Seperate audio and video

[Christopher-RC]

Greetings, 

 

I have a HTPC, with a 13400F 5060 TI 16GB and the 5060 injects a lot of noise, especially during games. I know this can not be stopped, but can I seperate the audio and video. Have the 5060 do video and MOBO do Audio via HDMI?  My PC is connected directly to my home theater receiver via Fiber HDMI.  This is GPU coil/etc whine- it changes with menues moving around in games etc I know my 13400F has no graphics so onboard HDMI wont work?  

 

Giving this PC to my boy soon so we can game, and building another one and need to know if I need a dedicated sound card so I can pass my AUro/DTSX/ATMOS signals cleanly. 

[danalog]

The digital audio processor is integrated into the Intel graphics so no iGPU = no HDMI audio unfortunately 

Second cheap GPU for audio only, SPDIF soundcard, or motherboard analog audio output would be your only solutions

[ChrisLoudon]

23 minutes ago, Christopher-RC said:

Greetings, 

 

I have a HTPC, with a 13400F 5060 TI 16GB and the 5060 injects a lot of noise, especially during games. I know this can not be stopped, but can I seperate the audio and video. Have the 5060 do video and MOBO do Audio via HDMI?  My PC is connected directly to my home theater receiver via Fiber HDMI.  This is GPU coil/etc whine- it changes with menues moving around in games etc I know my 13400F has no graphics so onboard HDMI wont work?  

 

Giving this PC to my boy soon so we can game, and building another one and need to know if I need a dedicated sound card so I can pass my AUro/DTSX/ATMOS signals cleanly. 

Strange that the GPU is causing noise / interference. Could it be the cable?

 

I've always had my PCs connected through my AVR then to the TV with no audio issues but I could just one of the lucky ones.

 

If you need another card to use for audio then all you need is another cheap GPU since you'll need HDMI for TrueHD / Atmos / DTS-X. Optical will work as well but not for any high res formats.

 

I had an older setup with a Yamaha RX-A2060 and since it wasn't HDMI 2.1 compliant, I couldn't pass video through the AVR without loosing functionality. I found an old Nvidia GT1030 which I used for audio only and it worked perfectly. 

[Christopher-RC]

Thanks, @danalog & @ChrisLoudon

 

Just checked, I have a B660M Pro RS so no room with case for second GPU and sadly no HDMI sound cards out there so im guessing a different cpu and have that do audio..other wise new case and cheap gpu.  

 

All cables do the noise, its pretty common issue that I can see, mines just exacerbated due to having a home theater for audio.  

[TudorFinalBosz]

HDMI to DVI adaptor plugged into DVI to HDMI adaptor should drop the audio signal.

Then just get the audio from the mobo

[Kilrah]

How's the audio connected right now? If it goes through HDMI along with display then there can't be noise introduced by the PC since it's digital all the way.

[ChrisLoudon]

25 minutes ago, Christopher-RC said:

Just checked, I have a B660M Pro RS so no room with case for second GPU and sadly no HDMI sound cards out there

Have you looked at a USB to HDMI converter?

 

I've never used one but if they allow for high res audio then that might work.

[Christopher-RC]

10 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

How's the audio connected right now? If it goes through HDMI along with display then there can't be noise introduced by the PC since it's digital all the way.

HDMI Fiber, and yes it can and does. Wish that were true but it does- Heck ground loops can be introduced into the digital signal. I have tried limiting frames etc but when GPU is under load it can and does get dirty noise from gpu

 

6 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Have you looked at a USB to HDMI converter?

 

I've never used one but if they allow for high res audio then that might work.

Dang man nice idea! ill look into that. 

[spacepickle]

So I always wondered why these things existed, but I work a church audio gig sometimes and they have one of these randomly sitting on the desk. It basically lets you add audio to an HDMI cable, so for $25 you can just combine your motherboard’s audio into your HDMI out. 
 

Do your own research obviously, point is there’s doohickeys like this that would fix your problem for cheap.

 

https://www.parts-express.com/HDMI-4K2K-Audio-Signal-Inserter-180-1136?quantity=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=22322208469&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22318496864&gbraid=0AAAAAD_wpb014mKquD6NiEMKQcjUFUiDz&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6bfHBhDNARIsAIGsqLi3yGBheBbvyi6Lh829a69p3b4ltQ4N4QKPwFZLoQkjXsVbO0MmmJcaAu6sEALw_wcB

[Kisai]

On 10/13/2025 at 12:11 PM, Christopher-RC said:

Greetings, 

 

I have a HTPC, with a 13400F 5060 TI 16GB and the 5060 injects a lot of noise, especially during games.

There should not be any noise what-so-ever if it's connected via HDMI. If you are hearing noise on the HDMI device (eg monitor/television/surround receiver) then that is likely a problem with the device.

 

HDMI is not analog. If there was noise in the audio, there would be noise in the video and the signal would drop a lot.

 

You can get types of "audio splitters" for HDMI, but they're a solution in search of a problem, because you shouldn't need them except for legacy equipment (eg HDMI to DVI/Component + S/PDIF) but this requires a HDCP stripping first.

 

So once you get into that, you're basically wasting money. It is more cost efficient to buy any USB DAC and just use that if you don't want to use the audio on the HDMI device.

 

[Christopher-RC]

15 hours ago, Kisai said:

There should not be any noise what-so-ever if it's connected via HDMI. If you are hearing noise on the HDMI device (eg monitor/television/surround receiver) then that is likely a problem with the device.

 

HDMI is not analog. If there was noise in the audio, there would be noise in the video and the signal would drop a lot.

 

You can get types of "audio splitters" for HDMI, but they're a solution in search of a problem, because you shouldn't need them except for legacy equipment (eg HDMI to DVI/Component + S/PDIF) but this requires a HDCP stripping first.

 

So once you get into that, you're basically wasting money. It is more cost efficient to buy any USB DAC and just use that if you don't want to use the audio on the HDMI device.

 

 

Not sure where people are getting their information, actaully kind of alarming. Digital audio can and does get interferance, from coil whine to ground loops to a host of other issues.  GPU are not some high end audio processor design for absolute fidilety.  As an example My Epson LS12000 introduced ground loop from the wall, through the HDMI into my AVR and then bam noise in the speakers.

 

My PC is connected to a Denon AVR with a 48GB fiber HDMI cable- even it cant eliminate it.  For reference Analog signals are much easier to eliminate issues and clean up, digital not so much.   Also noise is there when AVR is Pre amp mode and my Crestron amp handles tha amplification. This amp is a special amp designed by Morris Kessler---I can hook up my 95DB 1w1m speakers to it crank the volume place my ear on the horn and hear absolutly nothing. Dead silent 

 

 

[Kilrah]

Coil whine etc can only get there on the analog side, so if a fully digital chain setup has some it means the amp is so bad at rejecting power supply noise it gets through...

[porina]

On 10/13/2025 at 9:29 PM, Christopher-RC said:

HDMI Fiber, and yes it can and does. Wish that were true but it does- Heck ground loops can be introduced into the digital signal. I have tried limiting frames etc but when GPU is under load it can and does get dirty noise from gpu

Trying to make sense of what's going on here. Is the claim that electrical noise is going over HDMI - not in the encoded digital signal, but some other form of interference going over the cable which is then failing to be rejected by the amp end?

 

I've not really looked at optical cables before since I never had a need for them, but it looks like modern ones are hybrid designs. The data is carried over optical, but there remains electrical connection for other uses like power. If this is the case, then it would not electrically isolate, and that's what you'd have to look into.

 

Finding an older optical HDMI cable that has separate external power local to each end might resolve this as it would then have the electrical isolation. Otherwise pass the sound using an alternate method than HDMI.

 

Do wonder if there is something else going on, since HDMI has been around forever and devices using it do not normally have a problem.

[Christopher-RC]

Digital audio is not immune to interferance. Doing more reading mine looks like EMI from GPU, its way louder ounder load- it only comes from GPU whats actaully fuinny is Linus has a old video of coil whine that matches mine whith movment etc but its pushing it over hdmi- wonder if my 5060TI is defective 

 

[Kisai]

4 hours ago, Christopher-RC said:

Digital audio is not immune to interferance

 

The problem is you're saying you are "hearing" the "coil whine" noise in the digital signal, which is impossible since there is no encoding going on in the GPU, it's just passing audio from the OS, there's nothing electrically to pick up. It's therefor NOT coil whine in the digital signal. Either you are hearing the coil whine from the GPU in the open air, or you're not hearing coil whine at all.

 

Like there is a really easy way to confirm this, plug in analog headphones into your HDMI monitor or television before the PC boots, and just listen, boot up a game, listen, and then shut it down. If it's EMI, those headphones should pick it up. If it's coil whine, you should not be able to hear it while you have the headphones in.

 

https://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/gpu-hdmi-audio-document/

It's simply passed into the output.

 

One of the problems we've always had to deal with since the ISA days was not "coil whine in audio output" but rather DAC opamps on motherboards were super poor quality, and that is why you wanted a dedicated sound card, as you would otherwise hear analog EMI noise from the AC97 front panel connector. The AC97 standard was nothing but pure garbage, the Intel HDA standard was significantly better, and most of the selling points of premium sound chips on motherboards now are ... actually kinda trash USB solutions.

 

Like ASUS is so embarrassed about this on all their budget boards that they don't list what the sound chip is:

But you can go to the driver downloads and find out exactly what it is.

Meanwhile:

ALC4082 is a USB device, not Intel HDA. It's also the worse version.

 

So why am I bringing this up.

 

 

The NVIDIA "high definition audio" is a constant thorn in my side when the monitor is turned off, because applications like Discord will go "we've detected a new sound device, do you want to use it" and it's like "No, take a hint, stop bothering me." I know how I could solve that, disable the nvidia HDA. 

 

Anyways, my point here is that you have at least two ways to confirm what kind of noise this is. 

- Check if you hear it through headphones on your HDMI device

- Check by disabling the NVIDIA HDA, and listen to the MB audio and see if you still hear it through the headphones.

 

Coil whine should be something you only hear outside of the PC, and the only way you mitigate that is by using a more capable, better GPU, or by sound-insulating the HTPC in a cabinet. If it's another kind of EMI, it should disappear entirely by using the optical output on the MB if it has one to a surround receiver. If the noise is still there, from the MB audio, then a USB DAC of some sort is the only other option, but if your MB is already a USB sound chip, then this is going to be no different from the MB's audio.