White noise on input

[thebeddu]

Hello everyone,

I'm going crazy trying to troubleshoot annoying white noise from my input channel, so I thought maybe I should just ask for external opinions.

My system is as follows:

OS: Windows 10 - 64bit
CPU: Intel i7-6700K @4.00GHz
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 980ti
PSU: CoolerMaster GX 650W
MB: Asus Z170 Pro Gaming
Headset: HyperX Cloud Alpha
SoundCard: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Fx (added as an attempt to fix with no success)

I get white noise/static on my input channel, regardless of plugged/unplugged headset.

I have tried all basic solutions to no avail:

• 
  -Switching jacks (also on front panel)
  -Reinstalling drivers
  -Tweaking in windows/realtek software

I have purchased a dedicated soundcard, the white noise persists; I was stupid and didn't check prior to purchasing it and turns out this card does not have EMI isolation.

So I'm left with two main theories:

The motherboard has crappy grounding
The PSU (low quality for this build, I know) is flooding the system with EMI

It is worth noting that when using the "mute mic" button on my headset remote, which seems to completely cut the circuit, the white noise is gone; so is this a loop interference?

Any insight and ideas are greatly appreciated guys.
Thanks in advance.

 

[phaelax]

So you've eliminated the headset as a problem. I would think something internally has a bad ground or poor shielding. But you get the same thing regardless of the integrated sound or the dedicated.

Do you hear this noise through speakers and the headset? It's confusing that muting the mic stops the noise but unplugging it doesn't.

The only time I had something somewhat similar to this issue (I've used audigy cards in the past), I tracked to interference from my cell phone. If it was too close when receiving incoming signals, I'd hear noise from the pc.

 

[thebeddu]

So you've eliminated the headset as a problem. I would think something internally has a bad ground or poor shielding. But you get the same thing regardless of the integrated sound or the dedicated.

Do you hear this noise through speakers and the headset? It's confusing that muting the mic stops the noise but unplugging it doesn't.

The only time I had something somewhat similar to this issue (I've used audigy cards in the past), I tracked to interference from my cell phone. If it was too close when receiving incoming signals, I'd hear noise from the pc.

I just tried switching back and forth from mobo to soundcard, and admittedly the soundcard does help a little, as the mobo jack seems to also have a buzzing interference on too of the static.

However white noise is still there, so something is leaking in there.

I was wondering if switching to an external USB soundcard would help, as getting as far away from the mobo seems to help; but I've read contradicting stuff online about USB soundcards so I'm kind of at a wall right now...