Microphone Issue On New Build

[KonkyWonky]

Hi Guys, I'd appreciate some advice around my new build which is giving me issues with microphone distortion.

The distortion only occurs when I'm gaming, which I'm presuming is due to the load on the GPU creating coil whine/additional EMI which is causing the issue. The distortion isn't present immediately, the microphone works fine for around 30 mins and then the distortion appears. It doesn't build up over that 30 minutes, it's like someone hits a switch and all of a sudden the distortion appears. If I disconnect the headphones USB connector and then reconnect the distortion disappears but returns 30 minutes later.

I've read previous threads and tried lowering the input and changing the usual suggested settings, but nothing seems to have made any difference.

I'm currently using Hyper X Cloud Revolver 7.1 headphones which connect to the PC via USB. The headphones connect to a control box which lets you adjust volume, mic input etc so not sure if this is essentially doing the job an external sound card would do? I was considering this route but if the control box I currently have is essentially an external sound card it doesn't look like that would help.

Any advice appreciated.

 

[Jupiter]

First step is troubleshooting the exact problem. Try replicate the issue with another mic, and try replicate with the GPU removed, etc. I'd also try out various versions of drivers for your headset, in case it's a software issue

 

[tereu5]

Can you connect headphones with a cable to check if connections is an issue as well?

 

[KonkyWonky]

Not quite so easy to replicate the issue without the GPU as I don't have a surrogate and my onboard GPU won't let me replicate the load due to the lower power draw.

I bought a cheap DAC which seems to have resolved the issue of the distortion. I'm presuming this means the issue is EMI between the GPU and Motherboard soundcard.

There is a little static via the DAC which I can get around by lowering input etc. Just need to deicide whether this is acceptable longer term or do I purchase a better quality DAC which I presume will offer bettwe performance.