Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 Mainboard -- Issue with the onboard audio

Stu_UK

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Apr 17, 2014
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In late December/early January I assembled a new PC of above average spec and despite some very minor niggles I am for all intents and purposes a satisfied customer. The mainboard for this new build is a Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 – Rev 1.1 on which it’s audio components are supplied and run by Realtek. Broadly speaking this new PC is a dream to use, but four months in I find myself becoming more and more needy for a solution to an issue that has been present with the system’s audio since the first time I switched the machine on.

The problem is that whatever it is I'm running, the audio for any application or file is absolutely gutless and lacking in any warmth whatsoever, simply because all the bass content of the sound is not coming from the subwoofer but is in fact sharing the front-right channel. I have attempted to correct the issue by adjusting equaliser settings, installing and running some software which claims to be able to manipulate the audio (not that it did in the way I wanted it to!), I’ve tried reallocating jack plug positions (using Realtek's own audio utility) and I have of course tried reinstalling the drivers but still the problem persists. I even attempted to plug the sub into the front-right channel's jack point which gave me all the bass I could ever want but of course all the higher frequency stuff (which is supposed to go through the front-right speaker) was passed through there as well making for a situation that was just as bad if not worse.

I can confirm that the machine is currently running the most up to date Realtek drivers (R3.75 -- Audio Driver Version: 6.0.1.7037 -- Audio Codec: ALC898) available for download offered by the Gigabyte website. I can confirm that the speaker configuration has been correctly set to reflect the fact that I am running a 5.1 setup and that Realtek's sanity check utility confirms that the machine knows what each of these speakers are (including the subwoofer). I can also confirm that despite this persistent fine tuning issue the machine does still output audio, be it for my movies, my music and my games (thank Christ!) or I wouldn't have been able to put up with this situation for a day, let alone four months!

One more observation that will really screw up this diagnosis: I use VLC player, QuickTime, Windows Media, iTunes, PowerDVD, not to mention my games... All of these softwares output this gutless sounding audio; YouTube however plays absolutely fine! – On YouTube the bass content is powerfully present and coming through the sub, I mean wtf!! (???)

I have sent Gigabyte a webmail (14th April) using their own technical support system, requesting their assistance on this issue but they have yet to get back to me; I cattle prodded them again yesterday and still nothing! I e-mailed technical support at Realtek (15th April) and I'm getting no response from them either! - Just where the hell is the support? Is there a consensus between these manufacturers' to not give a s***??
I would really appreciate it if anyone around the forum could get back to me with a solution (or two!). The PC is running Windows 7 professional (64-Bit).

Thanks in advance.

 
Solution
Hi Peeps!

My situation has evolved somewhat...

A week or so ago I copied most of the opening post of this thread to the Gigabyte forum where I shared some approaches with some fellow forum members on how I am to deal with this issue.

Their suggestions:
• Confirmation that the jack plugs were in the correct sockets.
• Confirmation that the jack sockets were correctly assigned to the correct speakers through the Realtek HD Audio manager software.
• Confirmation that my internal audio connector was an HD one and not an AC'97.
• Review the relevant pages of the manual (GA-X79-UD3: Page 29 (internal connectors), Page 98 Section 5-2 (configuration), Page 99 Items C & D (front panel)).
• Check the connectors at the back of the subwoofer...

Stu_UK

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Hi Trekzone! - No I haven't looked into that. To be honest, during the purchase period of this particular mainboard I was so obsessed with ensuring that I found a supplier that could send me one that had it's BIOS flashed to F16 (which Scan Computers do as a point of policy by the way, thus making all their stock of X79's Ivy Bridge-E ready) that I wasn't even aware that they had progressed to F20.

Cheers for the heads up.
 

Stu_UK

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Apr 17, 2014
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Thanks for the suggestion Mickyphoenix; it does ring a bell as something I have checked before but I followed up your suggestion today just in case. Unfortunately I must confirm that every channel (including the subwoofer) and their balance levels (where relevant) are all set to 100%.

What we should keep in mind is that regardless of the state of my current balance or equaliser settings, YouTube videos play through sounding 100% correct; yet if I download a proven video from YouTube and play it through again using one of my choice players, all the bass content is sent to the front-right speaker and the sub is as good as mute. Just what is it about the soundtrack to a video that's viewed through Internet Explorer that doesn't translate correctly when run through say VLC Player?

What my somewhat limited experience is suggesting to me is that I need a driver update that directly acknowledges this concern... Or I need a way of significantly reducing the bass content sent to the front-right channel and increasing the bass content to the sub; I've never seen a utility of software that offers that kind of flexibility.

 

Stu_UK

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Apr 17, 2014
11
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4,520
Hi Peeps!

My situation has evolved somewhat...

A week or so ago I copied most of the opening post of this thread to the Gigabyte forum where I shared some approaches with some fellow forum members on how I am to deal with this issue.

Their suggestions:
• Confirmation that the jack plugs were in the correct sockets.
• Confirmation that the jack sockets were correctly assigned to the correct speakers through the Realtek HD Audio manager software.
• Confirmation that my internal audio connector was an HD one and not an AC'97.
• Review the relevant pages of the manual (GA-X79-UD3: Page 29 (internal connectors), Page 98 Section 5-2 (configuration), Page 99 Items C & D (front panel)).
• Check the connectors at the back of the subwoofer are plugged in correctly.
• See what the Windows Sound manager makes of the 5.1 setup
• Uninstall the Realtek audio drivers and allow Windows to manage the audio instead.
• Test with a different set of speakers in a 5.1 setup.

e-Support at Gigabyte also suggested that I update the BIOS to F20 which I might consider but they have to lay to rest certain reservations that I have first before I'll even consider that.

Now the solution, at least in part... Uninstall the Realtek audio drivers and allow Windows to manage the audio instead:

I uninstalled the Realtek drivers (again, but this time holding on the reinstallation of said drivers) and configured the PC to run the audio using the Windows Sound manager. The sound manager allowed me to manipulate all the aspects of the sound that were apparently missing on my Realtek manager like say the Bass Management. The sanity check confirmed that all was good (didn't celebrate at that point!); I then made a bee line for one of the videos shortcut to VLC Player and then BOOM - VLC Player was making use of the sub for the very first time since this work of art PC of mine was born in to existence.- A beautiful moment to be sure!

Whilst the situation has considerably improved I would still rather Realtek drivers were running the show; my Dolby Surround software environment (supplied with the motherboard) no longer fires up as a result of this workaround and lets face it a £1600 PC should have to weather next to no compromise.

Hope others find this thread of some use.
 
Solution