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Problem with sound card on Gigabyte GA-K8N Ultra SLI

S

Stone1269

Junior Member

I just installed a GA-K8N Ultra SLI with two 6800 GT video cards in SLI mode. Everything works great until I install a PCI sound card, then I get random system lockups primarily when playing games. This has happened with two different sound cards, A Sound Blaster Audigy 2, and a cheap CMI8768 card.

So far, everythings works fine as long as I use the onboard sound. Any ideas as to what could cause this? I have a 500 Watt power supply, and have tried a different power supply with the same results.....
 
First things, what kind of power supply you got? Name brand? or some generic PSU? Wattage doesnt mean much here if you got something crappy like a CODEGEN, like I got stuck with, cause it just doesnt hold up for crap. Secondly, I'm not expert on SLi but when you use dual card you are using certain IRQ resources, some which may be shared with neighboring pci slots. This can cause conflicts if you put soemthing like a sound card in one of those slots. I recommend moving your sound card to different slots and seeing which one gives no errors. It could be either the PSU or an IRQ issues, i'll be able to help more when you reply.
 
Well since posting the orignal message, I have tried two more Power Supplies with no luck. These two were both high quality, name brand units.

I have already tried both PCI slots available on the board with no luck.

When using the PCI sound card, it is usually fine for regular Windows apps. Once you start a game, however, it will usually lock within a minute. The longest I was able to go was approx. 7-8 minutes twice.

I HAVE had a lockup or two, however, with a PCI sound card installed just setting at the desktop.

Both times I was able to run the longest during a game, I actually had the onboard sound card turned on & drivers loaded at the same time. I just selected the PCI sound card these times in the control panel. With the onboard off and its drivers uninstalled, its always happened within a minute. I found this strange, but don't know what it could mean.

Again, all these problems disappear when using the onboard Realtek sound. I would prefer to not be stuck with this, however.

 
I know what you eman with the realtek audio, onboard audio has a big legacy of always being crap, but as far as your sound card issues it could either just be the mother boards pci slots or the sound card itself. Can't really give much help beyond that.
 
The Realtek ALC850 8-channel onboard audio is actually not bad sounding. I've used it and use it currently on my second pc and unless you have extremely expensive speakers, you'll be hard pressed to notice a huge difference. If i were you, i'd just stick with the onboard and spend your money on some nicer speakers. That will make a bigger difference in sound quality.
 
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