[Bruce C. Miller]

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 he

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]

"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]

"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]

"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 he

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.