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Computer audio has a lot of noise induced by mouse movement, pictures changing on screen, games, etc.

Jul 7, 2012 at 7:13 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 19
liquidchaos

liquidchaos

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Hello,
 
 
I play a fair amount of games, and listen to music secondly, but not a whole lot. I was thinking about just getting an external dac but because I mostly play games I would prefer to keep my soundcard, unless anyone thinks otherwise?
 
I have a Titanium HD that I sometimes output via the rca's to either a Woo Audio wa6se, or a Burson 160.  I get a lot of feedback noise no matter which of the amps I use. I hear a slight digital whirly type noise when I move my mouse. On the kexp music webpage I hear feedback when the picture on the top middle of the  page transitions to another picture. http://kexp.org/Default.aspx. In Diablo I get a lot of static, in Battlefield 3 I get mostly the mouse movement noise. When I am listening to audio on kexp alone I just hear a slight feedback in the backround if I am not moving anything or playing a game. The burson produces more static then the Woo Audio, but they are both annoying. I have a pair of Audio Technica a-900's that were my first headphone pair, and still going strong :P. When they are plugged dirrectly into the Titanium HD, I do not get any noise at all. I have a Fiio amp, the e9 that just plugges into the headphone jack of the soundcard, and that does not produce noise either.
 
 
This is my second computer case, I have a good power supply, good motherboard,  two gtx 480's, and a couple of case fans. 
I can't move the sound card to another slot with both video cards. I suppose I can remove one video card and move the sound card around, I will try that when I get home from work.
I don't have a great pair of shielded RCA's, but they are "shielded".  I think it's monster audio 400i shielded cables that I got on sale for pretty cheap.
 
Because of this I don't really use my amp's or decent headphones that much. Any suggestions on how to trouble shoot this would be greatly appreciated.
 
Jul 8, 2012 at 11:02 PM Post #3 of 19
Hi, Thanks for the reply. I read that thread but it didn't help. When I disable my mic it doesn't make any difference in the noise the mouse  generates. And the mic wouldn't accound for the noise that happens when the picture cycles on the kexp webpage.
 
Jul 8, 2012 at 11:42 PM Post #4 of 19
Have you looked at these? There are many possible solutions that have been listed, but they both talk about a possible ground loop.
 
http://bit.ly/NeBswZ
http://bit.ly/LI5YNG
 
Not sure if this might help..
http://bit.ly/3PH8BW
 
Jul 9, 2012 at 12:28 AM Post #5 of 19
Oh wow... I haven't messed around with IRQ settings since I was a kid and it was required to install things :P That's like the 386/486 days for me. But I followed the link and it took me to the irq allocation list. My sound card is listed under (16) along with a few other things including my video card. The link seemed to imply everything should be on it's own irq. The only problem is the "use automatic settings" is not uncheckable. I will look into this more. Thanks for the link, irq isn't something I have though about in ages. Even if it doesn't solve the problem it is very interesting to be reminded of it :D
 
Jul 9, 2012 at 10:07 AM Post #6 of 19
  AFAIK this kind of noise is  ground-loop related:
 
 
1- Be sure all devices are connected to the same outlet, and that it´s grounded (3 holes)
 
2- Fasten all the screws of the PC case, and of the PSU
 
3- Be sure the mobo is jammed to the case  with the proper screws,  and without washers
 
 
If you haven´t understood anything above, don´t worry,  take a look at this site (at least it´s in english):
 
http://www.pcmus.com/power-grounding.htm
 
Good luck !
 
Jul 14, 2012 at 3:51 AM Post #7 of 19
I was told that if I move the my audio card out of the system via USB I shouldn't have the problem. I forgot that I had a Soundblaster Recon3D USB for my playstation when I needed to use it with headphones on a monitor instead of a TV. I hooked it up and it still has the same problem. It's not as loud, but it's definately still there.
 
Jul 14, 2012 at 11:50 AM Post #8 of 19
- try using an amplifier that is not grounded (e.g. O2)
- with the Recon3D USB, try a USB isolator
- if you connect the headphones directly to the Titanium HD, and disconnect any external amplifier, do you still hear the noise ?
 
Jul 14, 2012 at 4:35 PM Post #9 of 19
Quote:
stv014 said:
- try using an amplifier that is not grounded (e.g. O2)
- with the Recon3D USB, try a USB isolator
- if you connect the headphones directly to the Titanium HD, and disconnect any external amplifier, do you still hear the noise ?
Click to expand...

 
Hi,
 
I'll look into a USB isolator.  If I plug headpheones directly into the Titanium HD there is not any noise at all, super clear. If I plug the headphones directly into the Recon3D it is also clear.  I only have the volume at about 30% when I don't use an amp as the Titanium can make my A900's really loud. If I do put the volume to 100, I hear a little hiss, but nothing like all the screen redraw noise and mouse noise.
 
Jul 16, 2012 at 11:21 PM Post #10 of 19
I had what seems like the same problem with a computer I built some years ago. Mouse movement such as scrolling on various web pages and other assorted activities such as you describe caused noise.  Being not afraid to over-clock i was accustomed to messing around with advanced settings in the BIOS.  This may sound weird, but I finally resolved the issue by bumping up the voltage setting just a tad for the RAM.
 
To elaborate a little bit... while your BIOS may not give you the ability to mess with the RAM voltage and/or the voltage level might not be the issue, it could still be RAM related. If you think about it, the RAM is involved in most activities on your pc since the drivers for the various bits of hardware, including your sound card may utilize it; or the parts of the OS involved with the sound; so if something isn't quite right with it, or the settings for it, then it could cause issues. This is all after-the-fact reasoning on my part based on the solution I found though.
 
If your RAM, CPU, or video cards are over-clocked in any way then try setting them back to defaults.  Are you running the RAM at it's rated settings?  You could try de-tuning it.  I haven't messed around with such things for a while but with a custom built PC you usually have various ways to do that in the BIOS such as lowering the RAM frequency, timing settings or Front side bus speed.  A simpler approach would be to try taking all but one stick of RAM out and see if the problem persists. If so, try a different stick etc.
 
Also you could try disconnecting as many devices as possible such as case fans and DVD drives etc to see if that makes a difference.  USB hubs are also frequent causes of weird problems.
 
Jul 17, 2012 at 8:20 PM Post #11 of 19
Quote:
runswithaliens said:
I had what seems like the same problem with a computer I built some years ago. Mouse movement such as scrolling on various web pages and other assorted activities such as you describe caused noise.  Being not afraid to over-clock i was accustomed to messing around with advanced settings in the BIOS.  This may sound weird, but I finally resolved the issue by bumping up the voltage setting just a tad for the RAM.
 
To elaborate a little bit... while your BIOS may not give you the ability to mess with the RAM voltage and/or the voltage level might not be the issue, it could still be RAM related. If you think about it, the RAM is involved in most activities on your pc since the drivers for the various bits of hardware, including your sound card may utilize it; or the parts of the OS involved with the sound; so if something isn't quite right with it, or the settings for it, then it could cause issues. This is all after-the-fact reasoning on my part based on the solution I found though.
 
If your RAM, CPU, or video cards are over-clocked in any way then try setting them back to defaults.  Are you running the RAM at it's rated settings?  You could try de-tuning it.  I haven't messed around with such things for a while but with a custom built PC you usually have various ways to do that in the BIOS such as lowering the RAM frequency, timing settings or Front side bus speed.  A simpler approach would be to try taking all but one stick of RAM out and see if the problem persists. If so, try a different stick etc.
 
Also you could try disconnecting as many devices as possible such as case fans and DVD drives etc to see if that makes a difference.  USB hubs are also frequent causes of weird problems.
Click to expand...

Hi,
 
Thanks for the info.
 
Nothing is overclocked right now, the ram is running in x.m.p mode which is 1.65v, it's rated at 1.65v. I tried to up it a little but it didn't do anything, so I put it back to x.m.p.  I haven't tried changing the ram sticks. I will look into that though. I'll also try to discconect things.
 
Thanks again.
 
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