My mainboard is an msi b450 Mortar Max. Until recently, I used a pretty small gpu, which left enough space for my network adapter to fit in the pcie 3x4.
I upgraded my gpu this winter, but there was only space in the second pcie 2.0x16, which (probably) doesn’t provide enough lanes. That’s why wifi stopped working, and bluetooth started to become buggy.
Now I was playing around with the thought of picking up a 2in1 usb dongle, but I heard they aren’t that good.
What’s would be the best thing to do in this case?
Edit: The network adapter is a Gigabyte GC-WB1733DI


A USB Bluetooth adapter is fine, you shouldn’t have any problems with it.
WiFi on the other hand depends on what you use it for, the USB port will be a bottleneck. I’m hardwired but I have a USB dongle for testing wifi single and I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re doing anything other than basic browsing.
Maybe try a pci riser cable? You might have some issue with securing the card inside the case but maybe give some space between the cards could help
Is the GPU in the correct slot?
Are you sure the PSU can handle the new GPU?
Are you sure you didn’t damage the wifi card when you installed the GPU?
A USB 3 Wi-Fi 6 adapter should be able to avoid the bottleneck. 3.0 should support speeds up to 5Gbps, and WiFi 6 can peak at 800Mbps.
Even if it runs at usb 2.0 speeds, the bottleneck is 480 Mbps, which is probably sufficient for many people’s Internet connection.
It is better to get a device with an antenna on a cable that you can distance from your PC a little. It helps up get it away from the EMI.
Thanks for the info. I’m also on Lan so im not using wifi very often, but I like to have the option available.
The (gpu 9060XT)is in the correct slot but the psu and pcie 3.0 is definitely a bottleneck for it.
The network card is not broken just less functional. It worked fine in the other slot. There is some 9 pin usb on the network card. Im not sure what’s that about since I didn’t need it before.
I also thought about using a riser cable but I’m unsure how that would work. My first idea is to unscrew the Chip from the metal part that attaches to the case and turn it around so I can plug the cable in from Front side.