WD22TB4 Dock Disconnects During High GPU Usage (MSI Summit E16 Flip + RTX 4050)

Question

Hi all,

I’m having an issue with my WD22TB4 dock that only happens when I’m running graphically intensive tasks. My setup:

Connection: Thunderbolt 4 to dock, using PD power from the dock
Monitor: Connected via DisplayPort from dock to monitor
Peripherals: Mouse and other devices connected through dock

Issue:
When I run GPU-heavy applications (e.g., Enscape, certain games), the monitor will go black for around 10 seconds, and all devices connected to the dock will disconnect and then reconnect. I can tell because my mouse stops working until everything comes back online.

Troubleshooting so far:

Updated WD22TB4 firmware to latest version
Reinstalled all graphics drivers (including NVIDIA RTX 4050)
Tried disabling Vertical Sync in NVIDIA Control Panel (as suggested in another thread) — still testing, but issue persists intermittently
Power is coming entirely via the dock’s PD connection

What I’m looking for:
Any advice from the Dell community or similar setups on:

Whether this is a known limitation of the WD22TB4 under high GPU load
Possible firmware, driver, or power configuration tweaks
Whether running the laptop on its original charger in parallel might help

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

ejn63 · Answer

What monitor (resolution and refresh) is connected to the system, and what model XPS is it?

DockedAndLoaded · Answer

@ejn63​ Hey, I have noted that I am using that I am using this with a MSI Summit E16 Flip w/ RTX 4050 graphics

ejn63 · Answer

One guess would be that the system is throttling. You didn't answer the question as to what monitor resolution you're using, but if a 4050 GPU is being used to drive both the internal display and an external monitor, that can easily cause throttling -- the 4050 is relatively low end for a GPU and likely can't handle both screens at once.

XPS

WD22TB4 Dock Disconnects During High GPU Usage (MSI Summit E16 Flip + RTX 4050)

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