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Bruce C. Miller
July 19th 07, 01:26 PM
I currently have my new entertainment/gaming PC hooked up to my stereo
via an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 sound card. Everything works fine,
except that when playing games, and occasionally when doing other
tasks, I get feedback static coming out of the sound card. This is
especially true in demanding, 3D-accelerated games. I currently have a
GeForce 8800GTS video card in it, which does use a fair amount of
power. If the computer is just idling or playing an old game, the
static is either not noticable or not present at all. However, in some
modern games like NWN2, it's annoying to the point that it gives me a
headache after a large amount of playing.

So, I have two questions for you audio experts here:

1.) Presuming some stray current or EM interference is affecting my
sound card, is there a good way to isolate it? I've tried moving it to
a different slot to no effect.

2.) If the above isn't possible, do you guys recommend another sound
card that has comparable features to this one that might be less prone
to this issue? The nice thing about the Audiophile 2496 is it has RCA
outputs right on the card, so I can just plug it straight into my
linestage. I'd rather not have some external box or card with a ton of
useless features. I only have 2 floorstanding speakers, so 5.1, 7.1 or
whatever the popular number of speaker output is today is unnecessary.
I also have an onboard sound card on the motherboard currently
disabled in BIOS. Would a 1/8" -> 2ch RCA adapter work here?

Eeyore
July 19th 07, 02:06 PM
"Bruce C. Miller" wrote:

> I get feedback static coming out of the sound card.

There is no such thing as 'feedback static'.

Can you actually describe the sound ?

Graham

Arny Krueger
July 19th 07, 05:31 PM
"Bruce C. Miller" > wrote in message
oups.com
> I currently have my new entertainment/gaming PC hooked up
> to my stereo via an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 sound card.
> Everything works fine, except that when playing games,
> and occasionally when doing other tasks, I get feedback
> static coming out of the sound card. This is especially
> true in demanding, 3D-accelerated games. I currently have
> a GeForce 8800GTS video card in it, which does use a fair
> amount of power. If the computer is just idling or
> playing an old game, the static is either not noticable
> or not present at all. However, in some modern games like
> NWN2, it's annoying to the point that it gives me a
> headache after a large amount of playing.

Probable cause - PCI bus contention inside the PC. The noise is repeated
short instances of data being dropped.

Backing off on the hardware acelleration features of your video card, or
plugging your audio card into a different slot may help.

Arny Krueger
July 20th 07, 01:31 PM
"Signal" > wrote in message

> "Bruce C. Miller" > wrote:
>
>> I currently have my new entertainment/gaming PC hooked
>> up to my stereo via an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 sound
>> card. Everything works fine, except that when playing
>> games, and occasionally when doing other tasks, I get
>> feedback static coming out of the sound card. This is
>> especially true in demanding, 3D-accelerated games. I
>> currently have a GeForce 8800GTS video card in it, which
>> does use a fair amount of power. If the computer is just
>> idling or playing an old game, the static is either not
>> noticable or not present at all. However, in some modern
>> games like NWN2, it's annoying to the point that it
>> gives me a headache after a large amount of playing.
>>
>> So, I have two questions for you audio experts here:
>>
>> 1.) Presuming some stray current or EM interference is
>> affecting my sound card, is there a good way to isolate
>> it? I've tried moving it to a different slot to no
>> effect.
>>
>
> Consider wrapping or shielding the card with aluminium
> foil.

Well known to be almost totally ineffective in every case it has been tried
and evaluated by objective means.

>> 2.) If the above isn't possible, do you guys recommend
>> another sound card that has comparable features to this
>> one that might be less prone to this issue?

> May I recommend the Audiophile 2496

He's already got one.