PCI Ex Video Interfering With Audio

Hey,

I just upgraded the graphics card on my PC from two GeForce 8600 GTS in SLI to a single GeForce GTX 295 and ever since I have been getting digital noise and crackling/sizzling in my audio playback. The rest of my system configuration remained the same as per my sig below. It seems to happen after audio is playing back for a short time (doesn't matter if it's multitrack playback or monitoring in real time like playing guitar through Guitar Rig). Once it starts it doesn't seem to stop, even when playback has finished. Furthermore things that change the display like scrolling through screens in my apps causes noise as well.

Since my monitors are either side of, well, my monitor I tried turning it off and then scrolling to see if there was a difference but it still happens. It's pretty clear through all of this that there is some kind of interference between my video card and my firewire audio interface which connected to a TI chipset based PCI card. I've read all the literature on PCI latency and programs like DoubleDAWG or whatever - the thing is they explicitly say that it will not work with PCI Express. Furthermore alot of the articles on the subject seem to indicate that there should be no QoS or bus fighting issues between PCI Express and PCI cards.

I've currently tried changing the firewire latency and buffer settings in the Saffire ASIO App, and also moving the PCI Firewire card into a different slot. I use this PC for general productivity work as well as gaming, thus the choice of Motherboard and GPU and it is not presently plausible for me to purchase a separate PC specifically for recording. It might be worth mentioning that my system is not overclocked at present - I was saving that capability as a free 'golden screwdriver' to unlock some additional lifespan when it started to show it's age.

I'm hoping that some of you have encountered similar problems and (fingers crossed) overcome them.

Thanks in advance for reading this lengthy question and also for your help!

Hi. Thanks for the reply!

I'm recording and playing back audio out of the Saffire. This problem is happening even when I am just playing back a stereo mix. As far as I'm aware unless I use ASIO4All or similar I can only run one ASIO driver at a time? The unit is located on a table near my PC. The Firewire card is located in the farthest as possible PCI slot from the video card.

I will try moving the unit around and see what results I get. I'll post again if I have any luck. In the meantime if anyone else has any suggestions please share!

Thanks.

I don't mind hearing that because I already know it's true, but alas being a gamer geek AND a recording geek but not a millionairre has it's downside.

I'm starting to seriously consider buying a dedicated DAW, there is a local company Stealth Audio Systems that seems to have excellent feedback along with competitive pricing, but even their bottom line project system (which would most likely suit my purposes) is around AUS$2000. Can't just make that appear overnight - so in the meantime I'm trying desparately to make what I have at least work (even with the excessive heat, fan noise, the 1200watt power supply and everything else). The majority of the work I do these days using virtual instruments, guitar modelling plugs, etc so the fan noise is a pain for playback but not an issue for tracking audio - when vocal time comes that why I have a 30 foot recording snake.

Moving the unit seems to maybe have made a difference, or perhaps I am just having a good day today - but has not totally eradicated the problem. I noticed the cables running to my powered monitors are unbalanced as well so I'll pick up some balanced cables today to see if that helps. I should have replaced those cables a long time ago anyway.

Thanks everyone for your help so far.