Asus issues

Heres one for Jim to sink his teeth into, 1st off Asus ROG support forums refuse to acknowledge this as I am not American. Piss poor for a ROG specific forum.

I have owned the Asus Phoebus card for a couple of years now, it worked without issue on my Previous x58 Asus extreme board with a pair of GTX 480's.

I now own the Rampage 5 extreme and a Asus Strix 980, the issue is with headphones plugged in, The microphone can be plugged into the front or rear inputs but it picks up horrific interference that sounds like I have a helicopter sat outside the window when the video card is under load.

As this is all Asus components, I expected a little support but this problem has never been acknowledged by Asus from any threads I have found on the internet. So Jim, fancy taking this on and getting something done?

This problem remains on any pcie slot, and the card works fine in other PC's.

FYI, it is the same PSU.

OK, so the consistent elements (and so potential causes of the problem) are the motherboard, PSU and graphics card then?

Yes m8, my best guess is the cards causing the interference via the PCIe bus as changing the power cables around onto another rail do nothing to help.

It would seem Asus do not cross test parts as the video card hit the heatsink over the I/O board on fitting causing it to push the card down, this has been resolved with water cooling as the backplate was physically cut to allow correct fitment.

Still had the noise after fitting the water block so this is not a contributing factor.

This was not an issue on the Rampage 2 extreme but that had the 480's not a 980.

(onboard sound works fine but lacks the features of the card I want to use)

I feel like I am stepping back into the 90s......but can you force the sound card onto a different IRQ?

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Originally Posted by shaithis

I feel like I am stepping back into the 90s......but can you force the sound card onto a different IRQ?

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no m8

I've been doing a bit of reading this afternoon, and a few people have reported problems with mic/audio interference from their graphics cards. Have you been able to try moving things around, i.e. to keep the Phoebus as far away as possible from the graphics card? Given that you're saying the problem gets worse when the video is under load makes me think it's probably the same issue.

it is the same issue,

I have moved it to the bottom slot with no change so it isn't related to fresh air in the way m8.

The trouble is I am now out of warranty but the product is no longer fit for purpose so I am a little stuck as to options.

It cost a lot of money so I am a little miffed as this cards got a shield on it.

Problem is it seems that when this issue crops up the sound card will work fine in another PC. Have you tried a different graphics card in your machine, to pin it down to the 980?

Seen some fixes as:

Lower mic sampling rate
Enable "ENC"
Disable SpeedStep

Although I am guessing you've probably tried all them...

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Originally Posted by Jim - ASUS

Problem is it seems that when this issue crops up the sound card will work fine in another PC. Have you tried a different graphics card in your machine, to pin it down to the 980?

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card worked fine in the last Asus mobo so its is the video card, the thing is I know it is the card so I need Asus to admit the issue and do something about it. It isnt like they cant get the parts to test with considering all 3 are made by asus ;)

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Originally Posted by shaithis

Seen some fixes as:

Lower mic sampling rate
Enable "ENC"
Disable SpeedStep

Although I am guessing you've probably tried all them...

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ENC is buggy, it will after a short period of time decide it is going to lower the volume of the person speaking so I can't leave it enabled. it did 100% fix the issue but it is bugger all use when no one can hear me at all!

This is across 2 PC builds so it is a driver issue, but Asus do not seem to care for supporting this audio card as the driver page depicts.

Speedstep is left on as I want to use that feature.

Can't say I have tried the sample rate so I may toss it back in and have a fiddle.

OK, so ultimately the drivers are your problem given that ENC cures the issue. I'll see if I can find out whether that's a known issue on Monday, but in the meantime trying out the sample rate fix is probably a good idea.

Lack of drivers seems to be Asus's problem though Jim :(

ENC Shouldn't be needed as the issue isn't audible but I would accept that as a fix if it worked without muting me after a while.

Trouble is driver updates are few and far between for this soundcard, I am getting to the stage where it is looking like it isn't fit for purpose, out of warranty means I can't return it either.

Thanks for taking this on though :)

I just wasted an hour trying again, nothing helped at all. ENC doesn't block it at all in the release a few weeks ago. Sample rate has zero effect,

The only other option that I have seen some anecdotal success with is trying to eliminate interference on the power line to the card, so routing it away from the graphics card where possible and if necessary adding ferrite beads to it. There is a strong possibility that it's electrical interference of some kind, so it's a question of whether it can be eliminated.

nope, others have tried a 2nd PSU, I took a rail and fed it on a clean route (straight out the case and up into the soundcard) with no change in pitch/tone when the video cards under load. I also stuck a ferrite on it and did a loop round but that made no change.

Fact is the cards EMI shields as much use as a sieve is at catching a trump!

Can you escalate this even though it is OOW it is unfit for purpose so I would like to see what Asus are prepared to do as this is the 1st time a rep has taken the issue seriously m8. :)

My new top of the range creative zxr arrived today. It seems to put the issue down to the Strix 980 passing the interference down the PCI lanes.

So to recap, The soundcard isn't effectively filtering out the the interference from the ASUS GTX980. Weather or not the X99 chipset contributes isn't something I can comment on as the R5E and 980 were commissioned at the same time.

The zxr doesn't pick up as much noise from the 980 but the ANC works a treat unlike the Phoebus.

Asus really released a pig of an update for the phoebus.

I am in 2 minds now, sent back the zxr and buy a decent USB/Wireless headset or leave the eBay auction running on the Phoebus and run the zxr.

I guess this now turns round onto the 980 bleeding noise down the CPI lanes.


Next step Jim ? :)

I don't have one as of yet, I'm afraid, but I haven't forgotten.

Ultimately there's going to be a lot of interference inside a PC case, and the software solutions are in place to counter that. It is unfortunate that you've not been able to get the cancellation to work properly on the Phoebus, although it's good that you've got it working on the ZXR. I don't think the 980 would be considered defective as a result, there will always be interference coming from a high-power graphics card and the sound card software should be able to filter it out, as you've said.

If you want to eliminate more of the interference then USB -> DAC is probably the best solution, getting all of the electronics out of the way, but obviously it's up to you how you approach it.

How's a usb dac going to stop the mic picking up noise. All that would do is allow me to bypass the terd of a headphone amp that isn't capable of powering a 150 ohm set of cans when the box claims it will do 600, even the Asus rep on the ROG forums held his hands up to that one....

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Originally Posted by GoNz0

How's a usb dac going to stop the mic picking up noise. All that would do is allow me to bypass the terd of a headphone amp that isn't capable of powering a 150 ohm set of cans when the box claims it will do 600, even the Asus rep on the ROG forums held his hands up to that one....

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Sorry, bad terminology - meant USB soundcard would reduce probability of interference from PCIe devices i.e. graphics.