View Full Version : Pops, clicks, cutting off when using Hardware Acceleration in games
Basically, whenever I enable Hardware Acceleration in various PC games, the sound is very unstable...about 50% of sound effects actually "get through". My card is a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX. It is hooked up through a valid USB 2.0 port, and all Windows XP updates have been downloaded. The drivers for the card are the most recent ones. Any solutions for this problem would be greatly appreciated.
Right now, can you post the specs of your computer with a driver version of your computer...
and tell us what games you are experinceing this problem please aswell....
My driver version is 1.0.9...I think. In any case, it is the most recent one on Creative's website.
My specs are- Athlon 2700+
A7N8X mobo
Radeon 9500 > 9700
Samsung SP8004H 70 gb HDD
512 mb DDR
Windows XP Professional SP1
EDIT: Oh, and the games I have experienced this in are basically any which support hardware acceleration. To be specific, Halo, BF1942...
BF1942 actually tells me that only 31 channels of sound are supported for my card using Hardware Acceleration....
Mmmmm.... Do you run any programs in the background???....
Hm...nothin big. Norton, AIM, Pop up blocker (Proxomitron), a RAM refresher...
Albuquerque
01-21-04, 10:00 AM
My rig does the same thing, especially noticeable in Halo with the machine gun. At least half of the firings just get the very beginning 'click' out, and nothing else. Big firefights sound really odd when almost nobody's gun is completely firing.
However, I believe my problem stems from the hardware I'm using. I don't have an outboard sound card, I'm using the motherboard's built-in VIA Envy24/HT chipset. While I'm relatively sure it does have some basic form of hardware acceleration, it just doesn't seem to work very well in demanding environments.
voodoomelon
01-21-04, 12:10 PM
I have the very same problem with my Audigy 1. In Unreal 2 or Max Payne 2, the few games it seems to affect, you sometimes never hear any gunfire or other effects.
But the worst thing is the cracks and hissing and whistling. Once it starts, about 1 in 3 games of whatever, it doesnt stop, and it just gets worse and worse to the point when I close the game and restart it.
Its so annoying. I even put a heatsink on the Audigy chip in case it was overheating. With the CPU and GPU at stock, I still get it.
To this day, I haven't a clue what causes it.
So i've ordered an Audigy 2 zs Platinum Pro.
:(
Argh...well my NX is already a new card which I just bought recently...so buying a replacement isn't really an option.
*sigh*
:mad:
Here, I made recordings of the problem...sorry for the pauses at the beginning and end....
Normal sound (http://67.21.88.217/normal.mp3)
Hardware Accelerated sound (http://67.21.88.217/hardware.mp3)
I did pretty much the same thing in the game for both sound files...for easier comparison.
voodoomelon
01-22-04, 09:30 AM
Do those links work Seiru? Im on a DSL direct connection in college, and those links take forever to load. I didn't wait...:(
Albuquerque
01-22-04, 09:49 AM
I'm starting to wonder if it's related to PCI bus latency... You can (usually) set a PCI latency value in your bios, and my documentation had mentioned that the latency value could affect audio and other subsystem information streaming.
When I get home today, I'll do some testing with that value and report back.
voodoomelon
01-22-04, 09:52 AM
Hmm, but surely the latency for all motherboards is near enough exactley the same? Unless some people have their PCI bus overclocked.
Argh, sorry about the links, I'll try to fix my HTTP program when I get home...
Albuquerque
01-22-04, 01:53 PM
Originally posted by voodoomelon
Hmm, but surely the latency for all motherboards is near enough exactley the same? Unless some people have their PCI bus overclocked.
No, it's entirely configurable. PCI latency isn't quite what it sounds like -- this is the number of PCI clocks that a single PCI device can act as the bus-master before being preempted off. A higher number can give you better total throughput, but can sometimes starve out the other devices on your bus. Conversely, a smaller time can make sure everything gets ample time on the bus, but can actually cause problems with high-bandwidth PCI devices.
Nearly all motherboards with overclocking options also give the option to manually set this PCI latency number; usually selectable from 1 to 254. I have mine set at 96 because it performs the best with streaming data from my Raid 0 array. However, it could be that this high number is causing my onboard PCI sound chip to be starved for bus access time and perhaps causing the "stuttering" sound while using hardware acceleration.
PCI bus latency may not be the solution, but maybe it will help...
Ok, I switched to FTP....this SHOULD work...if not, I'm just gonna use uploadit.org...
Normal sound (ftp://67.21.88.217/normal.mp3)
Hardware Accelerated sound (ftp://67.21.88.217/hardware.mp3)
It wasn't working for my friend in IE, but it worked for him in a real FTP program. So..
voodoomelon
01-22-04, 04:56 PM
Nope, still don't work in IE. I have no other ftp program.
Cool Albuquerque, i might give that a shot.
;)
*Sigh*, anyone who tried to access those files, try again...I had some virtual paths wrong...
Albuquerque
01-22-04, 05:49 PM
PCI latency changes from 4 to 192 did no good on my rig. You might still try changing those settings on your own bios, as it's very possible my problems are coming from the hardware itself not being a true "hardware accelerator" :)
voodoomelon
01-22-04, 06:32 PM
I listened to those sounds, and they are pretty similar to mine, but I also get non-stop whistling that changes pitch constantly and crackling that drives me insane. Can't wait for my Platinum Pro to arrive.
*punches self in face repeatedly*
Allright, I'm gonna go do some more research on this subject....
Conaway
06-20-04, 04:15 PM
I listened to those sounds, and they are pretty similar to mine, but I also get non-stop whistling that changes pitch constantly and crackling that drives me insane. Can't wait for my Platinum Pro to arrive.
I just started getting the same sounds on my comp with BF1942 and FarCry. I never got these crazy sounds until recently, but I have had way too many probs with this sound card, it's really pushing me to the edge. I really wanna break the stupid thing in half. Creative is no help as to the prob, but it also temporarily freezes my system when the sounds occur. Also my system goes through the temp freeze in windows at times and sometimes locks up. I don't know what this is or how to fix it. I wanna know more about the PCI latency.
PS- I had the same probs before attempting to overclock only I didn't get the wierd sounds, it would just lock up. Piece of crap! HELP!!!!!!!!
Specs:
Giga-Byte GA-7VAX
VIA KT400 chipset (VIA 4in1 4.52 installed...i think, if not it's 4.51)
1gb Crucial DDR PC2700
AMD Athlon XP 2200+ overclocked to 2400+
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb (Catylist 4.6)
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum (EAX 4.0 - patched)
WD 80gb HDD w/ 8mb cache
Windows Xp Pro SP1 (all updates and security fixes installed)
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