RAM and latency

Installed old ass drivers that came of disk. Crackling gone but can't adjust volume in Xonar control center.. only in windows sound manager..

Is it possible that the Xonar driver has been conflicting with windows.. as in they are both running the sound through the Xonar soundcard? I mean, the mobo audio drivers aren't installed, only the Xonar drivers, but could windows sound be trying to run the card at the same time as the Xonar control center?.. causing system lag and subsequent crackling of sound..

:Luca

No, only 1 driver will access the hardware. Its more like the new Xonar driver is incompatible with windows 7.

I've had crackles in my sound on two different cards in this machine, neither of which was ever fixed by driver revisions. One, an m-audio Delta410 was traced to AMD cool'n quiet being active in bios+os, when the cpu would ramp speeds up and down the audio would crackle constantly.

My x-fi was unaffected by cnq, but when I upgraded to 4 gigs of ram it started having issues. Sometimes the audio would snap and crackle loudly rendering games unplayable, at others it would be crystal clear. Sometimes rebooting or changing some oddball setting in sound manager would make it go away, only for it to come back a few minutes later. I tried every memory timing setting I could, trying to reduce whatever load on the memory was causing this.

Oddly enough ever since replacing my x1800xl with a 5770 it hasn't happened again, except for the one time I tried OC'ing the 5770's memory. After backing it back down to stock the crackles went away. It should be noted that I also changed the memory voltage in bios from "auto" to 2.6 at the same time, but I don't think that had much to do with it. Noticed in cpu-z that it was listed as 2.5, and ddr400 is rated for 2.6. Even though I changed the value in bios it doesn't register anywhere, cpu-z, sandra, etc all still register it as 2.5 .

I've had crackles in my sound on two different cards in this machine, neither of which was ever fixed by driver revisions. One, an m-audio Delta410 was traced to AMD cool'n quiet being active in bios+os, when the cpu would ramp speeds up and down the audio would crackle constantly.

The OP said that the machine was an i7 system.

Speedstep, CNQ, same idea different manufacturer.

Originally Posted by Yoda4561

Speedstep, CNQ, same idea different manufacturer.

That is EXACTLY what is happening here!! And its been on Win7 and Vista when I had that installed, and I think it did it a little in XP..

So how can I test what is fucking with my sound? Trying every bios setting under the sun?

My graphics card is OC'd factory (XFX GTX285), could that be it?

Maybe I will just buy a Auzentech X-fi and see what happens.. I mean its not really a step down is it?..

:Luca

First thing I'd try is opening up "windows control panel" and hitting power options, change plan settings, change advanced power settings, change settings that are currently unavailable. Somewhere in that list should be cpu speed min/max options, set them both to 100% and see if that takes care of it. I have CnQ disabled now in bios so it doesn't show up in my list, but doing that took care of the issues with my Delta 410 crackling when cpu usage changed. Your bios should have some setting for EIST or something to that effect, which if I'm not mistaken is intel's speedstep.

The x-fi issue was impossible to trace. Ram timings, cpu/ram voltages, underclocking, rearranging pci slots, uninstalling other pci devices, every single audio setting available in windows, the aformentioned speedstep stuff, etc. None of those fixed it longer than a reboot or two. Changing my video card (and keeping ram at stock clockspeeds) finally seems to have fixed it but I'm not 100%. I've thought I "fixed" it too many times to call it just yet.

Originally Posted by Yoda4561

. I've thought I "fixed" it too many times to call it just yet.

Bwa ha!! Yup I've been saying that for 8 months now.. every pluddy time.. I know... trust me I know... will start with what you suggested.

Thanks, good to hear from somebody who had the same problem

:Luca

disconnected tv capture card from mobo. changed power settings so minimum processor state is 100%, in PCI-e setting I turned off link state power management (Xonar is PCI-e), system cooling policy is active.

No crackling yet... but shit... who knows

:Luca

Still massive crackling!!! Fuck!!! When the pc just sitting there playing a cd it crackles a little, but then, even just moving the mouse (I know!!) causes the latency chart to go all to shit in the red and the crackling goes mental. Then I let it sit... little crackle... move the mouse just a amall amount for 2 seconds = loud crackling for 2 seconds... and so on..

Gonna try replacing graphics card now.. just to check..

:Luca

Hmm, sounds like more of a soundcard problem with that information. Not enough buffer size or something. Try onboard sound alone, if the graphics card doesn't work. Also mute/disable any line-in/mic-ins that don't need to be on.

Originally Posted by Yoda4561

Hmm, sounds like more of a soundcard problem with that information. Not enough buffer size or something. Try onboard sound alone, if the graphics card doesn't work. Also mute/disable any line-in/mic-ins that don't need to be on.

will do, cheers

Ugh, first two things that come to mind are update your motherboard's chipset drivers.
Update your bios if available for your motherboard
Uninstall/Reinstall your mouse's drivers. If you are using the generic HUD usb mouse driver, install the one specifically for your mouse if one exists(IE Logitech ___ mouse driver).

You mentioned when resizing the image the crackling/poping happens? Is that because your moving your mouse and sending a signal through your usb port in order to resize the photo?

My recommendation would be to try those three things. You said it yourself, other xonar users don't seem to be reporting this issue and on-board sound works fine. That leaves your Xonar is defective, but, you already are on your second xonar.

From here, I'm thinking its a conflict with a certain set of hardware or hardware /w bios verion that other xonar users might not have. Hence making the issue pretty rare.

you say crackling I say bad caps?

make/model of the PSU powering a monster CPU and monster GPU?

Originally Posted by WBurchnall

Ugh, first two things that come to mind are update your motherboard's chipset drivers.
Update your bios if available for your motherboard
Uninstall/Reinstall your mouse's drivers. If you are using the generic HUD usb mouse driver, install the one specifically for your mouse if one exists(IE Logitech ___ mouse driver).

You mentioned when resizing the image the crackling/poping happens? Is that because your moving your mouse and sending a signal through your usb port in order to resize the photo?

My recommendation would be to try those three things. You said it yourself, other xonar users don't seem to be reporting this issue and on-board sound works fine. That leaves your Xonar is defective, but, you already are on your second xonar.

From here, I'm thinking its a conflict with a certain set of hardware or hardware /w bios verion that other xonar users might not have. Hence making the issue pretty rare.

Thanks for the advice man

Unfortunately I have tried all these things to no avail. The crackling happens even when I rezise a 'window'... even my browser window, or picture window, or media player window, or even just the my documents window.. it seems to be because of lag. Its like the pc can't take the strain of running a OS and a soundcard.. but check my sig... thats gotta be bullshit right?..

I am also thinking its a conflict with hardware, which is why I removed my tv card to see, but still crackling, so next I will replace graphics card temporarily..

At the moment I've uninstalled windows7 and gone back to XP to see if the crackling is there.. the more I think about it, it all started when I first played COD4 which was moments after I installed Vista. Then went back to XP and I 'think' it went away, then moving to Windows7 it started again.

I have dld'd all latest drivers for each hardware on the corresponding OS's.. but no luck. Soooo... back to square 1 for now.. damn...

:Luca

Originally Posted by MrWizard6600

you say crackling I say bad caps?

make/model of the PSU powering a monster CPU and monster GPU?

Everyone I talk to here thinks the HX620 is plenty for what I am running.. HOWEVER.. when I first installed my 1st Xonar, I fried it, including the power cable from the PSU. So upon replacing the Xonar the 2nd time I am now using an after market cable. But I think maybe it all started with Vista, then Windows 7, but not XP.

So going back to XP for a bit to see if it makes a difference..

Cheers

:Luca

Originally Posted by Luca1

when I first installed my 1st Xonar, I fried it, including the power cable from the PSU

fried what? the PSU, Soundcard, Mobo? That might be the reason you're having these issues.

Originally Posted by snefan

fried what? the PSU, Soundcard, Mobo? That might be the reason you're having these issues.

fried the soundcard, but that one was RMA'd and fixed. The cable that runs from the PSU got fried aswell but I replaced that with a new 1. I have had this issue on 2 completely different, brand new Xonar's..

:Luca

OK FINALLY I HAVE AN ANSWER..

after running xp for over a week now and having ABSOLUTELY NO CRACKLING from my soundcard (and therefore practically no system latency).. and the fact that I am now sure that the whole crackling thing first arose when I installed Vista, then went away when I went back to XP then came back again when I installed Windows7 (technically a derivative of Vista).. i think it is safe to say that it is not the soundcard, nor the RAM, nor the Mobo, nor the graphics card.. it IS the Operating System..

so why?? WHY!??! Do my Xonars not like Vista or Windows7?

Riddle me this..

:Luca

Poor driver support on the part of Asus probably.

It is weird how you're the only person I know of that has this issue with a Xonar and Windows Vista/7. Everyone I know with a Xonar card and Windows 7 or Vista doesn't have this issue whatsoever.