AMD Motherboards - B450i GPU Load Causes WiFi Disconnect

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B450i GPU Load Causes WiFi Disconnect

Printed From: ASRock.com
Category: Technical Support
Forum Name: AMD Motherboards
Forum Description: Question about ASRock AMD motherboards
URL: https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=14576
Printed Date: 09 Aug 2025 at 1:52pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.04 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: B450i GPU Load Causes WiFi Disconnect

Posted By: hummus_fraud
Subject: B450i GPU Load Causes WiFi Disconnect
Date Posted: 04 Jun 2020 at 1:35pm

My issue is basically: when my GPU is under load, my wireless connection breaks. No connection issues at any other time. I'll launch a game and after about 30 seconds or so of GPU load, things like Steam Friends disconnects and can't connect despite still being connected to the network. A USB wifi adapter will work without issue, but the built-in Intel wireless chip won't work when the GPU is under load.

I didn't have issues until I was removing old hardware drivers and updating drivers recently, but I've uninstalled the Intel wireless device (removing drivers) and tested with the preloaded drivers and the most up to date drivers from Intel without success. No coinciding Windows updates, graphics driver changes, network changes, or other hardware changes.

Any ideas what the problem/solution could be?

ASRock B450 ITX Fatality
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Corsair DDR4 3200 Mhz
EVGA RTX 2070 Super KO Gaming
NZXT H1 case which includes an NZXT 650W SFX-L 80 Plus Gold PSU
Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168 with 19.51.29.1 driver
Windows 10 v1909

Replies:

Posted By: ThreeDee
Date Posted: 04 Jun 2020 at 4:49pm

There seems to be newer drivers available that you could try
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/94854/Intel-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC-3168

v. 20.90.3 Dated 5/20/20

I had similar issues with my daughters B350 Fatal1ty Gaming ITX/ac that were resolved by going to Intel's site and grabbing updated drivers instead of ASRock's version at that time. I think I just used the "Automatically Update Drivers" utility and ran that ..

Alternatively .. you could just buy a better Wireless card and replace the 3168

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|Ryzen 5 5900|ASRock X570 Taichi-BIOS 4.60|2x16GB HyperX Predator RGB 3200@3600 1:1 IF|ASRock RX 6700XT|2 x PCIe 4.0 M.2 Drives for OS & Games|850 WTT Seasonic 80+ Titanium PSU|Noctua NH-D15|

Posted By: hummus_fraud
Date Posted: 04 Jun 2020 at 10:12pm

If you click through to the actual downloads page you'll see that the package includes three driver versions and that 19.51.29.1 is in fact the most up-to-date for the 3168: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/29520/Windows-10-Wi-Fi-Drivers-for-Intel-Wireless-Adapters?product=94854. There isn't space for a PCI-e wireless card on the B450I as an ITX board, so I could use a USB dongle like the one I already have but I bought a motherboard with built-in wifi for the specific reason of not using a USB wifi adapter.

Oddly enough, I found a suggested fix late last night that seems to have worked. I switched both the 2.4 and 5GHz bands channel width to "20MHz only" instead of auto. The post suggesting this cited electrical interference in the frequency range as the GPU starts drawing more power. I'm not sure how this could have changed the day I started having issues since I installed new drivers before that and hadn't touched this specific setting ever before without encountering issues. But I'm glad it's fixed, I suppose.

Posted By: ThreeDee
Date Posted: 04 Jun 2020 at 10:44pm

the B450 itx is a little different then the B350 where as you wifi card is enclosed in that metal'ish box where the antenna screw on instead of how it's mounted on my daughters motherboard .. it's an ITX so I wasn't suggesting you use a PCIe card but replace the current m.2 wifi card with another better one under that metal shroud.