Are M.2 Socket (Key E) on motherboard compatible with A+E 2.5GB NICs?

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I’m considering using a cheat code to get 2.5GB NIC out of my Asrock B660M Pro RS motherboard which has a M.2 Key-E for WIFI but I don’t know if I were to buy a “A+E” nic that it would work on that port?

This is the item: M.2 A+e 2.5g Ethernet Adapter 2.5g/1g/100m Multi-gigabit M.2 Network Card 8125b Com - Network Cards - AliExpress

This is my motherboard: ASRock > B660M Pro RS

Looking at the schematics for M.2 The M.2 interface it feels like a “Key E” has basically the same gap width of an “A+E” with just a few missing connectors. Does anyone know for sure?

Also I know the adapter above is Realtek RTL8125B - for a bit more money I can get the Intel I225 - worth it?

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You might want to be a bit concered about signal integrity, a ribbon cable is probably not compliant in that regard.

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You are likely right - I wonder if this is the same adapter @wendell shows in his videos? It may have been the ‘gigabit’ and not the 2.5g flavor of it. My board already has 1gb but looking to get 2.5g

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Why not use one of the PCIe slots?

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I have a PCIe 3.0 x1 slot left which would work but I was trying to exploit or use the pci lines that the “Key E” slot has to maximize IO rather than buy a PCIE 3.0 x1 2.5g nic

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image
So yes, the key is correct so it will plug in here, and will work electrically.

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It is always better to purchase an Intel Nic; (as long as you are getting a real Intel Nic) over a Realtek. There is better operating system support for Intel nic’s than Realtek. At least, this has been my experience. If you are purchasing your nic from Aliexpress, I would go ahead and buy the Realtek nic instead of the Intel one because what you most likely receive is a fake Intel nic.

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thanks for the protip :slight_smile:

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