Sound card interference with GPU

Masterdeadly

Masterdeadly

Masterdeadly

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Hi,

I recently received my new Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro headset and Antlion Modmic. Everything is brilliant apart from one minor problem. When I play games my mic has a hissing/rumbling sound. Now I've had this issue in the past and I'm pretty certain it's interference from the Graphics card affecting my sound card. I've moved them as far away on my mobo as possible which is probably 4 inches but its still enough to cause this problem.

How do people fix this as this issue must happen to near enough everyone with sound cards? I have the ASUS Xonar DGX.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

*Edit* a lot of people have experienced this problem and the only fix is to "Separate all input jacks as independent input devices" from what I've read you can do this on your sound cards GUI but I can't find it on the ASUS control panel anywhere. Apparently it's easily done through the Realtek Audio Manager but I can't use that as I have the Asus control panel?

Regards Masterdeadly.
 
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Marsman said:
This cannot be done with the majority of sound cards. It's bizarre that Realtek's onboard audio offerings can do these things, yet sound cards that cost a fair bit more money, can't. Maybe Realtek should start making proper sound cards. :p

One thing you could try is disconnect the front case leads from the motherboard, see if that makes any difference. Front case sockets are grounded at the case, but also at the motherboard. This creates a ground loop, which can affect audio. If that doesn't help and you've moved the card as far from the graphics card as possible, then there isn't a lot more you can do.

EMI is the bane of sound cards. It can turn a great sound card, into something that is completely useless. Sadly it's the luck of the draw. You may stick a sound card in a PC and it will work perfectly fine. In another PC though, it may not work at all. Another guy has this problem with a D1. He is pondering buying a sound card with an EMI shield. They are not fool proof though. Yes they can help, but they can only do so much. If there is too much EMI, they can be ineffective. As I said to him, if you can return a sound card with an EMI cover under DSR if it doesn't solve the problem, then it might be worth a shot. If you can't though, it's not a cheap way to find out than an EMI cover did nothing to help.

This is the reason why some people won't touch sound cards, because they exist in a electrically noisy environment.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by front case leads?

I just find it ridiculous that this can happen, surely 50%+ people who own these sound cards have the same issue as the slots are simply to close for this not to happen.
 
Marsman said:
Ok, thought it was worth a shot.

Best bet is to try a card with a EMI cover then. The only concern I have, is that if you buy a new card and it's no different, it's a lot to spend to be stuck in the same situation. If you can return the card under DSR though and get a refund, then it's certainly worth trying one.
Click to expand...

I guess I have no real choice so I will try it, thank you for your help.
 
Tobes said:
Really sorry to say but I had this problem with my Essence STX. In the end I sent it back. I have since got a new motherboard though so would like to buy a new one and see if that clears it up but if it doesn't then I wouldn't have any idea what it could be.

It's annoying I know. My £120 soundcard was getting EMI from a graphics card. Really? Ugh. What's worse is Asus don't seem to acknowledge the problem but you can find youtube videos and threads of it from other people.
Click to expand...

There doesn't seem to be a fix for it which is what aggrevates me, I'm surprised ASUS don't recognise this fault and do their best to eradicate it. I'll report back once I've fitted my Creative SB, which should be delivered today so I'll post once I get home from work.
 
Right so I'm now using the Creative Sound Blaster sound card, first things first it looks like the problems of static interference have gone but I must say my mic quality is majorly insuperior to what it was with the ASUS Xonar DGX, On the Sound Blaster control panel I have the option of Noise Reduction and Acoustic echo cancellation. With these Off I sound like I did with the ASUS card but with a load of static noise or muffle in the background. Turning these two options on removes that but my voice is still coming through with a muffling sound.

I have the Antlion Modmic and it is supposed to sound crystal clear but I can't achieve this with the sound blaster. any ideas ?
 
Thanks for the reply Marsman.

Here is the Control Panel:> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejPwXh23zW0

As you can see you rely on the noise reduction being selected to make the mic bearable, but even when it's on you don't get that modmic clarity.

I've tried it with my old Plantronic 780 headset and the same applies. The AntLion Modmic sounded crystal clear on my ASUS card but obviously had some EMI issues. Now my mic just sounds average from start to finish.

If Melmac could give me any suggestions that would be great. If I can't work out a solution soon I think I'll DSR it and opt for something else.

*edit*

Then again saying that, I'd rather it be like this than have EMI issues again so I'd have to weigh up my options before DSR'ing it.
 
Marsman said:
Strange that you're getting microphone problems with two different brands of sound card, yet no EMI at all in regard to the output sound.

What about onboard audio; is the same static interference present using your microphone with that? Sorry if you've already mentioned this. CBA to trawl though the posts! :o
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Yeah there's a lot of static/muffle in the background of both sound card recording and on-board but I didn't expect that with the sound card as the ASUS Xonar DGX didn't suffer from this whatsoever?
 
Marsman said:
DGX I could understand, as it's only a £20 card. Yes it's great for what it is really little money, but I would expect a more expensive card to have better shielding, even cards without a EMI cover. One would expect a card with a EMI cover such as the Z to fare considerably better, especially given that there is no EMI affecting the audio output. If there were too much EMI, the whole card would be affected.

Sound cards are a lottery to a point. The DGX and SB Z, could be placed in a different system and work perfectly well. I guess for audio purposes that's what makes PC's not ideal machines. There are a raft of different brands and combinations of components that make testing whether a sound card works within any given system, nigh on impossible. If you buy an audio product, every component is selected so it runs as well as it can do. A PC on the other hand is a mish mash of varying components that someone hopes is going to work, at least on an audio level.

I wonder if a USB microphone would fare any better.
Click to expand...

The recording quality of the DGX was vastly superior apart from the EMI issue. I just don't know what to do now lol, I want a sound card with EMI shielding and good recording quality I guess. The Z hasn't provided that for me.
 
It's such a shame because I'm immensely happy with the sound, it's literally brought my headphones to life.

I've got about a week to ponder before I make a decision on DSR I suppose.
 
Tobes said:
I was the same with the STX. The output and the mic when it worked sounded amazing and my friends agreed. Then I went to the onboard on my mobo which was supposed to be quite good and they complained. I miss the STX sooo much lol.
Click to expand...

What made you go back to onboard? EMI problems?
 
Tobes said:
Yup. However since then I have changed my mobo and cpu. So I'm really tempted to but a new one. But part of me wonders if it's a PSU problem as well. It's a shame I couldn't try it in another system or have spare parts to swap. I might buy one in a couple of weeks and take my chances.
Click to expand...

Can always just DSR it if it has the same problem. I just wish I knew what I could do to get rid of the problem, it astounds me that no one has found out a fix.
 
melmac said:
Hi, I am only after reading through this thread now. So sorry if this reply is too later!!

I wonder have you tried the Mic that came with the Z? Sorry if you have and posted it later in this thread, I am just answering the posts as I meet them, lazy I know :D

*Edit*

I should add that I went from a Asus xonar DG to the creative Z for the exact same reason EMI shielding. In my case it worked perfectly. But my situation was a little different, what was happening with me was buzzing noise everytime I moved my mouse while wearing headphones.
Click to expand...

Hi,

No I haven't tried that mic as I just assumed it would be bad :L but now that you mention it I'll give it a go and see what happens. Yeah I'd get the same problem with the Asus xonar DGX, when I scrolled the mouse wheel there was a fuzzy noise coming through the speakers.
 
Hi I'm back, I tried my microphone and ASUS Xonar DGX on my brothers computer which didn't suffer from any EMI issues at all.

Mic that came with the Sound Blaster Z was exactly the same as the modmic, needed noise reduction on sound blaster control panel to make the static vanish but then the mic quality drops off a cliff.

I tried putting my modmic into the onboard sound (Back of the case) but the background static/muffle is ridiculously loud.

Just tried the mic port on the top of my NZXT and that is the same, lot of background static sound.

Just to summarize what's going on then:

With the ASUS Xonar DGX I'm experiencing a crystal clear microphone out of games however EMI issues through the mic when playing games.
With the Creative Sound Blaster Z the EMI problems have gone, however there is a lot of background static/muffle which can be removed by using the noise reduction feature on the SB control panel but that decreases mic quality.

Not sure what to do :L
 
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