Question Audio has started popping and crackling out of nowhere ?

[Voidcraft]

Also, I'm downloading Linux Mint Cinnamon right now - just to be sure, I boot into BIOS, change boot order to look for USB devices first then restart which will then boot up the linux distro? Again, I've never really done much of anything like this before so it's all new to me. Interesting experience, for sure.

 

[Aeacus]

just to be sure, I boot into BIOS, change boot order to look for USB devices first then restart which will then boot up the linux distro?

Yes.

Once you boot from the USB drive, you should be greeted with this image:

Direct link if image doesn't load: https://fostips.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/mint-liveusb-menu.jpg

Rather than installing Mint onto the drive (OEM install), select the "Start Linux Mint" option, where entire distro is loaded into RAM. It takes a while to load, but this way, you can boot into Live Linux Mint desktop without installing it.
Heck, you can disconnect all other storage drives as well, if you're worried overwriting your data.

(I have the same bootable Linux Mint configuration on my USB thumb drive for data recovery purposes.)

 

[Voidcraft]

Alright, thanks. When I get around to it I'll post an update!

 

[Voidcraft]

Hm, I think something else is wrong with the PC. I just had it just shut down randomly, full hard crash like it lost power - but it's plugged into a UPS. Unless the UPS battery wasn't on and I just had it on line power, that shouldn't happen.. I'm so confused. Temps were fine, no blue screen. Could it be the PSU going bad?

Windows event viewer is showing this:
The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly. Event ID: 41. Kernel-Power source.

Also strange that I can't find a dump file for the crash, either.

 

[Aeacus]

Could it be the PSU going bad?

We don't know, since you didn't share your PSU's details when i asked for it:

You said that you have Maingear 650W PSU. But since your PC case is also Maingear, you most likely have some OEM PSU.
If you can, take the pic of the PSU's label (where rail voltages and amps are seen) and upload it to the net, e.g www.imgur.com and share the image here.
From the label i could see the PSU's model and also tell if it is decent PSU or do you need to replace PSU ASAP, if it is crap quality PSU.

 

[Voidcraft]

Unfortunately i don't seem to be able to remove the covering that's hiding that information. Seems to be stuck pretty good. I can tell you its a 650w Evga psu, not sure if that helps any.

 

[Voidcraft]

I honestly think I'm at the point where I might look at buying another pre-built. Andromeda Insights has good prices, and I can use my current one to maybe actually learn how the insides work. I have an older PC that I can do that on now, but it's an alienware R7 and I've heard dell doesn't play well with other components so who knows.

 

[beyondlogic]

CPU: i7 13600k
CPU cooler: 280m AIO cooler
Motherboard: MSI PRO b660M-A CEC WiFi DDR4
Ram: 16GB, unsure of brand
SSD/HDD: SOLIDIGM SSD
GPU: 3070Ti
PSU: I believe it's just a Maingear 650W gold, but I'm not 100% positive as the PC is a prebuilt and is no longer available on the Maingear website.
Chassis: Maingear MG-1 case
OS: Win11 Home 24H2
Monitor: Not positive of the exact specs, just running a Samsung monitor and a Vizio TV as a secondary

I'm about to throw this PC out of the window after trying just about everything besides swapping hardware out trying to fix this random audio clicking and popping that came out of nowhere. It happens especially when I'm streaming audio/video like youtube, and can be recreated when moving the volume slider. There's been so many posts I've crawled about the same issue, but unfortunately none of the suggestions I've tried have fixed it.

What I've done:
Tried multiple audio channels
Turned off Audio Enhancements
Tried both front and back audio jacks with multiple headsets
Tried 3 different external sound cards
Disabled C-states
Disabled Core Parking
On the latest bios (7D37v1M1(Beta version))
Updated nvidia drivers to 533.63
Tried turning HAGS off (did not have an effect so I re-enabled it)
Updated to the latest realtek drivers, and tried the drivers that came with the PC
disabled all other audio drivers besides realtek/external sound card drivers
Ethernet is disabled (unable to disable WiFi as it's the only way I have access to the internet)
Have it on the highest power setting
Tested my outlet for any grounding issues - none present.
Windows update is fully up to date
Only have keyboard, mouse and headphones plugged into the PC

I've run latencymon and with c-states enabled I hit over 1000ms which throws errors, but with them disabled it's all green and no errors so I've kept them off but the audio issue still persists.

I have purchased a ground loop isolater but haven't attempted to test it out.

At this point I'm pretty sure it's something inside the PC itself but I'm awful at PC building so if I try to do anything inside the case knowing my luck I'd break it (the most I've done is open the side panel and dust it out, but I haven't even done that in a few months). Any thoughts or ideas would be welcome before I lose the little hair I have left!

MSI motherboards are by far the worst Ive ever has I had a intel MSI that was absolute trash audio drivers.

Try asrock/ gigabyte

And avoid Realtek® ALC897 Codec it's a crappy excuse of a audio codec.

 

[Voidcraft]

Yeah I dumped Realtek altogether by using a DAC. I'm probably not going to switch any hardware in the PC since it seems it's on its death bed, and just going to look into buying a new prebuilt. Going for full AMD this time, though. I've heard to stay away from ASrock for AMD, something about it killing CPUs?

 

[Voidcraft]

Something that comes to mind with the random full shut down - It's around 90f outside and I don't have air con in my bedroom. Wonder if it was actually heat and I missed the HWInfo showing high temps.. Right now it's sitting at 70c with MC sitting open so if it happens again I at least know it isn't temp related.

 

[Aeacus]

I can tell you its a 650w Evga psu, not sure if that helps any.

EVGA has sold PSUs from great quality (e.g SuperNova G7) all the way to the complete crap (e.g W1, N1 series). So, this little info doesn't tell much.

EVGA usually puts the PSU label on the side, rather than on the top. So, if you open the PC's back panel, behind MoBo, can you see the label?

I honestly think I'm at the point where I might look at buying another pre-built. Andromeda Insights has good prices

For prebuilt, only brand that i can suggest, is StarForge,
link: https://starforgesystems.com/

E.g Horizon III Elite at $1500,
specs: https://starforgesystems.com/products/horizon-iii-elite

Now, as of what makes StarForge in general good, is that they are one of the very few prebuilt system sellers, who actually assemble the build properly, without minor or major issues.

GamersNexus is buying prebuilt PCs incognito and then making in-depth reviews of them, so that people know which prebuilt company to look for and which one to avoid like a plague.
Here is their YT playlist of prebuilt reviews: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsuVSmND84QuM2HKzG7ipbIbE_R5EnCLM

StarForge prebuilt has been on the spotlight 2 times now. 1st time there were some loose screw issues but 2nd time around, all was in order and build was one of the very few properly built.


Another thing that i like about StarForge is that they openly state what make/model PSU comes with the prebuilt PC. This is actually very rare to see, since most prebuilt PC brands only list PSU's wattage. Sometimes even efficiency but that's it. This means that PSU is often the cheaped out component inside the prebuilt PC. Because when PSU is crap, no-one is going to openly state the make/model. But if PSU would be actually good, stating the make/model actually helps to sell the PC.

Prime example; random Asus prebuilt,
specs: https://rog.asus.com/desktops/mid-tower/rog-strix-g13ch-series/spec/

If you look at PSU specs, all it says, is wattage and efficiency. Nothing more. If same info would be said about CPU or GPU, the listing would say;
CPU - Intel Core i7 (16 cores)
GPU - Nvidia (8GB VRAM)
Yet, there's in-depth info about CPU and GPU.

But with StarForge PC and the Horizon III Elite i linked, you can see on the tin, that the PSU it comes with, is MSI MAG A750GL PCI-E 5.
That PSU is Tier B unit.
PSU Tier list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...JWkc/edit?pli=1&gid=1973454078#gid=1973454078

While i'd like to see Tier A or A+ PSU in the prebuilt, it would jack up the overall price and only very few people are willing to pay money for great quality PSU (including yours truly). While most people love to cheap out on PSU.
But with PSUs, there is a catch:
Since PSU powers everything, it is the most important component inside the PC.
Hence why NEVER cheap out on PSU! Also, never buy used PSU either.

MSI motherboards are by far the worst Ive ever has I had a intel MSI that was absolute trash audio drivers.

That depends on the specific audio codec used, rather than calling "all MSI MoBos have terrible audio".

E.g the two MSI MoBos i'm using, they both have Realtek ALC1150 audio codec and i can't say anything bad about audio on my MSI MoBos.
Though, the new MoBos we're going with, have Realtek ALC4082 audio codec. How that fares, i can tell in 3 months time, once we have new MoBos up and running.

And avoid Realtek® ALC897 Codec it's a crappy excuse of a audio codec.

If you pay peanuts - you will get monkeys. Simple as that.

ALC897 is used on the cheap, low end MoBos. Hence the poor sound quality.
OP's MoBo also has the ALC897 codec. So... probably the bane of all the issues.

 

[Voidcraft]

Yeah, I've looked at Starforge but the price difference between them and Andromeda Insights is pretty massive. AI uses Gamdias Helios P2 for their PSU so I don't know how to take that. Maingear is what I would go with, but their prices have increased so much more compared to most other SI's that I don't think I can justify it.

 

[Voidcraft]

https://imgur.com/wbz38nd

View: https://imgur.com/wbz38nd
is what I'm looking at for ~1300 USD. Not sure how I feel about not having an AIO since I've used one since I've had a desktop PC, but it is what it is.

I contacted them to see the exact components they use for the build, but it's Sunday so I doubt I'll get a response until tomorrow at the latest.

 

[beyondlogic]

EVGA has sold PSUs from great quality (e.g SuperNova G7) all the way to the complete crap (e.g W1, N1 series). So, this little info doesn't tell much.

EVGA usually puts the PSU label on the side, rather than on the top. So, if you open the PC's back panel, behind MoBo, can you see the label?


For prebuilt, only brand that i can suggest, is StarForge,
link: https://starforgesystems.com/

E.g Horizon III Elite at $1500,
specs: https://starforgesystems.com/products/horizon-iii-elite

Now, as of what makes StarForge in general good, is that they are one of the very few prebuilt system sellers, who actually assemble the build properly, without minor or major issues.

GamersNexus is buying prebuilt PCs incognito and then making in-depth reviews of them, so that people know which prebuilt company to look for and which one to avoid like a plague.
Here is their YT playlist of prebuilt reviews: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsuVSmND84QuM2HKzG7ipbIbE_R5EnCLM

StarForge prebuilt has been on the spotlight 2 times now. 1st time there were some loose screw issues but 2nd time around, all was in order and build was one of the very few properly built.


Another thing that i like about StarForge is that they openly state what make/model PSU comes with the prebuilt PC. This is actually very rare to see, since most prebuilt PC brands only list PSU's wattage. Sometimes even efficiency but that's it. This means that PSU is often the cheaped out component inside the prebuilt PC. Because when PSU is crap, no-one is going to openly state the make/model. But if PSU would be actually good, stating the make/model actually helps to sell the PC.

Prime example; random Asus prebuilt,
specs: https://rog.asus.com/desktops/mid-tower/rog-strix-g13ch-series/spec/

If you look at PSU specs, all it says, is wattage and efficiency. Nothing more. If same info would be said about CPU or GPU, the listing would say;
CPU - Intel Core i7 (16 cores)
GPU - Nvidia (8GB VRAM)
Yet, there's in-depth info about CPU and GPU.

But with StarForge PC and the Horizon III Elite i linked, you can see on the tin, that the PSU it comes with, is MSI MAG A750GL PCI-E 5.
That PSU is Tier B unit.
PSU Tier list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...JWkc/edit?pli=1&gid=1973454078#gid=1973454078

While i'd like to see Tier A or A+ PSU in the prebuilt, it would jack up the overall price and only very few people are willing to pay money for great quality PSU (including yours truly). While most people love to cheap out on PSU.
But with PSUs, there is a catch:
Since PSU powers everything, it is the most important component inside the PC.
Hence why NEVER cheap out on PSU! Also, never buy used PSU either.


That depends on the specific audio codec used, rather than calling "all MSI MoBos have terrible audio".

E.g the two MSI MoBos i'm using, they both have Realtek ALC1150 audio codec and i can't say anything bad about audio on my MSI MoBos.
Though, the new MoBos we're going with, have Realtek ALC4082 audio codec. How that fares, i can tell in 3 months time, once we have new MoBos up and running.


If you pay peanuts - you will get monkeys. Simple as that.

ALC897 is used on the cheap, low end MoBos. Hence the poor sound quality.
OP's MoBo also has the ALC897 codec. So... probably the bane of all the issues.

I don't personally use msi period I've had msi boards 5 personal use all either died or had one component or another stop working common failure i found was memory reading issues. all said memory is working fine in other boards.

and as a pc builder i gave them a shot again and got burned with another 5 faulty boards.

Realtek® ALC897 can be even used in some more expensive boards not just peanut boards even asrock and gigabyte have used it which is why i even mentioned it as his current board also has it.

 

[Voidcraft]

Unfortunately it looks like the info is on the side with the panel that seems welded on. No other info can be seen besides 60 - 120v on the plug area of the psu itself

 

[Aeacus]

AI uses Gamdias Helios P2 for their PSU

Tier B+ unit. Tier A if 1300W version.
PSU Tier list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...JWkc/edit?pli=1&gid=1973454078#gid=1973454078

However, do note that there is no 650W model in the Gamidas Helios P2 lineup. So, 650W unit is something else (could be better or worse).

Not sure how I feel about not having an AIO since I've used one since I've had a desktop PC, but it is what it is.

As far as AIOs vs air coolers go, you won't gain any cooling performance if you go with AIO over air cooler since both are cooled by ambient air.
For equal cooling performance between AIOs and air coolers, rad needs to be 240mm or 280mm. Smaller rads: 120mm and 140mm are almost always outperformed by mid-sized air coolers. Single slot rads are good in mini-ITX builds where you don't have enough CPU cooler clearance to install mid-sized CPU air cooler.

Here are the positive sides of both (air and AIO) CPU cooling methods;

Pros of air coolers:
less cost
less maintenance
less noise
far longer longevity
no leakage risks
doesn't take up case fan slots
additional cooling for the RAM
CPU cools down faster after heavy heat output

Pros of AIOs:
no RAM clearance issues*
no CPU clearance issues
CPU takes longer time to heat up during heavy heat output (about 30 mins)
* on some cases, top mounted rad can give RAM clearance issues

While how the CPU cooler looks inside the PC depends on a person. Some people prefer to see small AIO pump in the middle of their MoBo with tubing going to the rad while others prefer to see big heatsink with fans in the middle of their MoBo.

Main difference between AIO and air cooler is that with AIO, you'll get more noise at a higher cost while cooling performance remains the same (or can actually be worse, depending on the cooler).
Here's review, where current king of air coolers (Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 EVO) was put against other CPU coolers, including at least 12x high-end AIOs. Review also includes the current value king of air coolers (Thermalright Peerless Assassin SE 120).
Noise levels: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/thermalright-phantom-spirit-120-evo-argb-cpu-air-cooler/8.html
AMD AM5 cooling: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/thermalright-phantom-spirit-120-evo-argb-cpu-air-cooler/6.html
Intel LGA1700 cooling: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/thermalright-phantom-spirit-120-evo-argb-cpu-air-cooler/7.html

Personally, i'd go with air coolers every day of the week. With same cooling performance, the pros of air coolers outweigh the pros of AIOs considerably. While, for me, the 3 main pros would be:
1. Less noise.
Since i like my PC to be quiet, i can't stand the loud noise AIO makes. Also, when air gets trapped inside the AIO (some AIOs are more prone to this than others), there's additional noise coming from inside the pump.
2. Longevity.
Cheaper AIOs usually last 2-3 years and high-end ones 4-5 years before you need to replace it. While with air coolers, their life expectancy is basically unlimited. Only thing that can go bad on an air cooler is the fan on it. If the fan dies, your CPU still has cooling in form of a big heatsink. Also, new 120mm or 140mm fan doesn't cost much and it's easy to replace one. While with AIOs, the main thing that usually goes bad is the pump itself. And when that happens, your CPU has no cooling whatsoever. Since you can't replace pump on an AIO, you need to buy whole new AIO to replace the old one out.
3. No leakage risks.
Since there's liquid circling inside the AIO, there is always a risk that your AIO can leak. While it's rare, it has happened. It's well known fact that conductive liquids and electronics don't mix.

Unfortunately it looks like the info is on the side with the panel that seems welded on. No other info can be seen besides 60 - 120v on the plug area of the psu itself

If your PSU is hidden by the PSU shroud, you need to unscrew the two screws at the back of the PC, holding PSU in place. And then, slowly pull the PSU out.

Note: When pulling PSU out, better to look at the power cables going to the PSU, since you could pull out some of the power cables going into PSU.
None of the power cables should disconnect from the PSU, since they all are latched to the PSU. But if one of the connectors isn't properly seated and latch isn't engaged, it may come loose or disconnect completely.

I don't personally use msi period I've had msi boards 5 personal use all either died or had one component or another stop working common failure i found was memory reading issues. all said memory is working fine in other boards.

and as a pc builder i gave them a shot again and got burned with another 5 faulty boards.

I guess you had bad luck then.

The two MSI MoBos that i have, are both high end;
MSI Z170A Gaming M5 - 9 years old now.
MSI Z97 Gaming 5 - 10 years old now.

Both are working like a charm. Though, next month, i'd be replacing them since they don't support Win11.

On top of the two MoBos, i also have 3x MSI GPUs and 1x MSI monitor. None have died or developed issue(s) thus far.

Realtek® ALC897 can be even used in some more expensive boards not just peanut boards even asrock and gigabyte have used it which is why i even mentioned it as his current board also has it.

When it comes to audio codecs, one should pick the proper MoBo for the use case. E.g MoBo meant for office build doesn't need good quality audio codec and can live with inferior, ALC897 as well. While for gamers, where good audio is more important, better MoBo should be picked, not the cheapest one.

The apparent regression in audio codecs on newer motherboards, such as the shift from Realtek ALC S1200A to Realtek 897, can be attributed to several factors:

1. Cost-Effectiveness: Manufacturers often balance features against costs. They may opt for slightly cheaper audio solutions to allocate resources to other components or features deemed more crucial or in demand.

2. Market Trends: Most users may not notice or prioritize differences between audio codecs. Therefore, manufacturers may focus on other features like connectivity options or overclocking capabilities to cater to broader market demands.

3. Technological Advancements: Newer codecs may offer advantages like improved power efficiency or better compatibility with software and drivers, aligning with evolving user needs.

4. Product Differentiation: Manufacturers offer a range of options across price points and target audiences. Higher-end motherboards may feature premium audio solutions, while mid-range or budget boards prioritize other aspects to keep costs down.

5. Aftermarket Solutions: Users seeking better audio quality can opt for dedicated sound cards or external DACs for superior performance tailored to their needs.

Source: https://rog-forum.asus.com/t5/promo...k-897-codec/m-p/1006585/highlight/true#M57400