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So this is a long-term problem. I've had it for literally years! I feel sometimes it fades but I think I just get used to it and tune it out for months at a time.
Basically, I can hear interference of all sorts from my PC on my speakers. Hard drive access, mouse movement, scrolling a web page, etc etc.
Things I have tried, that haven't helped:
- disconnected CD audio
- removed CD drive entirely
- tried front port
- disconnected front port
- tried headphones
- new power strip
- moved house
- tried an internal soundcard instead of the onboard one
- tried a USB soundcard - I was certain this would be a suitable workaround, and gobsmacked when even this didn't help
- moved my graphics card to a different slot
- unplugged my mouse and keyboard
- unplugged all SATA hard drives (system is on an SSD - but this problem existed before I added the SSD)
- replaced PSU (it died one day)
- disconnected all fans bar the CPU fan
- reinstalled drivers (not that I believed that would help)
All to no avail.
I'm basically down to it being a problem with the case, graphics card or the motherboard, I guess. I'd really like to fix this without buying a new motherboard though, so any thoughts are very welcome! (Unless they're in the list above...)
PC spec:
- Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 board
- Core 2 duo E6750
- Sparkle 8800GT fanless
- G.Skill 4GB DDR2
- Vista ultimate 64bit
Codemonkey
Posted 2014-11-16T04:27:25.377
Reputation: 321
possible duplicate of What is the cause of interference noises in my PC speakers and how can I get rid of them?
– DavidPostill – 2014-11-16T08:01:58.3801@DavidPostill The other thread speaks about speakers only, and thus the solution is irrelevant here. – EliadTech – 2014-11-16T09:23:42.543
@EliadTech really? It sounds like electromagnetic interference is the only thing left it could be. And without trying it we can't exclude it as a solution. A bad earth is another possibility. – DavidPostill – 2014-11-16T10:41:00.100
@DavidPostill The thing is that AFAIK from my experience headphones are far less susceptible to such interferences. Also, mouse scrolling isn't likely to produce that much interference. Thus, I'm inclined to believe this is some malfunction in the motherboard (probably related to grounding). – EliadTech – 2014-11-16T12:15:20.520
If I put headphones in and select "headphones" when Realtek asks me what I've plugged in then the noise is barely there at all. Maybe NOT at all. BUt if I put headphones in and select "front speaker" instead, then the noise is just as bad as it is on my amp/speakers. – Codemonkey – 2014-11-16T13:22:35.487
In most situations the nasty onboard audio chip is not isolated from the rest of the electronics on the MB well enough, Like the new $$$ (cute) motherboards that have a visibly seperated section of the motherboard to isolate the audio section. It was no so much a visable isolation but electrical that was needed. In every case where data movement and power fluxuations were bleeding out to the audio chip, using a seperated PCI(or E) Audio card would solve the problem. It would be a pretty bad added audio that wouldnt, even $29 SB cards didnt have that problem. – Psycogeek – 2014-11-16T20:12:14.453
I've decided to take the plunge and buy new hardware - the PC is 7 years old now at this stage, it's time to play with something new. Any tips on which motherboards are better to aim for? Or should I commit to buying a separate sound card straight off? – Codemonkey – 2014-11-16T20:16:57.740
(I think I'm going to buy an i5, and my chosen brand would normally be Gigabyte, but I'm happy to listen to recommendations!) – Codemonkey – 2014-11-16T20:17:34.823
When we had this problem of data movement comming out of the audio, some if it was really poor use of the digital audio range on files and such. Recordings that have a range using 1/8th of the total range. So system and speaker volume have to be increased 2-8times more than they should be. because "singal to noise ratio" is not just about noise, it is also about signal :-) keeping the volumes up on everything back in software, and having audio that uses the full digital range (instead of tiny bits of it) can reduce some of the audibility of the problem. – Psycogeek – 2014-11-16T20:18:59.367
Sure dont buy a 79$ motherboard :-) the $$$ ones have made a greater effort in seperating the audio, to see it (not a recommendation) look at how the Asus Hero, and gigabyte UDH5 and gaming 7 have isolated the audio (visually). That is still not making audio pros happy, because they still prefer to put in seperated audio cards. For me it was then "good enough" to keep as is. – Psycogeek – 2014-11-16T20:23:45.173
A UDH5 is what I was already looking at, thanks. The problem on my current board is definitely not "normal" - it didn't do it when I first got it and no-one would put up with it if it was like it from new. I'm by no means an audiophile or hypersensitive to this, it's absolutely terrible. I'm confident that a new board will be "good enough" (easily) for my ears. – Codemonkey – 2014-11-16T20:32:13.627
Also, remember that I DID try a separate sound card in my system, and it made no difference to the problem. Personally I think it must be an earthing problem somewhere in the system, though I don't know much about such things. An electrical engineer I am not. – Codemonkey – 2014-11-16T20:33:53.903
While they have improved the quality of the capacitors for the power regulation, you can still see on many motherboards using cheap capacitors for the cleanup of the power, and isolation to the audio. Capcitors age badly still, compared to silicon, and they probably are getting bad. So you could look for an audio section that uses premium 10K hour caps in the sound section too. They do not all do that. – Psycogeek – 2014-11-16T20:37:23.120
I Could not figure how this could be an earthing issue, for the specific problems you related. It is not (duplicate) outside radio interferances. although it still could be a bleeding of power the wrong directions. a "audio isolation transformer" which can be bought on a wire, could be used to test for power that is not audio, flowing in wrong directions. It just does not correlate with your provided information. – Psycogeek – 2014-11-16T20:41:43.903
So over the last couple of months I've built a completely new PC, case and all, and while the headphone port is beautifully silent now, my speakers through the line-out was still horrendous. I've just been reading about ground loops, and sure enough after removing the earth pin from my plug everything is blissfully silent. And the sub unit doesn't have a metal enclosure so I'm not overly worried about this, should I be? – Codemonkey – 2015-01-18T14:49:17.503