Is the Bluetooth card PCIe?

Anyone know if our Blu-tooth card connects via PCIe off hand? I don't use any blue-tooth devices and was thinking about shoving something like this in there instead for giggles
Newegg.com - RiDATA REPC16GBSSDSM 16GB Mini PCIe (PATA) MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)


edit: idk why I even made a thread, I forgot it's just 3 screws away

anyway, for anyone that's wondering, yes, it is. The screw holes and PCB size look identical, it even says PCIE on the Bluetooth card.
http://i813.photobucket.com/albums/zz56/blmlozz/100_1439.jpg

 

I could be wrong, but I think I saw something about PCIe type ssd's in the m17x a few days ago stating that they won't work due to a lack of an I/O controller for the connection. Just wanted to throw it out there so you don't throw $70 bucks at something that might not work.

 

the m17x seem to have it's bluetooth integrated to the motherboard
the m15X had an option
but if it's using a dell desing then no dell connect it's bluetooth through a internal hidden USB conexion

i'm tempted to do the same with my m17 (the TV tuner slot if free ^^) but i can't get a clear answer if it will work or not

 

The bluetooth is clearly on the card, not the mainboard.

I was actually thinking about an OCZ with 110mb read 51mb burst write. From the pictures, it looks like it has its own onboard controller. I'm not too worried about wasting $70. If it doesn't work, I'm sure newegg will take it back. I'll definitely try to find out if this is the case however, and report back if it is.
OCZ outs its first Mini-PCIe SSDs in 16GB / 32GB capacities -- Engadget

 

^^ second that. It would be really nice though, to make this thing work in M17X.

 

you mean the picture is the card you actualy pulled from the m17x?

 

yup. It's right under the palm rest left of the Wireless card.

it appears you are mostly correct. Most of the mini PCIe SSD's work in a non-standard way. However, Samsung does make (or was going to) a SSD that works in any mini pcie slot, ie, those originally designed for wireless or bluetooth cards. The best part? It's 200read/100write speed is nearly as fast as my RAID 0, so if I can find it, It could be used as pagefile.
http://www.siliconmadness.com/2009/06/samsung-mini-pcie-ssd.html

I have yet to find these integrated controller cards however, besides the OCZ that just looks like it has it on there.


edit: The OCZ I linked *does* have internal SATA control
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/solid_state_drives/ocz_minipci_express_ssd-sata_

it looks like a lot of the mini pcie cards on amazon have the integrated controller.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...ctronics&field-keywords=mini+PCIe+SSD&x=0&y=0

basically just look for one with a square chip on it .

 

I believe it is, If you open up the palm rest its on the right side. I was thinking of replacing mine with a tv tuner also.

 

Definitely keep us updated on this Lozz if there's a way to make it work I'd be all over this. And does anybody know what the installed size for Win7 Premium 64 Bit is on the M17x's? I'm wondering in the event that it works if a 16Gb one is enough? I noticed they make these in 32 and 64Gb as well.

 

I updated my previous post. it should be noted, that there are many sizes of mini pcie cards, probally need to measure which the bluetooth card is, but I would estimate it being a 70mm card


I'm not sure you would really want to use it in that way. Except for the samsung one that I still haven't found yet, all these mini PCIe cards don't run at traditional SSD speeds. the OCZ, which is the fastest I've found so far runs @ 110mb/s burst read, 51mb (25mb sustained) write. My RAID 0 7200.4 drives are much faster than that in everything except small writes/reads(between 8-16kb). If I can find the samsung drive which is just about a real SSD speed, then it would definitely be a great way to use it! If not, I might try the OCZ and see if using it as a pagefile speeds things up, I doubt it will though.

 

The other question I would have is I know I saw that the pcie express card slot isn't able to be bootable. Is the pcie internal that we're talking about even going to be bootable? The only thing I can think of a real use for it would be a bootable small OS drive.

 

I'm not sure. The BIOS will boot off a USB drive or the external SATA drive. Not sure if it will recognize the SSD in the PCIe slot.

 

Those Samsung drives do exist and are being made, the biggest problem with that particular drive is they are all OEM drives being sold to manufacturers and not to the public, so unless we could find a used one out of a pc that one is out of the picture. I've also been looking for other options and the highest r/w speeds I've been able to find is 130 mb/s and 60 mb/s for $150 at that price I'd rather go with a cheap internal and use an external for storage.

 

yup, which is why I was eyeballing the 16GB drives. just enough to be cool and say 'yeah I have a SSD in my mini pcie port' and maybe if it's fast enough, use it for pagefile and offload some resources from my RAID array. Or at the very least, use it as a backup for the most commonly used stuff since backing up to my NAS is SLOW. That's really all I wanted it for in the first place, quick backup.

 

Have you seen anything on the Toshiba HG3/HG2 series ssd's? The drives offer a maximum sequential read speed of 250MBps and maximum sequential write speed of 180MBps, and also support TRIM. They come in PCIe connection too, but I haven't been able to find where to buy them.

 

that would be great for page file indeed! However, as you suggested, I don't see anywhere in the bios where it could be used as a boot able drive. It might show up under HDD's or it might not. It's completely a case where someone will have to try to see. I think I'll go for a 16GB drive first, if it works, we'll go from there.

 

Sounds good if it works I think I might pick up the 32 gb model on this page check it out, up to 160 mb/s write and 260 mb/s read for 139.99 for 32 gb:
RunCore SATA II PCI-e SSD | My Digital Discount