Buzzing sound from motherboard when playing games (e.g. halflife2, counterstrike)

[kwo]

I've just put a new build together:

Athlon XP 64 4200+
Asus A8N32 deluxe
2x1gb Corsair XMS
EVGA 7800GT 256mb (N517 470mhz clock)
2 x 160GB Seagate SATA 7200.7
onboard sound OR Creative Live! PCI soundcard
Windows XP Pro
Seasonic S12 500W PSU
Lian Li PC60Aplus

The system is nice and quiet - stable through Prime95 and with the latest Nvidia Forceware and nForce drivers.

I decided to stress test the system by loading up Half-life 2 and playing a bit. As soon as the initial screen pops up, a strange buzzing noise starts emanating from the computer and through the headphones - very annoying, to say the least.

As soon as I stop the game, the buzzing goes away.

Also, whenever the HD is accessed(e.g. to load the next level), the buzzing momentarily stops - weird!

I can't figure out where the buzzing noise is coming from - but I think it's either the MB or the video card. Unfortunately, I don't have any extra components to test with.

I have confirmed it is NOT the fans or PSU, but appears to be the MB or GPU - I just can't tell....but it seems to be coming from the lower/lower right side of the MB (with CPU oriented up)

Disabling the onboard sound and using my old Creative Live! PCI soundcard eliminates the buzzing through the headphones - but I can still hear the buzzing from the computer.

Would anyone have any ideas what is causing this?

 

[Auric]

I have heard claims of buzzing CPU's and GPU's before but nothing substantiated. You could try momentarily stopping fans and perhaps listening through a tube to try narrowing down the source. It seems unlikely that fans spinning up with the increased load would cause interference to be heard in the headphones so I am guessing the likely culprit is a poor PSU.

 

[JAG87]

you must be clearly using onboard sound. get a sound card.

 

[goobernoodles]

Do you have line in, cd in etc muted?

 

[kwo]

Originally posted by: JAG87
you must be clearly using onboard sound. get a sound card.

I edited my OP to show that I tested this by using an old Creative Live! PCI soundcard I had laying around (had forgotten 'til late last night...)

Originally posted by: goobernoodles
Do you have line in, cd in etc muted?

no - and I'm not sure how that would cause buzzing from the computer (but I understand if the sound were strictly through the headphones - but it's not..hmmm....)

Still bad buzzing coming from the system....

 

[ronnn]

Originally posted by: goobernoodles
Do you have line in, cd in etc muted?

If I have mic enabled, but no mic on I get buzzing through my speakers. The line in stuff is delicate.

edit: The system buzzing when in 3d does sound like a power supply problem though.

 

[kwo]

Originally posted by: ronnn

Originally posted by: goobernoodles
Do you have line in, cd in etc muted?

If I have mic enabled, but no mic on I get buzzing through my speakers. The line in stuff is delicate.

edit: The system buzzing when in 3d does sound like a power supply problem though.

thanks for the thought - the buzzing is no longer present through headphones if I use the creative card instead of onboard sound. This is what makes me think it may be a motherboard issue, perhaps?

But, if it was the power supply, then why would the buzzing be coming from down on the motherboard - with the PS being as quiet as can be (Seasonic S12 500W)?

 

[ronnn]

Sorry the search function is not working, but there have been a couple of threads in video about squealing and buzzing when going into 3d. If I remember right it was the frequency of a particular ps when it was pulling high load and how it seemed resonate or something with a compacitator. Anyways I likely got this wrong, but I do remember the power supply part. :beer:

 

[Slaimus]

On my old AthlonXP 1600, I would get that if I turned on the "STPGNT State" low power mode.

In your case, it is probably a faulty coil on one of the voltage regulators. Some of them will hum when a lot of power passes through them and cause EMI.

 

[duragezic]

Its your onboard sound I'd say. My old Barton/NF2 system would have that buzzing sound through headphones, though it only occured when there was no sound (i.e. just sitting in windows). Either way, when I bought a Audigy it went away, and it never happened with speakers, only headphones.

 

[kwo]

Originally posted by: Slaimus
On my old AthlonXP 1600, I would get that if I turned on the "STPGNT State" low power mode.

In your case, it is probably a faulty coil on one of the voltage regulators. Some of them will hum when a lot of power passes through them and cause EMI.

OK, to translate )), are you saying that something is wrong on the motherboard - and that it will need to be replaced? Or is there some 'fix".......

 

[pm]

In my experience, buzzing problems like these are usually caused by poor grounding. There is no really easy way to fix it though if it's built into the motherboard. Just a bad design.

Like Slaimus said, it's caused by EMI - of which, as he said, inductors are usually a likely culprit - but how the EMI gets into the headphones is caused by poor component grounding. So, in a nutshell, something on your motherboard is making noise - could be the video card power system too based on the fact you hear it during HL2 - and your onboard sound system was poorly designed and is picking up on the this noise.

Solution is to use a "real" soundcard since the designers of these know how to prevent these kind of problems.

One other possible solution - which is not likely to help, but may, is to enable Spread Spectrum Control in the BIOS (if you have the option in there - usually under the PCI menu, sometimes under Memory or Peripherals). It's worth a shot, but I wouldn't think the sound of the noise is from the PCI bus... but you never know.

 

[kwo]

Originally posted by: pm
In my experience, buzzing problems like these are usually caused by poor grounding. There is no really easy way to fix it though if it's built into the motherboard. Just a bad design.

Like Slaimus said, it's caused by EMI - of which, as he said, inductors are usually a likely culprit - but how the EMI gets into the headphones is caused by poor component grounding. So, in a nutshell, something on your motherboard is making noise - could be the video card power system too based on the fact you hear it during HL2 - and your onboard sound system was poorly designed and is picking up on the this noise.

Solution is to use a "real" soundcard since the designers of these know how to prevent these kind of problems.

One other possible solution - which is not likely to help, but may, is to enable Spread Spectrum Control in the BIOS (if you have the option in there - usually under the PCI menu, sometimes under Memory or Peripherals). It's worth a shot, but I wouldn't think the sound of the noise is from the PCI bus... but you never know.

Thanks for the explanation. So, would this be grounds for RMA'ing and getting a new board, you think?

 

[JimPhelpsMI]

Hi, On at least one occasion I have seen buzzing (Humming) from the speakers/earphone using a PCI sound card. The card was in the next slot from another card, I don't remember what it was. Moving the sound card another slot away cured the problem. Not much chance to move if your MB has only 2 PCI slots. Maybe, Jim

 

[Bluestealth]

Originally posted by: JimPhelpsMI
Hi, On at least one occasion I have seen buzzing (Humming) from the speakers/earphone using a PCI sound card. The card was in the next slot from another card, I don't remember what it was. Moving the sound card another slot away cured the problem. Not much chance to move if your MB has only 2 PCI slots. Maybe, Jim

This is often caused by sharing an IRQ with a device like a graphic or network adapter on that slot, though it could also be caused by a badly designed card near it.

 

[kwo]

Originally posted by: JimPhelpsMI
Hi, On at least one occasion I have seen buzzing (Humming) from the speakers/earphone using a PCI sound card. The card was in the next slot from another card, I don't remember what it was. Moving the sound card another slot away cured the problem. Not much chance to move if your MB has only 2 PCI slots. Maybe, Jim

Thanks or the reply - but this problem happens without any pci cards installed. INstalling my old Creative Live! card eliminates the problem through the headphones because, I think, the onboard sound is picking up the buzz since it is on the MB too.....

I'm going to try and RMA it, I think. It's annoying.

Even DXDiagnose causes it to happen when doing hte Direct Tests.....

 

[SpunkyJones]

Its a common complaint for on-board sound. I would simpley use a real sound card.

 

[kwo]

Originally posted by: SpunkyJones
Its a common complaint for on-board sound. I would simpley use a real sound card.

I've edited my title - because my main issue is not the buzzing through the headphones (corrected by my Soundblaster Live! card), but the buzz emanating directly from the motherboard.

Thanks for the suggestion.....