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Really low volume on new motherboard

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baris_

Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2010
Hello,

I used to use an old soundcard (fatal1ty xtreme gamer something). I bought a new PC and after I consulted the forums here (in General Hardware) they advised me to get a motherboard with the ALC 1150 onboard sound, since that would be better than a 7 year old soundcard.

I'm pleased with the quality of the sound, it's just that it's quite low volume.. If I put the windows sound on 100, turn up my headset sound to the max and for instance, youtube or a movie to its max, it's just below enough to hear it the way I want to hear it. What could it be?

Thanks in advance.
 
I am assuming you are on Windows 7+, so just a possibility: Did you right click on the Speaker icon in the taskbar, open Volume Mixer, and made sure that all volume controls were maxed?

Also, what kind of headset are you using with the soundcard? It could be the previous soundcard had enough power on the outputs to drive your headset, but this one doesn't.
 
What headphones do You haVe? As was said above, the board may not be able to drive them properly.

You didn't mention them in your build thread when that board was suggested.
 
Try using the other output - if you're using the rear jack, try the front jack and vice versa. Some motherboards only put an amp on one output.
 
I see nothing mentioned in your thread about the headphone's impedance. If it's extremely high, that should have been asked and/or mentioned.
The guidance was that the ALC1150 chipset would have a better sound quality than a 7 year old sound card, which is true.

What headphones are you driving? Which audio ports are you using?
Definitely try Mike's suggestion. That Z97-D3H is a budget Z97 board and may only have one amp.
From Gigabyte's site: Realtek ALC1150 115dB SNR HD Audio with built-in rear audio amplifier
This says to me that it may not have a front amp.
 
Thanks for all your replies. In no way did I mean this as a negative on your behalf lads so please don't get defensive! I'm sorry if I've come off that way. You guys have always helped me and you did it again. I've been using the front ones and completely forgot about the rear ones and I didn't expect they'd be any different. But yes, I plugged it in the rear jack and it's good.

Thanks!!!
 
Not being defensive at all, just making sure all details were covered :)
Glad the rear ports work for you!! Sounds like it doesn't have a front amp after all.
 
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