So its either my MOBO or my GPU...

Sin Stalker · May 23, 2020

...or my cpu, or my psu... I think.

I cant figure out how to troubleshoot this and narrow it down any further.

Symptoms:

All symptoms come and go, but they usually occur together.

1. One HDD consistently disconnects. Sometimes E drive as well, but consistently D drive first. Drive will become recognized by windows every once in awhile but mostly stays disconnected.

2. Audio becomes distorted. Crackling type sounds. Things sound tin-ie

3. Video becomes choppy. This only happens when I play a game. Other symptoms occur with it. It is as if every other frame or two is dropped. But my FPS counter shows me results above 100. No dips. Almost makes me sick.

Specs:

CPU: Ryzen 2700x

Ram: 2x8gb corsair vengeance.

MOBO: ASUS Crosshair VI Hero wifi

GPU: Asus rog GTX 1070

Main drive: 960 evo m.2 nvme

auxiliary drives: 3 hdd.

Notes:

No high temps.

No recorded voltage issues.

Everything is up-to-date. Occurred on more than one BIOS version.

Audio issue happens whether its speakers, Corsair Void wireless headphones, or a wired pair of headphones via a 3.5mm jack.

All overclocks have been removed. Previous overclocks were minor. I've tried underclocking my gpu, hoping to see if it was the GPU, the problems to go away. There was no change.

Then I thought perhaps my power supply was acting up and not delivering enough power to all my drives and usb devices. This doesn't seem to be the case either.

This is my second X370 from Asus. The last one started acting up after about a year. I RMAed it, but sold the replacement and upgraded to a higher end mobo.

If it was not for the HDDs acting up, I would have thought the problem was my GPU. However since my HDDs are a factor and my audio independent of my graphics, I am currently holding my MOBO as the prime candidate.

I could replace the mobo or the gpu, but not both currently.

Is there anything else I can do without swapping out parts?

Can the GPU somehow effect audio that is not transmitted through HDMI? Can it effect HDD connectivity?

Am I overlooking something else that could be causing this?

I'd love experienced and professional opinions. Greatly appreciate.