New power supply, weird sound problems - HELP!

  • Thread starter Thread starter dlyons14
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dlyons14

Hey guys,

Recently I purchased a new power supply after the advice of this
thread:

http://groups-beta.google.com/group...1eb7a15595d/e24384c51b6c0a6e#e24384c51b6c0a6e

It's a brand new brand name (Antec) 430W power supply. However, now,
when I play any sort of game on my computer, or a MIDI plays, I get
'crackling', 'pops', and general noise in my sound card. Also, it seems
to occur if my computer is thinking really hard and sound is playing
over the speaker as well... say an mp3 or wav file. However, only when
the computer is working very hard and it's barely noticeable. Really
it's only a serious problem when I play a game or a MIDI plays, then
it's so bad I have to stop playing.

I've got the latest NVIDIA drivers from their site. I'll try new sound
card drivers but I do believe those are the latest to, and I don't
understand why a new PSU would cause me to get new sound card drivers.

Anyone have any idea? DO I need to try another PSU? What's going on?

Thanks
Dustin
 
Sorry guys I needed to bump this, still want to get some more advice
before I go out and buy another PSU--
 
Sorry guys I needed to bump this, still want to get some more advice
before I go out and buy another PSU--
Click to expand...

Link doesn't work. No idea what the prior thread was
about...



What's your sound card like?
It never did this before?
Generally this is a sign of a poor sound card, very cheap
PCI type that skimped on filtration, or motherboard
integrated sound. If motherboard sound, you might count
yourself lucky it didn't have the problem previously, as
it's quite common.



I would ignore the MIDI and games, and focus mainly on
standard wav playback, as games themselves can be a problem
requiring in-game changes to the audio support.

You didn't mention your motherboard though, some have PCI
issues that combined with bad drivers (like some Creative
Labs has released) may cause it... but generally such a
problem would exist prior to the PSU swap, would've been
audible already unless barely so and you had switched
speakers/amp and the new parts are more sensitive.





Do you otherwise feel the PSU is working properly? We've no
idea if it's a good match (ample current) for your system as
you haven't mentioned that system. If the PSU is working ok
besides this, I'd tend to get a sound card, not another PSU.
Perhaps buy both from someplace with a good return policy
and then return the part you don't need... the sound card
can't be doing to well if it's happening, and yet a
different PSU may improve (reduce) the noise levels a little
too. You can also blame the motherboard in many cases, it's
not providing clean power to the sound card... but it seems
a bit excessive to replace everything and mobo replacement
is the more laborious, so should probably happen last unless
you were itching to upgrade the system anyway.
 
I just tried the latest drivers for my sound card and it didn't fix it.
I have a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS and it has worked fine as long as
I've had it (about 2 years..). I remember this same problem occuring
about two years ago and a new power supply fixed the issue (i think?,
can't 100% remember). What I don't understand is why a brand new power
supply would now do this? It fixed my problem as I had a flakey PSU
before this that would cause my computer to crash-- I no longer get
random crashes. Just blips and bleeps when I try to play a game. Could
the PSU be "too powerful"? I went from 380W to 430W... I'd like to be
able to take this PSU back and get another one while I still can. But I
don't see why a brand new PSU would be the problem?

Dustin
 
Now I'm hearing it in regular WAV playback if I turn the speakers up...
you can hear blips and bleeps coming through this sound. Again, this
all started after buying a new power supply. But why would a good Antec
430w PSU do this? It's brand new but putting it in my system has caused
these glitches in sound. I have no other problems with the PSU. Anyone
have any suggestions?
 
Now I'm hearing it in regular WAV playback if I turn the speakers
up... you can hear blips and bleeps coming through this sound. Again,
this all started after buying a new power supply. But why would a
good Antec 430w PSU do this? It's brand new but putting it in my
system has caused these glitches in sound. I have no other problems
with the PSU. Anyone have any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Guess its possible that the original power supply has substantially
better filtering on the main rails and the motherboard design is
rather marginal on that so its more obvious with the Antec.

It would be easy to check that with an oscilliscope, but you are
unlikely to have one available and you need to know how to use one too.
 
Now I'm hearing it in regular WAV playback if I turn the speakers up...
you can hear blips and bleeps coming through this sound. Again, this
all started after buying a new power supply. But why would a good Antec
430w PSU do this? It's brand new but putting it in my system has caused
these glitches in sound. I have no other problems with the PSU. Anyone
have any suggestions?
Click to expand...


Digital system circuits don't need exceptionally clean
power. A "good" PSU can work fine for these circuits but
analog audio is another beast, is subject to the particular
frequency of any power ripple present. A bad PSU or good,
can cause it- isn't necessarily an issue of how good the psu
is, only what ripple results from a particular combination
of parts. There is no switching PSU that can eliminate it
entirely, as even if the PSU had a theoretically perfect,
clean output, it cannot prevent ripple at the load
(motherboard, sound card, etc). If the motherboard were
designed better (or the sound card in particular since it is
the part actually having a problem) the noise would be
diminished, but parts are designed at lower/lowest
construction cost and real-estate (in the case of
motherboards) so ultimately some will end up trying several
parts and/or digital output.

It "might" be more likely to result if your PSU has more
reserve power, if it's switching duration is shorter or the
post-transformer magnetics are smaller (but this is pretty
much constrained by the size of the form factor after a
certain point and wattage).

The bottom line is that you can take 4 good PSU and put each
on a different system and it won't be the same one causing
the noise every time on same board, same parts plugged into
it. Since you found a combination that causes the problem
you will need to replace the board, PSU, or sound card...
and you may still find the replacement combination has the
problem to a certain extent, or it may resolve it enough
that it can't be heard even if it still effects the sound to
a lesser extent.
 
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