Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 sound issues

[Kenrou]

Been using a USB headset exclusively for the past year so never noticed this, but got myself a set of decent speakers the other day and lo and behold, got the dreaded static/crack+pop noise when SSD writes, mouse moves, CPU activity, etc etc. I thought this had been fixed years ago with the new mobos having shielding for exactly this kind of reason, as far as i remember my old Crosshair never did this. Now, my 980Ti is sat smack on top of the audio chip, on the top slot and moving it to other PCI-E did nothing. New drivers didn't help, plugging speaker to back or front, same deal. Line-in and other on or off made no difference.


This is EMI right ? short of having to buy a PCI sound board is there anything that fixes this ?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

First, the Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 isn't exactly a "new mobo". The audio section of the board isn't isolated and the Realtek IC isn't shielded.
Second, since it happens on both the front and rear ports it's most likely that you'll indeed need an AIC.

 

[Kenrou]

Hey 2 1/2 years is new... ish...

 

[Waza]

That sounds like grounding problem. If you touch your pc on unpainted surface and your speakers react to that it is confirmed grounding issue.
If you have ground lift on your speaker amplifier try that.

 

[Kenrou]

PC case on wooden floor away from any wall (+ rubber tipped "feet"), no unpainted surfaces in the house, speakers on wooden table about 1 meter away from the case or anything else that might cause interference/feedback.

 

[Waza]

PC case on wooden floor away from any wall (+ rubber tipped "feet"), no unpainted surfaces in the house, speakers on wooden table about 1 meter away from the case or anything else that might cause interference/feedback.

I meant unpainted surface on the case. The point of grounding is the pc case itself and if there is a issue where it is either not grounded properly to the mains or some component is leaking current to the ground(pc case) it causes issues like this.
The EMI shielding of motherboard audio circuits is more of a marketing term than actual feature. To effectively shield the audio circuit it should be 100% covered by conductive shielding. One hole in the shielding and it is pretty much useless.

 

[Kenrou]

Only piece touching the case are the mobo screws and the GPU back, standard stuff i suppose ?

 

[Johan45]

That sounds like grounding problem. If you touch your pc on unpainted surface and your speakers react to that it is confirmed grounding issue.
If you have ground lift on your speaker amplifier try that.

Only piece touching the case are the mobo screws and the GPU back, standard stuff i suppose ?

What waza is suggesting is a test, IF you touch the PC case in the right place and you can hear it in the speakers it's a grounding problem

 

[Kenrou]

Right right, got ya. Hands or screwdriver ?

 

[Johan45]

Just your hands will do. Just need to find a spot .

 

[Kenrou]

"Pawed" the entire case, nothing stood out, only background noise is still CPU/mouse, GPU when activates boost

 

[Johan45]

Did you try the back panel exposed USB etc..

 

[Kenrou]

Aie nothing Interesting thing is that the USB headset works perfectly, maybe i can trade the speakers for USB as well ? only ever use them on the odd occasion when wife is out, then they go full blast with Metal/Tecno/Drum'n'Bass

 

[Johan45]

That is odd, makes me wonder if it's the speaker set. dou you use cordless mouse/KB or close to any cordless phones. Could be radio interference

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Can you try using a different device to send media to the speakers?
Maybe a phone or laptop?

 

[mimart7]

If the computer is plugged into a power strip, try a different power strip. If that doesn't work try a different AC outlet. This is a short or grounding problem. You have to determine where the problem lies.

 

[Kenrou]

It is on a power strip, changed for a new one i bought couple weeks ago and no change. On a whim i tried switching GPU with my old 660Ti and the interference stopped completely even on high load. Put my 980Ti back in and restarted...

 

[ATMINSIDE]

So it's either ASUS not properly RF shielding part of the GPU or just an issue with pulling that much more power.

 

[Kenrou]

Tried my iPhone like ATM asked, clean sound on max volume. I'll stick to EMI shielding sucks. As i said above going to try trading these speakers for USB instead of the 3.5 jack. Thanks for tips, considering this closed

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Just get a DAC that works over Optical or USB and keep the speakers