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!
Sonar 8 Producer
Focusrite Saffire Pro 26 I/O
Microsoft Windows Visa 64 Ultimate
XFX nForce 790i Ultra motherboard
Galaxy GeForce GTX 295 GPU
4Gb RAM