Tom's Hardware > Forum > Audio > Audio Technology > Front Panel Audio Problems
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lex-luther   11-10-2008 at 11:35:30 PM

When using front panel audio there is a loud buzzing sound only while playing games. When on the windows desktop the buzzing is not audible. If headphones are plugged into the rear audio ports, there is no buzzing on the desktop or in games. I have tested both the onboard audio and
a Creative X-Fi PCI express audio card but both produce the same result. My guess is that there is some audio interference happening with the front panel audio cable but I don't have any ideas what I can do to fix this.

Equipment:

eVGA 790i
Creative X-Fi PCI express
2x Geforce 8800 GTX SLI
2x1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3
Silverstone TJ-09 Case

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rexter   11-11-2008 at 07:48:48 AM
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Could be the driver that route the signal to the front output. If only happens when playing games.


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lex-luther   11-11-2008 at 07:54:02 PM
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Well the onboard audio is realtek and the pci express card is creative. They use different drivers so that couldn't be the problem.

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rexter   11-15-2008 at 02:46:19 AM
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My analysis tells me that if it's a hardware problem then you should hear the buzzing on whatever sources you use, and since you mentioned that you only hear it when playing games then that leads to drivers’ problem.

But if you hear the buzzing sound when playing other that games then it is your hardware. Trace the wire that connects your front panel to your motherboard; disconnect and use a VOM/Ohm meter and check for continuity. If the wire is fine then your motherboard is the culprit.

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higgsHunter   04-22-2009 at 07:15:15 PM
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I have the same problem. I have found that the main contributor to the interference is my video card (XFX 9800 GT). When I bring the HD audio cable near the 6-pin PCI-e cable connected to my card, the noise nearly doubles. To confirm that the problem arises from the high current drawn by the card, I borrowed a Quadro FX 370 from work, which does not have a PCI-e power connector. It nearly eliminated the buzzing. However, I am still picking some up from the fans and hard drive, but not even a tenth as much. This means that there is a problem with line noise from the power supply, ground loops or a poorly shielded HD audio cable. My guess is all of the above. Since I am not willing to downgrade my video cards, I have mostly given up on using the front panel for audio since the rear ports work perfectly.

EVGA 780i
2x XFX 9800 GT
SB X-Fi Titanium
Antec P180 case
Kingwin ABT-730MM PSU


Message edited by higgsHunter on 04-22-2009 at 07:34:03 PM
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lex-luther   04-22-2009 at 08:00:46 PM
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Poorly shielded cable was my hunch - problem is I could not find any information on how to shield a cable yourself. Maybe if someone else has some info on this they could share.

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rexter   04-25-2009 at 04:26:13 PM
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Sorry, I wasn't checking on this forum for a while.

higgsHunter is right, A poor construction of a power supply will lead to higher EMI/RFI, which will further influence by use of motherboard with more phases power designed to improve powerful handling to CPUs and others components the system supplies.

Soft ferrites is probobly the sollution. Try rerounting the front pannel audio cord if it's help.

If you know how to solder, replace the cord with RG-45 cable + a ferrite or two on both end of the cable.


Message edited by rexter on 04-25-2009 at 04:28:23 PM
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