Electrical Interference on Sound at high load

Derezed_

Derezed_

Derezed_

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Southampton
Hello...back in a different sub-forum with the same problem.

I got an RMA for my mobo to check if it was generating dodgy sound and got my mobo back no fault found.

My situation is when playing games, not even necessarily high GPU load games, I get interference in my sound output. It sounds like static electricity, or sometimes like an electrical substation.

Example of sound here. It seems it starts by having a sound from the game that sounds kind of like interference (like a rocket taking off) and then decides that's part of the sound for ever more.

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I have an X670E Pro RS. I have issues with two different sound devices (one 3.5mm jack, and any my USB headset), and three sound outputs (HDMI through graphics card, onboard graphics through 3.5mm audio jack and sound blaster x through 3.5mm headphone jack).

I want to test if using the SPDIF out of my soundcard can break this problem by hopefully taking a pure digital signal minus noise along a fibre to a seperate DAC and then converting it to an analog signal without the noise presumably being generated by my Graphics Card / MOBO / CPU AIO / RAM / PSU / WiFi card.

Does this sound like a sane thing to test or should I save my money and bin my new rig?! If it does, I need to buy a DAC with an SPDIF input and a 3.5mm jack output (or headphone would do). I can see lots of sparky boxes on sale on Amazon for £10.00, but it can't be that simple right?

I also assume that the "noise" from whatever component or components are generating it travels along my HDMI/DisplayPort/USB/3.5mm jack wire and won't travel along the fiberoptic SPDIF cable...am I right or just talking rubbish?
 
I notice that the Audio chip for this motherboard is between my GPU and the PSU in my case. If either of those are generating noise, I am guessing it is being carried from the audio chip to the audio outputs? Sound unlikely now that I say it. If you watch the video above, you can see that the sound is fixed as soon as you change any setting in sound settings. Changing anything immediately makes it like there was never a problem. You can also change back to the original; setting that had the problem, same thing. It's like the interference gets stuck somewhere and stays forever until a reset...either a power off or a change in sound state that presumably clears the line. This is me clutching at straws right now using a system with borked sound.
 
Tetras said:
What did you change during the (end of the) video, when it stopped?
Click to expand...

Literally anything. Sample rate, enhancements on/off. Changing output from speakers to headphones removes the noise. Extremely irritating.

Hotwired said:
The only way you're removing noise by using a fibre optic cable is if the metal cable is collecting interference along the way. If the computer believes the "noise" is the correct signal to be sending then it doesn't matter what cable you use, it's going to ship you the same thing.
Click to expand...

I know sadly. That's what I am dreading but tend to agree with you. If it's physical, I can try to actual solve it. If it's software I'm screwed.

Hotwired said:
The fact that merely twiddling the sound in software resets the sound to normal would suggest it's not the cable. I'd be strongly suspecting a software bug and if it's multiple unrelated games then I'd suspect something to do with windows or the motherboard drivers or any software you're using that manages the motherboard sound.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen much chatter about this issue though so I am pretty confused since if it was software, my setup isn't exactly exotic so I would expect more people to be encountering it. It's game breakingly ball breakingly annoying though.

I have a friend bringing an external soundcard round today to test that out. Fingers crossed the system can spit out a raw audio signal without noise.

If it turns out that it IS software, I agree that it is likely windows and/or motherboard...if it is I am surely doomed to play games with terrible static like it's 1948. It is unlikely to be sound driver specific since the problem occurs with my RealTac audio as well as my Sound Blaster X, assuming they use different shizzle in the background and don't share some broken common library. Again, plenty of people use onboard sound with no issue. I am just special.
 
Hey EsaT,

Yeah, I have used that. It comes back red (problem). It was the first evidence I used with ASROCK to demonstrate that there was a problem. They suggested ignoring that and going a different route.

I have now removed my Sound Blaster card (bought specifically to try to address this issue) and reverted to the onboard sound. I am getting better results so far, but I am guessing it is only a matter of time before the interference comes back.

One thing from leftfield is if it is interference on an input port. I noticed on the sound card and on Windows 11 that I had zero option to select "No Input Device" for an input device...it defaulted to some input device or other. There was certainly no microphone plugged into the socket but I wondered if interference could occur on that if it was loud enough. Probably not.

My optical suggestion above failed, so the issue is internal to the case if it is physical.
 
It's normally the Nvidia driver that is top of the list which is apparently normally the case.

Not much I can do about it though...downgrade drivers? My motherboard is a new chipset so it could potentially be to blame, my PSU might not be good enough to handle real spikes in power demand (although it is overspecified for my current system). Nightmare.

LatencyMon is where I started. Is it where I give up?

I am holding out on a malfunctioning NVmE M2 drive...but I am again clutching at straws.
 
JasonM said:
It's strange the issue is on both a sound card and motherboard audio.

I would disable all the various inputs, so line-in, mic-in and so forth, just disable everything not in use.

Disable all the effects in your sound settings, that's if you have anything on. Make sure spatial audio is off.

I would set all your audio to 24/48Hz, even 16/44.1, and see what happens.

I would make sure it's not your amplifier / speakers (and not the computer)

Have you tried connecting the amp and the computer in separate wall sockets (as in not the same power strip!) to reduce the possibility it's a ground issue.
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Hi Jason,

1) I have disabled everything. I cannot seem to actually disable the mic in...it shows a device whatever I do, even though no device is plugged in...the port is active...I would hope that when muted it won't do anything, but I don't trust the mic in.

2) All disabled.

3) Set to lowest possible.

4) It's probably the computer.

5) Yes on the separate wall sockets for all things. No difference.
 
An update on this.

I have performed a set of complex operations and may have solved the issue by doing the following:

1) Uninstalling Windows 11
2) Installing Windows 10

I am beyond irritated, but the issue appears to have gone.

Lots of points to people who pointed at software. Guess I'll have to wait until that new OS is stable enough for my ancient system!

Of course it wasn't that simple. The problem went away...and then came back with avengeance.

So...intermittent is definitely the word. Does this mean it is likely to be an external issue? Don't PSUs harmonise the electricity coming into the box so there are no fluctuations?

On the Windows 10 box, it appears to be trying to fix itself...the interference doesn't stay the same way as it did with Windows 11. Just as bad though...it started to lag up a bit too...

I am going to have to run the thing out of the box.
 
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So, I cannot yet reproduce the issue with my machine outside of the case.

I have a 4000D Airflow which is a little tight with my AIO rad on the top. If I switch the AIO to the side it is difficult to get a decent amount of cold air to push over the components.

If I don't get the issue when the machine is on its box and not in the case, what's the diagnosis / prognosis from the experts?
 
So I took the board out of the case and popped it on top of the anti static bag it came in. Ran it for a while and the problem has returned. I think that eliminates the case as the source of the problem.

I have now removed my GPU and the sound card which would leave the following components:

1) Motherboard (ASRock X670E RS Pro)
2) CPU (AM5 7700X)
3) Ram (32 gb Corsair Vengeance 5200, running at 4800 because interference)
4) PSU (Corsair RM750x)
5) AIO (Corsair ICue H115i pro xt)
6) Drive (Samsung 970 Evo Plus)

Apparently I like Xs in my components
 
I do not have a spare PSU. I will soon request an RMA for it, but I doubt the issue will be reproducible so I'll just get it right back (as happened with the mobo). Likely an unholy alliance of components and drivers that has doomed me to keep a £2000 junk heap.
 
Hi Jason,

I have flashed my BIOS several times but this problem has remained consistent throughout. I have previously reset CMOS by shorting the jumper too.

I can't reproduce the issue with built in sound and built in graphics. I don't know if this is because the GPU is causing interference itself or if the system doesn't have enough load to get stressed enough to perform.

What I really want to do is a boiler repair: keep replacing bits until it works. That's cost about a grand though which is a little steep.
 
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So removing my GPU and just running the AMD graphics I have no sound issue.

The OCUK support guy said to run Prime95 Torture Test (small FFEs). My temps hover around 91 degrees with a power draw of 145 watts. If I have my GPU plugged in while running this test and I test sound, I get distortion. Without the GPU plugged in, no distortion. Any idea why removing the GPU from the equation would lead to no sound issue? Power Draw? Interrupt BUS?
 
So the motherboard had a sticker over the RAM slots...I may have got all of it, but I suspect residue may be creating shorts...OCUK don't agree, board came back to me no fault found.

Messing with the RAM timings/voltages creates more of the noise/less of the noise. Under load it comes back. Not sure where to go from there. After telling me it had nothing to do with RAM, ASRock are now asking about tertiary RAM settings...not something I am familiar with or qualified to alter! XMP profile = no good at all. Brave new world.
 
Thanks guys.

Tetras, on the fixing front, it does seem to resolve when the program has been terminated (whether this is because the load instantly disappears or some other reason I can't say). Changing sample rate no longer fixes it while the program that has the dodgy sound is running (now using Cyberpunk 2077).

Theforce. Soundcard is now out of the equation.

JasonM. Injecting is the word. I can see the interference on the volume monitor so it's part of the signal. I am waiting on a "spare" GPU.

BIOS wise I am ok. I am running the latest version, all set to automatic.

Memory tests work fine..the one thing I DO have is a spare DDR5 kit.

System wise, it seems pretty solid since a scorched earth install of Windows 11. No slow down in game performance, no glitching, nothing. Just this static/popping from all sound devices.

I am gaslighting myself now and working with ASRock support to fix my BIOS settings...
 
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So...the issue is definitely heat related.

With fans set to a standard curve instead of ear splitting mode (performance), the problem comes along. I then bumped the fans up to 100% and whatever component was too hot got cooled down enough for the issue to stop.

Problem is...no idea which component got too hot!

All temperatures on sensors appear fine. CPU temps all good, GPU temps all good, M2 drive all good...no idea about PSU temp, but feels cold exhaust.

My graphics card does sit above the X670 chipset heatsink though which gets nice and toasty...I do wonder if the heat vented from the graphics card is negating the benefit of the chipset heatsink.

What I would love to do is vertical mount the GPU to move it away from other components...but the 4000D is a terrible case to do that with!

Sound wise, does anybody have any experience of buying £30 Noctua case fans over Arctic BioniX fans. So they do the job apparently...cool the system such that whatever is getting too hot doesn't get too hot...but! Noise wise they're loud...
 
Thanks Eddie, that was one of the things ASRock told me to do. I actually set it to Gen 4 (I think) since I didn't trust Auto.

I have also decided I have two issues!

1) My Soundblaster Z SE appears to actively attract electromagnetic interference which is why I get that spicy arcing electricity sound only with that card. Sadly, the sound is vastly superior to the onboard sound which is just a bit trashy.

2) The games I have decided to play have known issues with the kind of sound issues that I have been having, namely:
a) Cyberpunk 2077 and (this guy's video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avpI3byI1o4 has the problem sound I experience and the solution works too, as long as you have two audio devices actually plugged in)
b) Android: Become Human. Same kind of sound issue as Cyberpunk.

I thought it was all down to my GPU heating up (which it might be, but who knows!), but I have been playing games like Farcry 5 on Ultra, 4k resolution with zero sound issues...so far.

Sound cards seem to be a thing of the past so I am not sure how I can get better sound!
 
DAC n00b here, but what do they bring to the party? From my (very) limited knowledge, sound cards used to take on the audio processing and output that presumably CPUs used to do. Then we got onboard audio chips which should have made sound cards redundant but were of varying degrees of quality so sound cards survived. Then sound cards seemed to have fallen foul to not being in their own Faraday cages and not being able to cope with all of the electrical noise flying around inside PC cases so we get external DACs.

Does an external DAC actually do the raw audio processing via the USB connection (as in it is as if it is an internal soundcard, but with the benefit of being external to the noisy box), or does it need a feed from the onboard sound (such as a digital out?).

Looking at DACs I can't make head nor tail of them, all I know is that the sound blaster is next to useless because: EMI and the internal sound (realtek) is pretty shonky (not delivering the sound experience of the sound blaster except for the benefit of not having raw electrical arcing noise comign throught he speakers).

I do have an external DAC, but it cost 10 quid so is likely literally just there to take a digital signal from my onboard sound and convert it to analogue for my speakers...like for like (no special effects).
 
It's really noddy. Something I bought to test the theory that the interference was on the wire (it wasn't). It's called a PRO-SIGNAL PSG3432 DAC. Literally says "HD Video/Audio Converter".

Without the spatial effects (aka enhancements), my onboard sound isn't doing the job it's supposed to. I have re-enabled enhancements since without them the sound output for games just isn't correct (you only get part of the sound so what's the point?). Happier now I know that Cyberpunk and Detroid: Become Human are known for having a sound bug that sounds like mine. The Sound Blaster issue is irritating but I am going to send it back to them to tell me nothing is structurally wrong with it. Makes me think of the Jam episode with the TV that's full of lizards.

ALSO I know I'm in the wrong place to say this but I am using the HDMI sound output from my GPU now anyway...I am not an audiophile but when a character in game says "he wanted to go out with a bang" and there was no bang, even my deaf ears knows something is wrong! Or when all I can hear is loud footsteps and no background traffic noise...Farcry 5 has saved my sanity with this one...I think I am reconciled to using HDMI (Nvidia driver) over my onboard sound because...what's the difference anyway!?
 
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Whatever is going on, without "enhancements" the sound appears to be out. I have a very simple two speaker setup, set to stereo. I think games are trying to output to a 7.1 system without letting me set options to not do this. I am not sure if the "enhancements" are just processing that surround stream into one single stereo stream. Either way, without the enhancements on, I only get part of the picture.
 
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