Low volume from 790FX-GD70 onboard audio(Realtek ALC889)

Terry1212

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I recently purchased a number of computer parts from Newegg because I wanted to build a new computer. You can see the parts in my sig. I installed the audio driver that came with the motherboard(R2.21). I noticed immediately that no matter how I configured the audio manager, the volume was not very loud even with all levels turned all the way up. I have the headphones connected to the rear green jack. In the audio manager, I have the jack configured for stereo, headphones. I downloaded the latest driver, R2.29, installed it, and the volume dropped significantly. I then went back to the R2.21 drivers. I tried front audio as well. Same thing. I tried toggling "Virtual Surround" and "Loudness Equalization". It doesn't matter what I adjust, the volume isn't loud. I can hear it "good", but it's not loud. Could someone who has experience with this motherboard and/or onboard audio chipset shed some light as to what I can do to make the audio louder?

Adding sig:
Raidmax Smilodon case
Antec TruePower New TP-750 Blue 750W PSU
MSI 790FX-GD70 MB
AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE
4GB Mushkin DDR3 1600 RAM
HIS Radeon HD 4890
Seagate Barracuda 1TB
Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit
 
Welcome to the Forums!

Try the following:

1) Go into your control panel and open the Sounds and Audio Devices Properties.
2) Make sure the Master Volume is turned to High.
3) Click on the first Advanced button (directly under the main volume slider) and make sure all the sliders are all the way to the top.
4) Click on the second Advanced button (in the Speaker Settings section) and make sure Headphones is selected.
5) Click on the Speaker Volume button and make sure everything is turned up to High.
 

johnnyq1233

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Most onboard audio does not have a 'hot' enough signal for headphones.
That said, if you have a speaker system with the headphone jack on it you'll get lots of output from that.
I take it that you're running hi-end headphones......
Do you have a speaker system?
 

johnnyq1233

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Wel, as I see it you have two choices....
1) get a creative sound card....about 80.00

2) get a speaker system with the headphone jack....30.00 to 80.00

Other then that I don't know of any other fix for your issue..if anyone else has an idea maybe they could post it...

Maybe you know someone with a set of speakers for the comp that might let you try them out..hope this helps.

JQ
 
No, I think you pretty well covered it johnny.

Onboard sound is pretty basic and I doubt the amp is strong enough to power anything substantial.
Your options are really as laid out above.
A new sound card, a powered speaker system with a headphone jack (which may or may not work depending on how it is wired up) or less substantial headphones.
 

Terry1212

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Thanks. I'm glad I'm looking at a good one. If you don't mind, could you tell me your opinion of the 790FX-GD70's onboard audio? I found the quality to be very good, it just wasn't very loud, at least through headphones. I haven't tried speakers yet. Is this something you can relate to?
 

yannifb

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Well my mic has it's own adjuster to make the volume even louder, so the onboard was decent however with that sound blaster it can get very loud
 

slaveondope

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I have looked everywhere there has to be something to boost the volume on these Realtek HD onboard cards they only show 64db output that is horrible quiet HELP US!

Other than spend more money! Just need a master db booster or something.
 

Terry1212

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It seriously is stupid quiet though. I can't believe there hasn't been an uproar about it to be perfectly honest. I mean, the volume on the Realtek ALC889 is not loud at all. It's so low that it's annoying. A lot of the high end motherboards out right now have this particular onboard audio, in yet people aren't letting their voice be heard? I gotta say that the audio quality the Creative SB Xtreme Gamer puts out is very good, but I gotta say I do not recommend Creative X-Fi sound cards at the moment. In Windows Vista and 7 I and many others have experienced the driver causing a memory leak in AudioDG.exe when certain programs are running. AudioDG.exe has grown to over 2GB on me on a couple occasions. In order to prevent the memory leak, I am forced to disable the audio enhancements, which really p*sses me off because I spent $90 for a sound card, in yet I can't enjoy the benefits of it, other than the fact that it is louder than the crappy ALC889. For Christ's sake, sound cards suck.