intel :
Most of the features make Bluetooth 5.3 a more stable and secure version of Bluetooth when compared to Bluetooth 5.2. Several of these features also makes Bluetooth 5.3 significantly more efficient when compared to Bluetooth 5.2.

Are you using Bluetooth that much? With many devices? Have you had issues with it?

Longevity is a minor point, if I'm honest. Tech is going to always move forward, and in another year, we'll have Wifi7 or 8 or whatever the next incarnation is, and it'll obsolete what we currently have. Same with Bluetooth.

But ya know what? My old Bluetooth 2.0 devices still work perfectly fine without issue on anything newer. I'm still using some devices that old, because they still work, even though everything else is much much newer.

I don't know how often you upgrade. Me personally, I upgrade at this point every 3 to 5 years. In fact, just this past month, I upgraded from an i9 9900k/Z390 to i9 13900k/Z790 system. Ultimately though, that's a decision you have to make for yourself.

Wifi/Bluetooth longevity though? That's probably an afterthought anymore....atleast for me. I suppose it could be different for some, but I would wager not most.

Lastly, there's no guarantee that a newer CNVI module will work either. While it's still a CNVI module, Intel does put out a list of known modules that will work for each generation of CPU/chipsets. I wouldn't count on a newer module necessarily working either, but I'll be honest, I've not tried or investigated that myself.

Yeah, I can understand what you mean about virtually no speed differences between WIFI6 and WIFI6E, at least from a throughput standpoint. Thank you so much for this detailed explanation! As far as Bluetooth, all my Bluetooth devices are working fine and have no issues. I usually upgrade every 5 years or so but I do like to maximize whatever I can upgrade on my PC. On this particular MOBO, I am running an i7-10700K and I'm thinking of upgrading my CPU to an i9-11900K since it's supported with a BIOS upgrade and will enable PCIe 4.0 x16 in CPU Mode which should give more performance on my NVIDIA RTX 3080 graphics card since it's running on PCIe 3.0 x16. This might be the last major upgrade I make and maybe get a PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 since I have PCIe 3.0 NVMe M.2. I guess I'm just trying to squees whatever I can so It can last me even longer and still be future proof. Lastly, about the newer CNVI module, I think it might not work with an 11th Gen CPU that I'm thinking of upgrading to. I think I just read that the Intel Wi-Fi 6E AX411 CNVI module only works with 12th Gen or higher CPU which my MOBO is not compatible with and can only go as high as 11th Gen. Thanks for your feedback.

 

[mzakrzewsk157402df]

The above points notwithstanding, as they are very valid, I have two observations to make:
1) I am assuming that you have a 6E router, right? Because if you don't, then any upgrade of your Wi-Fi card as outlined above is completely and utterly pointless. A total waste of money.
2) Also, even if you have a 6E router, please keep in mind that the 6 GHz signal has a shorter range than 5 GHz. Basically, it's line-of-sight, so you would probably be forced to relocate your PC to somewhere much closer to your router.
In fact, Wi-Fi 6E has turned out to be a failure, more or less. Very few clients, relatively few routers, and incredibly short range.

 

[darkhawk]

Honestly......I wouldn't even bother with the i9 11900k.
You're not going to really see much difference with the PCIe 3.0 vs PCIe 4.0 difference......the card isn't limited at 3.0, so going to something with more bandwidth/throughput, doesn't really do anything to help it.

Honestly.....you really want the truth? Even the NVMe upgrade isn't going to really help you, in most real world scenarios.......

You want my honest opinion? Save your money for the next build you do, and just get the highest end parts you can at the time, like an i9 then. Even going from a 10700k to a 11900k, you do get a little better performance, but is it worth the $400USD that it's going to cost to get it? I would personally wager not.

 

[darwin.j.varga15c202e4]

Honestly......I wouldn't even bother with the i9 11900k.
You're not going to really see much difference with the PCIe 3.0 vs PCIe 4.0 difference......the card isn't limited at 3.0, so going to something with more bandwidth/throughput, doesn't really do anything to help it.

Honestly.....you really want the truth? Even the NVMe upgrade isn't going to really help you, in most real world scenarios.......

You want my honest opinion? Save your money for the next build you do, and just get the highest end parts you can at the time, like an i9 then. Even going from a 10700k to a 11900k, you do get a little better performance, but is it worth the $400USD that it's going to cost to get it? I would personally wager not.

I really appreciate your honesty. Yeah, the 11900k is really expensive right now and I definitely wouldn't drop money for it now. Ironically, the 10700K and the 11900K have the same amount of Cores and Threads just a bit more Turbo Clock speed with 11th Gen processors. But Intel decided to lower the i9 Core/Threads on their 11 Gen processors. Also, I've seen a video from Linus Tech Tips similar to the one you linked about how PCIe 3.0 to 4.0 won't show much of a difference. I agree on saving my money. It actually took me a whole year to buy all the high-end parts and build my PC. I mean, I'm happy with my build. It was a learning lesson though on making more research. Maybe in a few years, I'll start doing it again and save my money for these parts just like you suggested.

 

[darwin.j.varga15c202e4]

The above points notwithstanding, as they are very valid, I have two observations to make:
1) I am assuming that you have a 6E router, right? Because if you don't, then any upgrade of your Wi-Fi card as outlined above is completely and utterly pointless. A total waste of money.
2) Also, even if you have a 6E router, please keep in mind that the 6 GHz signal has a shorter range than 5 GHz. Basically, it's line-of-sight, so you would probably be forced to relocate your PC to somewhere much closer to your router.
In fact, Wi-Fi 6E has turned out to be a failure, more or less. Very few clients, relatively few routers, and incredibly short range.

I have a Wifi 6 Router but I've connected my PC on the 5GHz frequency. My router is on the other side of my apartment and my room, where I keep my PC, is on the other side. So, yeah, I don't have that line of site you mentioned. I get it though. I think I'm better off connecting via Ethernet/Wired but I'm not drilling holes and running a long cable. I might consider Ethernet over Power later on just to test if I'll get more bandwidth from my 1GB ISP Plan. Thanks for the explanation. You definitely convinced me.

 

[darkhawk]

I have a Wifi 6 Router but I've connected my PC on the 5GHz frequency. My router is on the other side of my apartment and my room, where I keep my PC, is on the other side. So, yeah, I don't have that line of site you mentioned. I get it though. I think I'm better off connecting via Ethernet/Wired but I'm not drilling holes and running a long cable. I might consider Ethernet over Power later on just to test if I'll get more bandwidth from my 1GB ISP Plan. Thanks for the explanation. You definitely convinced me.

I use some 2GBPS powerline networking in my house (basement to 2nd floor mostly, for my kids PCs), and it works relatively well, however, most of the rest of my network is still 1G, so ultimately it makes little difference. I can max out that 1G link for data transfers if I want, but right now (actually having fiber installed today, yay!) my cable internet is 250 mbps max. All I'm really trying to get at, is that most networking gear is geared for 1gbps speeds, and the 2.5g and higher gear hasn't become prevalent.
I looked into upgrading most of my gear to be 2.5g or 5g compatible, then decided it didn't matter once I started seeing prices for it.....

 

[darwin.j.varga15c202e4]

I wish you the best on your new fiber connection/installation and congratulations! I've been thinking of getting this powerline adapter. I have a 1GB plan but I average between 400 - 500 Mbps on my Wifi 5GHz. I do have a small extender between my PC and Router that it's on the other side of my apartment. Do you think this powerline adapter and going wired with it will improve my speed? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H74VKZ...colid=3B1VYW6L95BWY&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1

 

[darkhawk]

it really depends more on the wiring in your house than anything....
I enjoy the powerline adapters, when they work. I found a few rooms in my house don't work at all, or well, with them, but luckily both of my kids' rooms work fine, which was why I got them.
Honestly, it's amazon. Give it a try, if they don't work, return them.

 

[tpneuro15e902e6]

Old post, but I tried to update.
I am trying to update the M.2 Key E Wifi card from Wifi 6 to Wifi 7 on this MSI MPG Z490 GAMING CARBON WIFI motherboard. I think that the shield covering the Wifi card that attached to the motherboard with 4 crews on the back. I think the only way to get to the Wifi card is to remove this shield (and the back plate attatched to it), by removing these screws from the back of the motherboard. Yes, definitely the motherboard needed to be removed from the case to get access to these screws on the back. Well, I think it's worth the labor, if updating to Wifi 7 BE.

 

[tpneuro15e902e6]

Update: This motherboard can not be updated to built-in Wifi 7 card. Sorry

 

[xrodne152202d4]

Update: This motherboard can not be updated to built-in Wifi 7 card. Sorry

Are you 100% sure?
There is usually indication by 2 screws under wifi part thats holding metal cage encasing m.2 wifi adapter, picture on left is from gaming edge but its usually same.
To be honnest on recent motherboards I never seen wifi that permanently on board, there were either vertical m.2 card under plastic cover or horizontal in between PCIE slots.

You need to unscrew blastic cover then do same with wifi adapter cage, carefully disconnect wifi antena wires from wifi card.

 

[xrodne152202d4]

I wish you the best on your new fiber connection/installation and congratulations! I've been thinking of getting this powerline adapter. I have a 1GB plan but I average between 400 - 500 Mbps on my Wifi 5GHz. I do have a small extender between my PC and Router that it's on the other side of my apartment. Do you think this powerline adapter and going wired with it will improve my speed? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H74VKZ...colid=3B1VYW6L95BWY&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1

With those be sure you are on same phase, I have 3 room apartment with each room connected to different phase so it would not work.
Also if you use some power conditioning/filtering device it wont work either.

 

[tpneuro15e902e6]

For MSI Z490 model, the Wifi upgraded can be only from wifi 6 to Wifi 6E with M.2 key being the same. Wifi 7 M.2 card, I supposed, is not really available yet, but widely available with PCIe adapter card.

 

[xrodne152202d4]

For MSI Z490 model, the Wifi upgraded can be only from wifi 6 to Wifi 6E with M.2 key being the same. Wifi 7 M.2 card, I supposed, is not really available yet, but widely available with PCIe adapter card.

Ok that is again Intels proprietary CNVio shitty interface in place instead of pcie standart. Wifi 6 and 6E using CNVio v.2 and Wifi 7 CNVio v.3.
In this care only option is to use USB, normal m.2 slot or PCI-e card.

One of reasons I stop using Intel years ago, too many proprietary stuff, too much power consumption for what it offer and too aften switching motherboards.

Something like this wa04 m.2 wifi adapter