[SOLVED] IRQ conflict between RTX and SoundBlaster

[Paul F]

I've noticed my RTX 2060 and my SoundBlaster Z are sharing the same IRQ (16), and when I run LatencyMon sometimes it tells me my PC is not suitable for realtime audio and video, but my build has a Core i7 11700 and 32GB of Corsair RAM.

I can't access the pcie x1 slot due to the pcie m.2_2 blocking it when installed, plus the rtx is quite big and I doubt I can't install the SBZ next to it on the x1 slot, and since its pcie it won't work in the other m2_1 slot which seems to be for nvme only, when I install it there it doesnt detect the m.2.

The IRQ setting is disabled under the device manager, as it seems mobo manages everything, and I ran out of PCIe slots, its a small motherboard (TUF GAMING B560M-PLUS), do I really have any choice here other than replacing the mobo with another one with more slots?

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/...-PLUS/E17586_TUF_GAMING_B560M-PLUS_UM_web.pdf

 

[Eximo]

ARE you experiencing problems?

Cutting your GPU's PCIe lanes in half isn't ideal, but it shouldn't make a huge difference.

If you insist on using a standalone sound card, you could get a 1x riser cable run it under the GPU and connect the sound card to that. Would have to work something out on the mount if there is room, or relocate it entirely.

 

[Paul F]

ARE you experiencing problems?

Cutting your GPU's PCIe lanes in half isn't ideal, but it shouldn't make a huge difference.

If you insist on using a standalone sound card, you could get a 1x riser cable run it under the GPU and connect the sound card to that. Would have to work something out on the mount if there is room, or relocate it entirely.

No problems so far, at least that I can notice, I was only a little concerned that the system could be more snappier or get better fps without this conflict, but I really need to run benchmarks with and without the sound blaster to get in to a conclusion, which I intend to do later this week.

I did notice that when I disable the sound blaster under device manager and reboot, that latency mon won't report any issue with responsiveness for real time audio/video.

This is a brand new build and at the moment I haven't had the time to do video editing or gaming on it, has been only working with basic apps.

 

[jmacc21]

ARE you experiencing problems?

Cutting your GPU's PCIe lanes in half isn't ideal, but it shouldn't make a huge difference.

If you insist on using a standalone sound card, you could get a 1x riser cable run it under the GPU and connect the sound card to that. Would have to work something out on the mount if there is room, or relocate it entirely.

p
Im with paul on that . I was going to suggest the samething the riser kits are cheap and they actually give u some design options. I purchased one so i could relocate my video card and away from my cpu .

 

[Paul F]

p
Im with paul on that . I was going to suggest the samething the riser kits are cheap and they actually give u some design options. I purchased one so i could relocate my video card and away from my cpu .

Looks like the way to go, just wondering how do I mount those on my case.

 

[faalin]

Can you take a picture of your motherboard, im confused how your M.2 is not allowing you to use the PCIe x1 slot. If anything it would cause issues with the GPU fan shroud as the dual slot GPU covers the M.2 slot. I could see more of an issue with the Soundcard sitting to close the the GPU and covering part of the fans.

 

[Paul F]

Can you take a picture of your motherboard, im confused how your M.2 is not allowing you to use the PCIe x1 slot. If anything it would cause issues with the GPU fan shroud as the dual slot GPU covers the M.2 slot. I could see more of an issue with the Soundcard sitting to close the the GPU and covering part of the fans.

You are correct, the M.2 is actually under the GPU... It's the GPU that is too close to the x1.

 

[faalin]

riser cable you can get something like this that should clear the GPU and move the soundcard down 1 slot on the case so its not using the PCIe x16 slot

 

[Paul F]

riser cable you can get something like this that should clear the GPU and move the soundcard down 1 slot on the case so its not using the PCIe x16 slot

Awesome, will order one and report back.

 

[faalin]

Awesome, will order one and report back.

you can measure how far you need to move the card as they sell them in different lengths

 

[Paul F]

you can measure how far you need to move the card as they sell them in different lengths

Cool, got a 20cm one, will report back.

 

[Paul F]

I gave it a shot here and it worked out as expected, only issue I had is that the riser cable is a little too tall on the female connector thus I cant screw the card in as it stays higher.
I'm gonna look for another riser cable that will allow me to install the sound card and that should do the trick, thanks!

 

[Eximo]

I would have thought someone would make a PCIe bracket extender or something for just such a problem. Not finding anything though. Probably just not enough volume to make it a viable product.

 

[SkyNetRising]

This type of riser cable would have been better.

 

[Paul F]

This type of riser cable would have been better.

oh yeah, will try to find one like that. I hooked up the SBZ directly to the pcie for now, but forgot to compare the gpu temps before to compare if the airflow efficiency reducing the temps was greatly harmed or not.

 

[faalin]

refer back to my post i gave you the link to one on amazon that has 90*s on both ends

 

[Paul F]

refer back to my post i gave you the link to one on amazon that has 90*s on both ends

Tks, just ordered one.

 

[maikutech]

I've noticed my RTX 2060 and my SoundBlaster Z are sharing the same IRQ (16), and when I run LatencyMon sometimes it tells me my PC is not suitable for realtime audio and video, but my build has a Core i7 11700 and 32GB of Corsair RAM.

I can't access the pcie x1 slot due to the pcie m.2_2 blocking it when installed, plus the rtx is quite big and I doubt I can't install the SBZ next to it on the x1 slot, and since its pcie it won't work in the other m2_1 slot which seems to be for nvme only, when I install it there it doesnt detect the m.2.

I ran into a similiar problem like this last year when I got my rtx 2060, the only true way to fix that problem is go for a motherboard with more space, it might be abit more costly but it was well worth it and cut out the irq conflicts with my other pci-e devices.

 

[Paul F]

Problem solved, although its made in China the quality of the cable is pretty darn good.