Weird sound card issue

pistache007 · Feb 13, 2014

Hi,

I have a Creative Sound Blaster X-fi Xtreme Audio sitting in my case.

It goes nuts when playing games. It starts making a 'zzzzz' noise. It's only noticeable when I have the volume on a low level though.

To make it more complicated, this doesn't happen with all games. Some older games work fine with it.

I have tried switching to my onboard audio and that works just fine, but I don't like onboard audio.

Is my sound card getting interference from some component, and if so, why isn't my onboard audio getting interference?

jeremyp79 · Feb 13, 2014

It probably is an interference issue, with a fan motor or poor connection causing the whine.I had the same issue when I used a DVI to vga adapter on my video card, but switching to an HDMI cable cured it. Is this an option for you ?

pistache007 · Feb 13, 2014

jeremyp79 :

My monitor is connected with a HDMI cable, but I don't want to use the GPU audio. :/

jeremyp79 · Feb 13, 2014

pistache007 :

To clarify, it was my onboard audio making the buzzing with the DVI cable and adapter, but it's kind of a moot point apparently. Might try double checking your connections on the rear of hte system(HDMI, power cable, things of that nature) to make sure they are seated correctly.

pistache007 · Feb 13, 2014

jeremyp79 :

Yes, everything is seated correctly. I'm thinking I need a new sound card, but I just want to make sure if the new one will actually work. I've gotten a bit paranoid, because in the past I've gotten a lot of weird problems with a lot of sound cards.

jeremyp79 · Feb 13, 2014

Well, the buzzing issue is probably a result of some kind of electrical interference, and I doubt that a new one will have any better shielding from the interference than the one you have now. With it being more noticable with newer(ie more power intensive) games, I would venture a guess that the interference is coming from your power supply, or possibly graphics card if they are mounted close together. And as for the reason why your onboard sound isnt having the same issue, it's probably because of distance from the component causing the interference. Can you move the card to a different slot ?

pistache007 · Feb 13, 2014

jeremyp79 :

No, I can't, because it's a GTX 780 I'm running and I only have one PCIE x16 slot. Maybe I should just try one of these new sound cards with EMI shielding.

jeremyp79 · Feb 13, 2014

That might be your best idea, if your video card and sound card are in adjacent slots, thats probably where the issue is coming from.

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Weird sound card issue

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