X370 Taichi defective WiFi?

Hi, I have a new build with an X370 Taichi motherboard, and I didn't notice it immediately when installing everything, but I cannot get the built-in WiFi card to work at more than 20-30 Mbps (in both directions, either send or receive) when the access point (Asus RT-N12 D1 with latest firmware) is in the room above, as usual. Doing an internet access speed test, if I put the access point next to the PC that has the X370 Taichi, in the same room, the max I get is 53-54 Mbps, whereas my Lenovo laptop gets 87-88 Mbps, which is not much less than if I use an Ethernet cable at 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps.

My operating systems on my previous PC and on my laptop report 144.4 Mbps connections to the access point, but on the new PC with X370 Taichi, I only get 72.2 Mbps. I also tried with another access point (actually the router from my internet access provider), which has 802.11ac, and it doesn't go over this 72.2 either.

I found with some google searches that other people have had the same or a similar problem, and advised changing some options (like WMM on the access point, which is enabled, disable Bluetooth, which I did, etc.). I tried everything, turning Bluetooth off seems to make a very slight improvement, but that's it.

I tried the latest drivers from ASRock, and also the "generic" one provided by Windows (which seems to improve the speed a bit). Of course, I checked that the antennas are properly screwed. I also tried on Linux, and the WiFi there is still as slow.

Could this be a symptom that the WiFi on my X370 is defective? The speed of only 72 Mpbs seems a bad sign considering that my other devices achieve 144 with the same AP.

The WIFI on this board is fairly well known. Ubuntu or Kali live USB should show good results for speeds.

I'm using 'Update drivers' from Win 10 device manager for both BT & WIFI, although I'm trying to disable the WIFI altogether. Disabling seems impossible with this board for now.

Also, I can't recall, but the WIFI is hooked on a shared PCIe lanes. If other devices are hogging the lane at the same time you may be facing the low throughput.

Doesn't seem right. Check if MIMO is enabled in drivers. Also, did you try a Live Linux USB?

Try connecting to your WiFi router and see how the Taichi connects to it. Most reputable WIFI manufacturers provide ways to see the wireless clients' capabilities in their routers/AP.

Ironically, I'm trying to shut down my WIFI for good, but UEFI won't allow me.

ther might be posibility of dual band 2.4ghz on one antena and 5ghz on another
dunno i have intel 8260 (oem from lenovo) on my x370 fatal1ty gaming x and saw plenty of network setups in there

My X370 Taichi WIFI is Intel 3168, which is 1x1 TX/RX, so NO MIMO.

This means 1 antenna is for 2.4GHz WIFI & BT, other is for 5GHz, since they are hooked to 2 different radio front-ends. At least that is the most likely scenario.

EDIT: is it possible that I swap the WIFI module with another one? Are they whitelisted in UEFI?


Edited by zlobster - 20 Dec 2017 at 2:41am