A bit lost with Gigabyte z97n-wifi and... wifi

[Olimat]

Hi,

First I would like to say hello to all of you, as I start building my first hackintosh.
I hope you can support me a bit as I will need your advice during the process

I bought a z97n-wifi motherboard but I read from tonymacx86 that the wifi won't be working with the built-in component.
There is only one mini PCI Express slot on this motherboard, as far as I can see, so I believe I will have to use it for the graphic card?

So how can I put the wifi?
I am not sure I could use a wifi PCI-e card like this one?
TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 Dual Band Wireless N900 PCI Express Adapter,2.4GHz 450Mbps/5Ghz 450Mbps

What would you recommend to avoid issues?

Thanks a lot for your help

 

[Uwillparish]

Hi,
There is only one mini PCI Express slot on this motherboard, as far as I can see, so I believe I will have to use it for the graphic card?

 

[Olimat]

Hi Uwillparish,

Do you mean that the integrated mini PCI-e would work?
I was thinking I would have to replace the integrated wifi by something else.

I read Bluetooth would work but not the wifi :
"Please note that the motherboard's Intel mini-PCIe card includes both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth but only the bluetooth features are available under OS X. If you don't use the PCIe slot, we recommend the TP-Link PCIe card below for native Wi-Fi support."

The TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 would be in lateral position so I wonder how it could be placed in order to have the antennas outside the computer case.

 

[Uwillparish]

Hi Uwillparish,

Do you mean that the integrated mini PCI-e would work?
I was thinking I would have to replace the integrated wifi by something else.

I read Bluetooth would work but not the wifi :
"Please note that the motherboard's Intel mini-PCIe card includes both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth but only the bluetooth features are available under OS X. If you don't use the PCIe slot, we recommend the TP-Link PCIe card below for native Wi-Fi support."

The TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 would be in lateral position so I wonder how it could be placed in order to have the antennas outside the computer case.

I had to change my wifi out on my z97n-gaming, which is a very similar board, and its pretty simple.

Where i showed you that wifi chip, you can take that chip out and replace it, this is nessisary to get both wifi and bluetooth working, However you have to have a specific card for both to work, see HERE for a list of compatible cards, You can order the card of your choice off of amazon, ebay, or any place else in your region that sells said card

 

[Olimat]

Thanks a lot, that's precisely what I was looking for

 

[nobodynose]

FYI, this thread has a lot of information about which Mini PCIe Wifi cards are compatible and which arent.

 

[Uwillparish]

FYI, this thread has a lot of information about which Mini PCIe Wifi cards are compatible and which arent.

that has more info about patching them than it does which ones work

 

[Stork]

I have a Gigabyte H97N-WIFI motherboard which is practically the same as the Z97N. I replaced the Gigabyte WiFi/BT card with an iMac 11ac/B 4.0 card and a miniPCIe adapter card. (See my signature block for more info.)

Unfortunately, it cost me almost $60 USD. I did it because I was going to / am using a Gigabyte GTX 750 Ti graphics/video card. If you aren't going to use a graphics card, then I'd recommend either the TP-Link or Rosewill card (see Buyer's Guide, Accessories section) as Newegg often has them on sale for $24-$27 USD. I get a true 450 Mbps with my Linksys E4200 wireless router. TP-Link just came out with a 11ac PCIe card, but I can't find out if the chipset is compatible with OS X like the TL-WDN4800; it's price at ~$70.

So, you have some choices. Good luck! Report back on what you finally do.

 

[Olimat]

Hi Stork,

Not sure at the end I will use the wifi. I believe the Ethernet port itself would be enough with a Devolo connected to it. I will see if it's fine or if I get nervous with the ugly cables. Otherwise, I will have to go for a mini PCI-Express and something like you did. In any case, thanks a lot for your intervention, it gives me an extra possibility for the future.

 

[nasiscoe]

I had to change my wifi out on my z97n-gaming, which is a very similar board, and its pretty simple.

Where i showed you that wifi chip, you can take that chip out and replace it, this is nessisary to get both wifi and bluetooth working, However you have to have a specific card for both to work, see HERE for a list of compatible cards, You can order the card of your choice off of amazon, ebay, or any place else in your region that sells said card

Hi, do you have an updated link for the list of those compatible cards? I'm in a similar situation now and would love some help finding the right mini-chip WiFI card for my Z97N