Graphics card interfering with wireless adapter?

[Red Hawk]

I posted this in networking, but I got no response, so maybe someone here will have something to say...please. 🙂

Since I got my 7870, it's given me a bunch of problems. I RMAed it, which seems to have fixed some problems (such as artifacting at stock clocks), but others remain.

One has to do with my wireless adapter. I use a PCI wireless adapter. (it's Zonet, which went out of business recently, so there's no technical support on their side). Since installing my graphics card, I've had two problems: One is that online hardware accelerated videos will not load properly. They'll load the first 5 or 10 seconds, then stop. Turning off hardware acceleration gets rid of this issue and videos load properly. Secondly, when I play 3D games, the wireless adapter disconnects from my home network and will not reconnect until I close out of the game.

Here are some troubleshooting steps I've taken: I've tested a different wireless PCI card from a PC that does not have these issues. I've switched between the two PCI slots on the motherboard. I've made sure the two PCI-E power connectors on the graphics card are properly connected and even tried switching them. Nothing has worked so far.

Any idea what exactly might be causing this issue, and what I can do to fix it?

 

[VulgarDisplay]

Have you tried all those parts on another motherboard? You could try a USB networking dongle.

 

[Red Hawk]

I could test the original wireless adapter in another motherboard, but I'm pretty sure it's not the adapter since I tested a different adapter on this motherboard that didn't have problems before, but did once I connected it. The problem did not occur with the graphics card I had before (Radeon HD 5770). I would test the graphics card on another motherboard, but there's no PC in my house with two PCI-E power connectors (nor any with a PSU I would trust to put a 7870 on, for that matter...).

I had a feeling that a wireless USB dongle will end up as the solution, so I went ahead and ordered one off of Newegg already. If it works, then great, and if it doesn't, then I can return it. It's still really strange how the 7870 seems to be effecting the operation of the wireless adapter. I sort of prefer to use a PCI adapter and not tie up a USB port, but oh well.