Hissing sound when on some games

mufc802 · 12 Mar 2013 at 17:27

I have two KRK Rokit 5's connected to the PC via an RCA to a 3.5mm adapter which goes into the PC sound card an ASUS DG 5.1. It's only on games there is a hiss and not even on all games. Is there anyway to stop it the hissing sound?

Kei · 12 Mar 2013 at 17:30

Probably EMI being picked up from the graphics card.

Marsman · 12 Mar 2013 at 17:42

Doubt there is much you can do, if it is as Kei said. It's a common problem for sound cards, that can vary in it's severity. Some models or brands of graphics cards, or other components may be more likely to cause it than others. It's the luck of the draw sadly. You may put the same sound card in another system, and it may work with no EMI issues at all.

mufc802 · 12 Mar 2013 at 18:16

Interesting, I never thought of that. It never happened using my older speakers though which were Logitech S-220 2.1 Speakers.

Marsman · 12 Mar 2013 at 18:49

You haven't changed anything else, just the speakers?

mufc802 · 12 Mar 2013 at 19:56

No its only since replacing the old speakers for the studio monitor KRK's that it starting making a hissing sound.

Marsman · 12 Mar 2013 at 20:08

Most strange. On the face of it, it appears that it is EMI from the graphics card that is the issue. If a graphics card is going to affect anything, it's going to be at it's most intense when playing games. What happens when you use the onboard audio? Is that the same, or worse?

mufc802 · 13 Mar 2013 at 11:00

It is the exact same when plugging it into the on board audio rather than the sound card.

Marsman · 13 Mar 2013 at 11:10

Unless there is a ground loop when using the KRK speakers, I can't really see why this would only occur when playing certain games. If it were down the graphics card emitting enough EMI when playing games to cause this issue, I would have expected it to do the same with any speakers. S220 are poor quality speakers, but even poor speakers will reveal interference if there is any.

mufc802 · 13 Mar 2013 at 16:18

Do you think if I used XLR instead of RCA it might remove the noise?

sparkamatron · 13 Mar 2013 at 23:03

I just want to chime in and say I'm having the exact same problem (reason why I came here

)

I'm using RCA the same as mufc802 but I use an internal PCI firewire card to connect up to a Presonus firestudio mobile which then feeds to the KRKs.

I can confirm it's only on certain games, and more text on screen seems to create more noise, FTL is particularly bad for this. Games I can confirm currently make the hiss - FTL, Tomb Raider, Tropico 4.

Earlier I discovered that increasing/decreasing the volume has no effect on the level of the whine which is odd.

wazza300 · 14 Mar 2013 at 00:19

where are you guys hearing it from? through speakers or headphones or from the side of pc case?

its normal to hear slight coil whine from the side of the pc's case and in game menus but it shouldn't be heard at all through the speakers or headphones

for headphones test by unplugging the case front panel usb header from the motherboard

you can aso try with eist or intel speedstep disabled

sparkamatron · 14 Mar 2013 at 00:26

it's definitely the speakers it's coming through not the PC itself, I shall see if EIST or speedstep makes a difference

for reference this is me navigating the menus within FTL, sorry for the noobish attempt but I just wanted to record the audio

hxxp://youtu.be/AMqMVuGJg4g

wazza300 · 14 Mar 2013 at 00:28

you can reduce some of it by enabling vsync in games,

on menus the fps are really high and it makes the noise more,when its limited to 60 fps it reduces the noise cos the cards not running at silly fps

sparkamatron · 14 Mar 2013 at 00:33

Wow, I never thought it would be so simple. That seems to have reduced the screech to a low level buzz which I'm sure I can cover with the game audio. Thanks so much

wazza300 · 14 Mar 2013 at 00:37

vsync? it normal to hear the screech if its running 2000+ frames per second

if you have fraps youll see the actual fps in menus with no vsync

sparkamatron · 14 Mar 2013 at 01:04

yeah vsync seems to have resolved how high pitched it was, checking fraps in FTL was giving me 2k+ in menus and 5-600 ingame

now 60hz has a much lower buzz which I can tolerate.

Is there a reason why the frame rate seems to be creating this interference?

wazza300 · 14 Mar 2013 at 01:08

it limits the frames per second to 60,so your graphic card isn't working so hard = less or no noise

its to do with the caps or power phases on the graphic card or motherboard or inside the power supply,they can interfere with each other and create this noise

the x58 motherboards were very bad with this problem,sandybridge/ivybridge seem to do it less but that still leaves psu's and graphic cards

sparkamatron · 14 Mar 2013 at 01:19

actually my firewire card is pretty much sandwiched between my PSU & my gfx so that would make some sense

finally would I see any benefit if I got the interference shields you can put around your cables? as I've never had this issue using my 5.1 over hdmi (cable came with a shield) and optical, or is that just because it's being processed by my mobo/gfx instead of transmitted via the firewire?

and thanks again for all the assistance

wazza300 · 14 Mar 2013 at 01:23

Tbh I'm not sure,I've never tried,any shielding would help I guess,esp if the noise is coming through your speakers