Power supply causing audio crackling/whining

[Rabbicats]

Hello,

I recently bought a asus xonar essence stx and when I installed it into one of the pci slots I noticed that there was crackling and when I loaded into a game there was an ear-splitting whining noise. I moved the card around on the motherboard and found that putting it in the top 1x pci slot removed the crackling and whining. The problem I'm having is I have an avermedia live gamer HD and it has an audio pass through that I can't use because it has to go in a lower pci slot which causes the audio to crackle and whine. I believe the problem is coming from my corsair AX850 because as I moved the card down towards the power supply, the noise got louder. Is there a solution to this problem or do I have to go buy a new power supply. If so what would be a good power supply to get that doesn't have this annoying whining noise.

Thanks

[Guest]

Check all the wiring meticulously especially the front header - if everything looks fine you may need a new one. Is there another one you could swap in to check?

[MicroApple911]

What would your case be?, because if there in nothing between the power supply and the sound card, power supply's electrical noise might be causing some interference with the sound card, even though the Xonar Essence STX has some badass shielding. Also try what windspeed suggested.

[Rabbicats]

I'll check all my cabling. I have another power supply but I don't know if it has enough juice to run my system. It's a 600 watt I believe. My system is

i7-2600k

gtx 680

16gb ram

128gb SSD

1tb WD black

xonar essence stx

would 600 watts be enough to power my system or should I buy a different power supply?

[Rabbicats]

What would your case be?, because if there in nothing between the power supply and the sound card, power supply's electrical noise might be causing some interference with the sound card, even though the Xonar Essence STX has some badass shielding. Also try what windspeed suggested.

The graphics card is between the sound card and the power supply, but that's it. I turned on a game and listened to my power supply and was able to hear the whining so as far as I know it's that causing the problem.

[Guest]

You'll be fine

[Rabbicats]

K perfect ill try it when I get a chance and see what happens. Do you think it would be fine to use as my main power supply instead of the AX850 if it doesn't cause the whining or should I buy a new higher wattage one ?

[Rabbicats]

What would your case be?, because if there in nothing between the power supply and the sound card, power supply's electrical noise might be causing some interference with the sound card, even though the Xonar Essence STX has some badass shielding. Also try what windspeed suggested.

My case is an NZXT tempest 410 elite. Do you know something I could put in between the power supply and the rest of the case so I could use the capture card?

[Rabbicats]

Any power supplies you'd recommend I get if neither solve the problem ?

[Dave :)]

K perfect ill try it when I get a chance and see what happens. Do you think it would be fine to use as my main power supply instead of the AX850 if it doesn't cause the whining or should I buy a new higher wattage one ?

600W is more than enough for that system. So yes, you can use it as your main PSU. Do you know what the model is of it?

Any power supplies you'd recommend I get if neither solve the problem ?

If a different power supply doesn't help, then I'll begin to doubt it's the PSU at all.

[christoi]

It sounds unlikely that it's a power supply issue to me, moving it closer shouldn't affect interference with the sound card. There's a lot of other things that could be causing the issue, such as faulty PCI-e slots of the motherboard, improper wiring, etc. I would make sure to rule out everything else and make sure that it's the power supply, before going out and replacing it.

Also, coil whine can be present on power supplies, so the fact that such is present could be irrelevant to the issue.

[MicroApple911]

​If changing power supplies doesn't fix it, would it be possible to remove your graphics card and use onboard video temporarily?. Once you remove the graphics card, try both your sound card and capture card in the bottom PCI slot. If that fixes it there may be some interference coming from your graphics card. If that doesn't help try both cards in the PCI slot where your graphics card was. If that fixes it then the bottom PCI slot may be faulty like christoi suggested. About putting something between the power supply, you could try putting a piece of cardboard, or some sheet metal (if it doesn't touch any components..).

[Rabbicats]

K perfect ill try it when I get a chance and see what happens. Do you think it would be fine to use as my main power supply instead of the AX850 if it doesn't cause the whining or should I buy a new higher wattage one ?

600W is more than enough for that system. So yes, you can use it as your main PSU. Do you know what the model is of it?

Any power supplies you'd recommend I get if neither solve the problem ?

If a different power supply doesn't help, then I'll begin to doubt it's the PSU at all.

it's an old OCZ mod xtreme pro 80 plus

[Rabbicats]

​If changing power supplies doesn't fix it, would it be possible to remove your graphics card and use onboard video temporarily?. Once you remove the graphics card, try both your sound card and capture card in the bottom PCI slot. If that fixes it there may be some interference coming from your graphics card. If that doesn't help try both cards in the PCI slot where your graphics card was. If that fixes it then the bottom PCI slot may be faulty like christoi suggested. About putting something between the power supply, you could try putting a piece of cardboard, or some sheet metal (if it doesn't touch any components..).

i don't think it's my graphics card because the sound card is right beside it and it's fine.

[Rabbicats]

It sounds unlikely that it's a power supply issue to me, moving it closer shouldn't affect interference with the sound card. There's a lot of other things that could be causing the issue, such as faulty PCI-e slots of the motherboard, improper wiring, etc. I would make sure to rule out everything else and make sure that it's the power supply, before going out and replacing it.

Also, coil whine can be present on power supplies, so the fact that such is present could be irrelevant to the issue.

Ever since i got the motherboard it's had nothing but problems so i wouldn't doubt if it's the problem. I'm going to start up a game and listen to the power supply to see if I can hear the whine to confirm if that is indeed the problem.

[Rabbicats]

​If changing power supplies doesn't fix it, would it be possible to remove your graphics card and use onboard video temporarily?. Once you remove the graphics card, try both your sound card and capture card in the bottom PCI slot. If that fixes it there may be some interference coming from your graphics card. If that doesn't help try both cards in the PCI slot where your graphics card was. If that fixes it then the bottom PCI slot may be faulty like christoi suggested. About putting something between the power supply, you could try putting a piece of cardboard, or some sheet metal (if it doesn't touch any components..).

i'll put a piece of cardboard as that is less likely to short something out and see if that helps

[Rabbicats]

It sounds unlikely that it's a power supply issue to me, moving it closer shouldn't affect interference with the sound card. There's a lot of other things that could be causing the issue, such as faulty PCI-e slots of the motherboard, improper wiring, etc. I would make sure to rule out everything else and make sure that it's the power supply, before going out and replacing it.

Also, coil whine can be present on power supplies, so the fact that such is present could be irrelevant to the issue.

I started up a game (which is when the whining is the worst) and put my ear right against the power supply. I could clearly hear the whine coming from it so i'm going to assume that the PSU is the problem.

[MicroApple911]

​If changing power supplies doesn't fix it, would it be possible to remove your graphics card and use onboard video temporarily?. Once you remove the graphics card, try both your sound card and capture card in the bottom PCI slot. If that fixes it there may be some interference coming from your graphics card. If that doesn't help try both cards in the PCI slot where your graphics card was. If that fixes it then the bottom PCI slot may be faulty like christoi suggested. About putting something between the power supply, you could try putting a piece of cardboard, or some sheet metal (if it doesn't touch any components..).

Ok, cardboard sounds good. As I said before if that doesn't work try this:

​If that doesn't help try both cards in the PCI slot where your graphics card was. If that fixes it then the bottom PCI slot may be faulty like christoi suggested.