Question 1

Hello all. I might be confused as to what this unit does. Im looking for a PCI card that will add Bluetooth capability to my pc. Is this card for that purpose? 
Thanks!

Accepted Answer

So Douglas,

this will not only add bluetooth but it will upgrade your wireless card to AC.. faster wifi speeds vs.  the older style N, B and G cards.  Newer Wireless AP's and routers at stores now almost all support the new AC standards.. and they come in different flavors .

I put this in my Dell Latitude E series laptops and work with no issues.. was a good upgrade.

shorter answer:  it will give you Bluetooth and Wifi

Question 2

Dose it come with the drivers ?

Accepted Answer

No. It did not come with any CD's. Just the board in a plastic bag. My Windows 7 Ultimate had no problem finding  a driver and it worked right away. This was actually one of the reasons I bought this, being Intel, because I can find everything I need on their website when Windows or windows Update doesn't already have a driver. I've never had any problems with their products.

Question 3

Will this work on a Dell Inspiron 580 Desktop?

Accepted Answer

Sorry but I cannot give you a good answer. I haven't yet installed it in the Shuttle barebones I am building. Note that you must have a place in your computer that accepts this size of modem, usually directly across from a place for a similarly miniaturized SSD, an optional device. You will also need a cable (usually two of them) to attach this gadget to a small antenna or two or possibly to something that connects to one.

I suggest you talk to the technical support folks at Dell. They have an excellent reputation for helping with this sort of question. If in the highly unlikely possibility that they cannot help you, try either the helpline at Intel or the Dell user forum.

Good luck!

Question 4

What else do I need with this to provide my desktop PC with Bluetooth and Wireless Internet?

I built my PC and have not ventured to these two areas yet. My mobo is an ASRock Fatal1ty Z68 Professional Gen3

I see you can get both bluetooth and wireless with usb adapters, but I would rather use this if compatible since it provides both, is internal, and frees up USB 3.0 ports.

The main and aux (I read they are mislabeled and are wireless/bluetooth) need to be connected to something but I am not sure what. Any help is appreciated, Thanks!

Accepted Answer

As noted in the description, this is a "Mini PCI Express" card.  Unless you desktop motherboard somehow has a mini PCI Express slot and built in antennas, you are probably not going to be bale to use this.  This is a card that would go into a laptop or micro computer that has built in antennas and the correct port.  You are going to want to look for a normal PCI Express card.

Here is an AC card that will future proof your rig: 
Item#:

D-Link DWA-582 Wireless AC1200 Dual Band PCI Express Adapter IEEE 802.11ac PCI Express

Here is a B/G/N card that should work fine for most things and be cheeper:

ASUS PCE-N15 Wireless Adapter IEEE 802.11b/g/n PCI Express 300/300Mbps Transfer/Receive Rate 64-bit WEP, 128-bit WEP, WPA2-PSK, WPA-PSK, WPS support

Question 5

It this a half size or full size? If half size what is a comparable one that is full size.

Accepted Answer

This is a mini pci express slotted card in a HMC (Half height) format. You'll need to find a half height to full height adaptor and pray the antenna leads will be long enough. Based on their website, Intel does not appear to make a full height card in this chipset.

Question 6

Does this come with antenna leads? First attempt at building my own PC and I need to know if the leads are purchased separately.

Accepted Answer

No, this device is usually to be put into a laptop, very small desktop PCs, or other integrated hardware that has built in antennas.  This is also a "Mini PCI Express" card so it will not work with most normal desktop computers.

Question 7

Good morning, does it matter if my laptop's current wireless card is of a brand other than Intel? Or can I still use it to gain dual band WiFi? The laptop is an Asus X455LD, it does have a mini PCIe port. Thanks.

Accepted Answer

No it shouldn't matter what brand it is. But something that might matter as to the speeds you can get is whether your current WiFi card has one or two antennas coming off of it. I see the card that ships with that laptop is Wireless-N which could go either way. On the other hand Wireless-AC can use two attennas at the same time in order to boost the bandwidth. I have also seen some WiFi cards where only one antenna port on the card is used for 2.4 GHz WiFi. If you only attach one attenna and there are two spots you would see really low signal from 2.4 GHz, if you chose the wrong one. But most likely you will be fine.

Question 8

Will this work in a desktop? If not which one will?

Accepted Answer

This will only work in desktop boards with a mini pci express slot, some dell desktops have them.  Also note this is NOT an m.2 compatible card, it will NOT fit in an m.2 slot, it is to large.

Question 9

will this wifi card be compatible with with windows 8.1 pro on a lenovo u450p ?

Accepted Answer

Doesn't really matter as much on the manufacturer. It's more the current Wi-Fi card slot configuration and if it's the same. I had to take my Toshiba Satellite apart to make sure. Download the full drivers beforehand though, especially if you don't have a LAN connection to use.

Question 10

Where can I buy and adapter for this so I could use this in a pcie 1x slot?

Accepted Answer

My suggestion would be to buy a pci-e card instead of a mini pci-e card. I have never seen a set up adaptor like that.

Wireless Data Rates	433 Mbps
Frequency Band	2.4 GHz / 5 GHz
Interface	Mini PCI Express

Brand	Intel
Model	3160

Type	M.2 Wi-FI Adapter
Color	Green & White
Standards	IEEE 802.11ac
Security	WMM WPA WPA2 WPS WPS 2.0 IEEE 802.1X IEEE 802.11w EAP-TLS TTLS PEAP LEAP EAP-FAST EAP-SIM EAP-AKA WEP (64/128-bit) AES-CCMP TKIP
Antenna	Diversity Antenna
System Requirements	Microsoft Windows 7 Microsoft Windows 8 Linux

Dimensions	1.10" x 1.20" x 0.10"
Weight	0.01 lb.

Intel 3160 Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160 Plus Bluetooth IEEE 802.11ac Mini PCI Express 433 Mbps Wireless Data Rates - OEM

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Item#: N82E16833106258