Audio distorted through GTX 1070 HDMI port

[Steven Porter]

The Disclaimer:

Sorry if this post is annoyingly long for a seemingly minor issue. Just wanted to provide all relevant information so I don't waste everyone's time asking for info I should have provided.

 

 

The Problem:

About 2 months ago, I started having intermittent distortion (sounds like an audio buffer is filling up) while playing any audio over my 1070's HDMI port. (full specs and setup details below) The distortion comes from the built in speakers in my TCL 43S405 UHD TV, which I use as my main monitor. This distortion happens on literally all audio passed to it through the HDMI connection, including system sound effects, streaming video/music in Edge, Chrome, IE, Firefox and audio playback from pro apps like Pro Tools and Premiere CC. (Don't worry, I have proper studio monitors but wanted to test the issues with a range of audio sources). I do use the TV speakers frequently to save power (studio monitors/console/power conditioners draw about 400 watts and heat the room substantially) so I do need a solution and not a recommendation to just use the monitors all the time. It is intermittent, and usually gets bad for a few seconds and then sounds great for an hour or so before getting bad again, and so on. It seems to be related to total system load, as launching an intensive program (like Premiere) seems to cause the distortion to worsen despite a negligible CPU load. In some cases, opening a new tab in Edge (also tested and the same in Chrome) is enough to trigger a burst of noise, but this is usually rather subtle and short lived.

 

I have attached 2 recordings of playing music from Pandora in Edge through my HDMI monitor.

audio distortion 1.mp3

audio distortion 2.mp3

 

 

Attempted Solutions:

• All cables are tested and known to be good.
• Changing audio settings in the NVidia control panel or regular Windows control panel have had no effect on the issue.
• All software/drivers/BIOS are up to date at the time of writing, and multiple NVidia updates, a BIOS update, and a Windows update have been installed while this problems has been going on. After installing the HD Audio Driver (version 1.3.37.4 released May 24th) it has been better (less frequent) but is still present.
• The addition or removal of other audio devices has no effect.

 

 

Theories:

This type of distortion sounds like an audio buffer filling up and being unable to keep up with the source. It is in fact a very fast stutter, where a few samples are played and then there is a delay, then a few more samples. I know it is a delay and not cutting out because the tempo of music noticeable slows while the distortion occurs but the pitch remains the same. It only makes sense that there is a tiny delay every few milliseconds causing this sort of super rough time-stretch effect, and a slow or small buffer can certainly do it. Trouble is, I cannot to save my life find any way to adjust the buffer size! All of my pro audio hardware has a setting within the driver/control panel to manually change the buffer, but that just doesn't seem to exist here, so I cannot test my theory.

 

Part 2 of this theory is why I believe it is GPU related. Since this issue has started, my average Cinebench score has gone from 154fps to about 125. CPU remains in the low 2000s (just got 2022 and 2004 while writing this) which is within 10 points of the highest score with my current overclock. Given the reduced GPU performance and the new audio issue around the same time, it seems to be related. However, I ran the GPU test while playing a YouTube video (usually the worst offender for the audio distortion) and noticed no audio problems (although my score did drop to 109fps, and stopping the video for a second test resulted in 124. Still 30fps shy of my previous max, while the CPU score hasn't changed.) 

 

 

System Specs & Configuration:

My system is a custom PC. Asus X299 Prime A, i7 7820x (4.8 GHz oc), Corsair H115i, 16gbx2 Corsair Vengance LPX, 850 Pro boot SSD, 1TB HDD, too many USB drives/peripherals to list, Asus 1070 Dual (name of the one card, NOT SLI and NOT overclocked) connected with risers and mounted on standoffs beneath my motherboard, Corsair RM750x.Photo included to hopefully answer the questions that seem to always come up when I talk about this build.

Running Windows 10 Pro (version 1709, build 16299.431)

NVidia GeForce Experience (version 3.14.0.139)

Game Ready driver (version 397.93) which includes a new update to HD Audio Driver 1.3.37.4 (previously 1.3.37.1) Clean installation performed as I usually do.

 

I have 2 HDMI monitors (21" with no audio connected via HDMI to DVI cable, TCL 43S405 43" UHD TV connected via HDMI, which is AWESOME as a monitor by the way) These are the only devices connected to the 1070. My only other PCI device is an eSata card with 2 ports. Disconnecting or connecting this has no affect on the audio issue.

 

 

Thanks in advance for any help diagnosing and fixing this problem. I'd be happy to provide any other information to help find a solution.

Edited June 1, 2018 by Steven Porter
Clarified that GPU is not overclocked

[JZStudios]

Dunno if I can help, but the only time I experienced stuttering audio on 3.5 is when I was maxing out my CPU with a Blender render. Running HDMI from the card though ports the music through there, so even with your CPU maxed you should still have audio. Running my audio through HDMI, I still typically get audio even when maxing my GPU at overclock.

If this is something that's just happening at basically idle, then I have no idea what it could be.

If you're ALSO getting worse performance and haven't changed any settings I guess best I could recommend is contacting for a RMA. Seems more like a hardware issue than software, but a strange one at that.

 

I also know (read) that HDMI is very good at cutting out noise, otherwise it doesn't output signal, so it's not that either.

[Steven Porter]

Thanks for the reply. 

15 hours ago, JZStudios said:

Running HDMI from the card though ports the music through there, so even with your CPU maxed you should still have audio.

While I'm not an expert by any means, that sure makes sense to me- especially since the 2 other audio devices (both USB) have been running flawlessly in Pro Tools, Premiere, Resolve, etc. which really push the CPU and GPU hard. I often leave music playing while exporting video, which pegs the CPU at 95-100% (sometimes same for the GPU depending on the task) for minutes straight and never had a single issue with my USB audio devices.

16 hours ago, JZStudios said:

Running my audio through HDMI, I still typically get audio even when maxing my GPU at overclock.

Not sure if this is what you're getting at, but I edited my original post to clarify that my GPU is not overclocked. Although I suppose an overclock utility might provide some tools that could help this. I'll give that a shot this weekend.

 

I've been hesitant to contact support as I've heard rumors that it's hardly worth the effort, but if the LTT community isn't able to help soon I think that'll be me last resort.

[JZStudios]

Well if you're not overclocked (I was just saying I AM running my GPU as hard as it can) then I really think your GPU might be going faulty.

[Steven Porter]

Got it. I just tried a very mild overclock and got my Cinebench FPS up to 170 with no effect on audio performance. I guess I'll be contacting Asus for an RMA this week. Thanks for your suggestions!

[Steven Porter]

Turns out my display doesn't like something in the recent drivers. I did try old drivers as part of my troubleshooting process, but not old enough.

 

Reverting back to a driver from late 2017 completely fixed both issues.