Hi everyone,
i'm having a sound issue with my new system and am currently aiming at the mainboard as cause. Unfortunatly i cannot find matching threads anywhere, but i already did quite some testing, started a similar thread in a german forum and where able to rule out quite a bit.
First of all it's only audible from grounded speakers, which are monitor speakers in my case - with in ear plugs there's no noice at all. And the problem shows either on the back panel and on the front panel outlets.
Next i'll try to describe the characteristics of the given noise, although i'm not good at this - especially not in english.
When using the web browser theres an occasional low noise, you might call sizzling, crackling or spatter - i'm not sure, if these are the right words. It relates to ui activity. I can force its occurance by mouse over links or similar reactive ui elements or get a sequence of that noice by scrolling up and down.
With a static screen content there is no noice at least with plain window applications.
Within a game (SWTOR) it gets much worse, i.e. louder and not occasional at all. Still i can pause it for a short moment, when i open a window ingame (world map for example). The noices change with the screen content.
With Render Test, that comes with GPU-Z.0.6.7, i get a constant noice, that changes its frequency with the changes of the rendered "light cloud". And i would'nt call this noice sinus while it's still some periodic function.
I made out that the noices intensity and maybe its characteristics change with the used PCIe standard. My new video card and the mainboard as well are capable of PCIe 3.0. Which they are using depends on load - i've seen 1.1 and 3.0. While using other cards for testing i've seen use of 2.0. It gets worse the higher the standard in use gets.
So the problem relates to graphics load as well as to PCIe standard in use. It does not relate to CPU load - tested with Prime95. It also does not relate to software sound settings, i.e. it's not affected by volume settings or muting Windows wide. Even deactivating the onboard sound chip in BIOS/UEFI doesn't change anything. By the way the onboard sound chip is the sound device in use all the time.
Here come my system specs and after that i tell you, what i've done so far to figure it out.
new
case : Antec P-183 V3
mainboard: MSI Z77A-G43
CPU : Intel Core-i5 3570S
RAM : G.Skill F3-1600C9D-16GAR
graphics : Gigabyte HD 7850 OC 2GB
cooling : Zalman CNPS11X Performa + NB eLoop B12-PS PWM
+ 2 * NB eLoop B12-2
old/kept
PSU : bequiet! Straight Power Dual Rail 400W
HDD1 : WDC_WD1600AAJS-22PSA0 SATA
HDD2 : WDC_WD20EARS-00MVWB0 SATA
DVD/RW : HL-DT-ST_DVDRAM_GH20NS10 SATA
via USB usually two ext. HDDs (2,5 inch)
via USB mouse, keyboard, microphon
via DVI NEC 24WMGX³
via TRS connector Monitorlautsprecher plus sometimes Logitech PureFi mobile
What i've done so far
I've changed the PSU against a 750W FSP Group one to see if my old one's getting weak and maybe causing the problem. But the problem kept showing. Also with a Sapphire GTX 570 or a MSI 9600 GT - the problem kept showing. Although with them ingame it wasn't as ugly as with my new Radeon card, which i put on using the PCIe 2.0 standard - the highest both nVidia cards can do.
I diconnected all front panel connectors except for POWER_SW. No change. I tested ground points at my PC and my monitor for being connected with ground in the junction box in my appartment. That included ground on back panel connectors, case screws, the DVI out of the graphics card and the monitors ground over DVI and audio cable. They all give way for a DC. I did a lot of other things for testing, while being quite redundant.
In absence of any measuring devices i did some "measuring" with my not grounded stereo. That means i listened to the differenced between some points at the back of my PC. I disconnected DVI and Audio to disconnect the monitors ground. To get these differences i used ground and left channel of my stereos audio input. As noice to detect i used the ongoing frequency changing noice CPU-Zs Render Test gives me. I put a number to every difference i heard. That scale isn't linear of course, but same values indicate there's no audible difference in intensity.
GG - ground graphics card at DVI out
GM - ground mainboard at back panel connectors (DVI or VGA)
AL/AR/AG - audio-out at back panel left/right/ground
GP - ground power socket
AL - GG = 2
AR - GG < 2 // it's a bit quieter than its neighbors
AG - GG = 2
GM - GG = 2
AL - GM = 0,2 // hard to hear under the given white noice,
AR - GM = 0,2 // but by repeatedly opening/closing
AG - GM = 0,2 // i could make it out
AL - AG ~ 0.0
AR - AG ~ 0.0
AR - AL -> monotonous buzzing
GG - GP = 1 // maybe a bit quieter than the following
GM - GP = 1
AL - GP = 1
AR - GP = 1
AG - GP = 1
I hope that's some information. What i need to decide is if my new mainboard is faulty or not. I bought it one week ago, what lefts me another week to return it without any complication. RMA-ing would of course still be possible after that. Still i'm not starving for disassembling my new system.
I would appriciate your help. Let it be in making a decision or further nailing down the cause (while i'm unfortunately not blessed with lots of testing possibilities).
Greetings,
Micha.
i'm having a sound issue with my new system and am currently aiming at the mainboard as cause. Unfortunatly i cannot find matching threads anywhere, but i already did quite some testing, started a similar thread in a german forum and where able to rule out quite a bit.
First of all it's only audible from grounded speakers, which are monitor speakers in my case - with in ear plugs there's no noice at all. And the problem shows either on the back panel and on the front panel outlets.
Next i'll try to describe the characteristics of the given noise, although i'm not good at this - especially not in english.
When using the web browser theres an occasional low noise, you might call sizzling, crackling or spatter - i'm not sure, if these are the right words. It relates to ui activity. I can force its occurance by mouse over links or similar reactive ui elements or get a sequence of that noice by scrolling up and down.
With a static screen content there is no noice at least with plain window applications.
Within a game (SWTOR) it gets much worse, i.e. louder and not occasional at all. Still i can pause it for a short moment, when i open a window ingame (world map for example). The noices change with the screen content.
With Render Test, that comes with GPU-Z.0.6.7, i get a constant noice, that changes its frequency with the changes of the rendered "light cloud". And i would'nt call this noice sinus while it's still some periodic function.
I made out that the noices intensity and maybe its characteristics change with the used PCIe standard. My new video card and the mainboard as well are capable of PCIe 3.0. Which they are using depends on load - i've seen 1.1 and 3.0. While using other cards for testing i've seen use of 2.0. It gets worse the higher the standard in use gets.
So the problem relates to graphics load as well as to PCIe standard in use. It does not relate to CPU load - tested with Prime95. It also does not relate to software sound settings, i.e. it's not affected by volume settings or muting Windows wide. Even deactivating the onboard sound chip in BIOS/UEFI doesn't change anything. By the way the onboard sound chip is the sound device in use all the time.
Here come my system specs and after that i tell you, what i've done so far to figure it out.
new
case : Antec P-183 V3
mainboard: MSI Z77A-G43
CPU : Intel Core-i5 3570S
RAM : G.Skill F3-1600C9D-16GAR
graphics : Gigabyte HD 7850 OC 2GB
cooling : Zalman CNPS11X Performa + NB eLoop B12-PS PWM
+ 2 * NB eLoop B12-2
old/kept
PSU : bequiet! Straight Power Dual Rail 400W
HDD1 : WDC_WD1600AAJS-22PSA0 SATA
HDD2 : WDC_WD20EARS-00MVWB0 SATA
DVD/RW : HL-DT-ST_DVDRAM_GH20NS10 SATA
via USB usually two ext. HDDs (2,5 inch)
via USB mouse, keyboard, microphon
via DVI NEC 24WMGX³
via TRS connector Monitorlautsprecher plus sometimes Logitech PureFi mobile
What i've done so far
I've changed the PSU against a 750W FSP Group one to see if my old one's getting weak and maybe causing the problem. But the problem kept showing. Also with a Sapphire GTX 570 or a MSI 9600 GT - the problem kept showing. Although with them ingame it wasn't as ugly as with my new Radeon card, which i put on using the PCIe 2.0 standard - the highest both nVidia cards can do.
I diconnected all front panel connectors except for POWER_SW. No change. I tested ground points at my PC and my monitor for being connected with ground in the junction box in my appartment. That included ground on back panel connectors, case screws, the DVI out of the graphics card and the monitors ground over DVI and audio cable. They all give way for a DC. I did a lot of other things for testing, while being quite redundant.
In absence of any measuring devices i did some "measuring" with my not grounded stereo. That means i listened to the differenced between some points at the back of my PC. I disconnected DVI and Audio to disconnect the monitors ground. To get these differences i used ground and left channel of my stereos audio input. As noice to detect i used the ongoing frequency changing noice CPU-Zs Render Test gives me. I put a number to every difference i heard. That scale isn't linear of course, but same values indicate there's no audible difference in intensity.
GG - ground graphics card at DVI out
GM - ground mainboard at back panel connectors (DVI or VGA)
AL/AR/AG - audio-out at back panel left/right/ground
GP - ground power socket
AL - GG = 2
AR - GG < 2 // it's a bit quieter than its neighbors
AG - GG = 2
GM - GG = 2
AL - GM = 0,2 // hard to hear under the given white noice,
AR - GM = 0,2 // but by repeatedly opening/closing
AG - GM = 0,2 // i could make it out
AL - AG ~ 0.0
AR - AG ~ 0.0
AR - AL -> monotonous buzzing
GG - GP = 1 // maybe a bit quieter than the following
GM - GP = 1
AL - GP = 1
AR - GP = 1
AG - GP = 1
I hope that's some information. What i need to decide is if my new mainboard is faulty or not. I bought it one week ago, what lefts me another week to return it without any complication. RMA-ing would of course still be possible after that. Still i'm not starving for disassembling my new system.
I would appriciate your help. Let it be in making a decision or further nailing down the cause (while i'm unfortunately not blessed with lots of testing possibilities).
Greetings,
Micha.
Last edited:
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