Sound buzz through headphones

subnorman

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Aug 25, 2013
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I just bought a new motherboard (G1.Sniper Z87) and I am having problems with my onboard soundcard that makes a buzzing noise coming from the components. I can hear my CPU work when it's quiet and GPU is louder when playing games. The pitch increases with the FPS, but is noticeable at around 50. It's not a huge problem because the sound of the games cover it but it is noticeable when it is quiet. The noise disappears when I use my speakers, but they don't have a headphone output. My monitor/tv doesn't have it also. Do you know where is it coming from and how to fix it?
Thanks in advance

PS: A ferrite filter in my cable would fix it?
 

ironsheik

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Jan 28, 2014
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First make sure you have the curret creative audio driver installed from the Gigabyte website.

You hear the noise with headphones because your motherboard has a headphone amplifier, which may be picking up interference. Ferrite can reduce radio waves leaking from cables, but is unlikely to solve your problem which sounds like internal interference. There are many sources of interference, the power supply or a bad motherboard are the most likely. You could experiment by trying to disconnect peripherals looking for a source of interference, but it might come down to the psu or motherboard.
 

subnorman

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Aug 25, 2013
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Thanks for your reply.
I've read in many forums that 7950 and 7970s usually have coil whine, but in my case it is very noticeable. It isn't the motherboard because I also had it with my previous AMD one before switching to intel, but now it is more noticeable because probably the op-amp amplifies it. I also know this because with the unamped line-out jack the whine isn't noticeable unless there is complete silence in the room and volume dropped to 0. This weekend I'll try taking out the GPU and using the onboard graphics to see if the sound is gone and discard the PSU.
Also, if I play a game I can hear it physically on the GPU itself, although it is very hard to hear because fans are louder. I'll see if I put it in the bottom PCIe slot it dissapears. If not i'll RMA it.

Also the slight CPU noise may come from the cable that goes next to the CPU, that is very short and I didn't know where to put it, so I just put it over all the components and passes near the audio jacks.
 

ironsheik

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Jan 28, 2014
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Good thoughts trying to isolate the cause to the motherboard, PSU, or GPU. With all the advanced audio features your motherboard has, I hope that isn't the problem. You may also consider trying to plug the machine into a different set of outlets to see if you have powerline noise, which a power conditioner can help with. If you are still stuck you might have success attenuating the headphone noise with a simple in line volume control , or a ground loop isolator. Of course you could also get a usb soundcard, but that bypasses the motherboards nice audio features.

http://www.amazon.com/Koss-155954-VC20-Volume-Control/product-reviews/B00001P4XH/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?showViewpoints=1

http://www.amazon.com/PAC-Ground-Isolator-3-5-Applications/dp/B001EAQTRI/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1392316310&sr=1-1&keywords=ground+loop