Upgradability is my favorite part of PC building, and you don’t always have to replace the CPU, RAM, GPU, or other major components. Instead, you can improve your PC’s functionality by adding smaller, specialized components.

Depending on your motherboard, you might have more than two M.2 slots, and some might be sitting idle. You can get creative with that M.2 slot since that small rectangular connector on your motherboard is the easiest way to upgrade your PC by plugging in expansion cards for all kinds of hardware upgrades.

Add Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with an M.2 card

Better range and less interference than a USB dongle

Even though I prefer an Ethernet connection over Wi-Fi, it’s nice to have wireless connectivity in case I need a backup network. Also, Bluetooth is integral to my usage, since most of my peripherals are wireless.

You’ll find Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on nearly all high-end motherboards, but budget and mid-level boards still lack this connectivity. If you don’t have this feature, a USB Bluetooth and Wi-Fi adapter might seem like the easiest solution.

Still, cheap adapters often cause latency and connection issues, especially when inserted into older ports. Instead, I recommend an M.2 Wi-Fi/Bluetooth adapter, which has lower latency, less USB interference, and is generally more consistent.

A Wi-Fi card and USB adapter might use the same chipset, but a card will perform better because most come bundled with external antennas to improve range and signal strength.

Offload AI work with a dedicated accelerator

Take the load off the GPU and CPU

Running local AI models is the trend these days, and unfortunately, it isn’t cheap; everyone’s felt the sting of high memory prices. Fortunately, an AI Accelerator can ease the load on the CPU and GPU. It’s a small device that provides dedicated AI processing and handles complex mathematical calculations.

It essentially serves the same purpose as an NPU, which is mostly found in laptops today, though some select newer desktop chips have started to include them as well.

An AI Accelerator won’t replace your CPU or GPU directly; it makes them more efficient, and you still need VRAM, cores, and threads. Especially in long-context workloads that require compute power, an AI accelerator can speed up execution.

AI accelerators come in different forms: PCIe cards that either plug into the same slot as your GPU, or smaller devices that fit in an M.2 slot.

Capture gameplay without taxing your system

Better quality, zero performance hit

As someone who writes about PC hardware for a living, I spend most of my time benchmarking video games and other demanding workloads to see whether certain features make the difference they claim.

Even though I can record gameplay with software on my PC, recording taxes the hardware and therefore doesn’t reflect true performance. A video capture card removes this overhead and captures video directly from the display output, without your PC having to do capture and encoding work.

The quality is much better, with almost zero latency, and I’d continue capturing the display even if my PC crashes, which happens frequently if I’m overclocking or testing an experimental feature.

Then again, a video capture card is more of a specialized use case, and it’s a cheap upgrade that costs only a handful of dollars.

Why say no to more USB ports?

Additional space for more peripherals and other devices

On budget boards, USB ports are limited and often taken up by essentials like peripherals or game controllers, so you’ll eventually run out of ports for new devices. Fortunately, you can expand connectivity with a USB expansion card that fits in the M.2 slot.

This way, you can safely keep an important dongle, like a USB Hardware Security Key, inside your PC so someone can’t take it out and it stays safe.

Another use case is virtualization. Normally, a VM sees USB devices through the host OS, but PCI pass-through gives the VM access to the entire USB controller, which helps with compatibility and specialized hardware that needs its own drivers.

Add cellular connectivity to any PC

Get your PC online without a hotspot

Cellular connectivity is something I wished PCs had as a kid, and I was surprised to find out later that they do. Now, you don’t have to buy a laptop with built-in cellular; any PC can support this connectivity. An M.2 WWAN modem does exactly that, letting you install cellular cards in your PC.

The card includes a SIM slot and an antenna, but you will need to verify whether it’s for 5G or LTE. They’re pretty practical on laptops, especially if you travel a lot and need internet on the go; you won’t need a hotspot anymore.

Windows already supports cellular connectivity, so it’s mostly plug-and-play and rarely needs additional drivers.

Don’t go buying random M.2 devices without checking your port first

While the small rectangular socket on the motherboard can do more than hold storage devices, you still need to make an important distinction before buying a new adapter. M.2 slots differ: some offer SATA connectivity, and others offer NVMe, and each adapter is suited for a different purpose.

The B-key supports the SATA interface, while the M-key supports the NVMe protocol, and they physically won’t fit into each other. An adapter labeled B+M supports both interfaces. E-key slots are what Bluetooth/Wi-Fi cards use. Check this before buying any M.2 device, let alone a new adapter, to avoid the hassle of returning the product.