Aorus TRX40 Xtreme sound problems when GPUs are under heavy load.

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Hello guys!

I am suffering some sound distortion problems when my GPUs are under heavy load (when I am not using CUDA is fine) and I was wondering if some of you would have a bit of advice.

I have a Threadripper 3960X in this board with a Gigabyte Eagle OC 3070 and a Gigabyte Gaming OC 3090 (both in the PCI-E x16 slots). Besides that, the computer has 64Gb of RAM, a couple of NVMEs, a couple of SSDs, 3 internal SATA HDDs and 4 external USB HDDs. The power supply is a Seasonic X-1250. The PSU is getting old, but it is still kicking. Regarding the operating system, it is the last version of Windows 10. Also, before the current GPUs, I had a 2080 and a 980, also under heavy load, and I did not experiment audio issues with them.

The problem happens when using the mobo sound output, and it is the same if I use the optical output or the plain line out. If the GPUs are not working everything is fine, but when they kick in (let´s say both at 50%-60% load) you can hear the sound crackling. Yesterday I also heard something similar to a crazy white noise, but then I discovered that this was the sound chip increasing its volume orders of magnitude an causing heavy clipping. When set the volume almost to zero, you could hear the music again, so I wonder if this is at the core of the problem.

I have tried the usual stuff: rolling back to the basic Windows drivers, disabling the rest of sound devices, disabling all the enhacements... but nothing seemed to work. To be honest, I did not have the crazy white noise anymore, but the crackling was still there. I also tried with the 3090 plus the 2080, the 3090 alone... but results were mostly the same, so I put the 3070 back.

At the beginning I thought that it could be a power issue, but I don´t think it is the case, since the 2080 and the 980 consume more power than the 3090 alone. Also, it is worth mentioning that the same day I replaced the cards (this Friday) I updated Windows 10, and a few things changed with the update.

At the moment I am using the audio from the 3090 and I disabled the on-board audio. Everything is totally fine this way, and the computer is very stable. However, I would like to know what is going on with the mobo. I hope I don´t have to RMA it because the machine is used for research and, in the current situation (working from home) I totally need it running. It would be also quite a nightmare to have to disassemble it...

Thank you!
 
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Well... I am updating the post just in case is eventually useful for somebody, although I guess that my board maybe is not so common :). I asked Gigabyte technical service and their very quick advice was to go to the BIOS and disable PCI 4.0, something that looks like a very crappy solution in my humble opinion, but also a problem they faced in before. I have the computer working and I am using an external USB card now (I wanted to buy it anyway) but I will just give it a try, out of curiosity, as soon as I can restart it. I just want to see if they are right or not.
 
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It seems that I solved the problem... by moving the computer from the carpet to the table and putting all the PSUs around in the same mains plug. Also, after removing some big speakers I was not using from the table, and a fat audio amp. Regarding the suggestion of botting in PCI-E Gen 3.0, well, I could not even try, the machine refused to boot. I had to clear the CMOS and go back to PCI-E Gen 4.0.
 
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Hi again! I am resurrecting this post because the problem is definitely solved now and I would like to tell you about it, just in case it helps somebody. It turns out that the issue was with my old PSU, a 9 year Seasonic SS-1250XM. After moving the computer to the table, one week went by and I started hearing the crackling again. After another 15 days with the machine working 24/7 at 80% load, the 3090 became unstable (black screen, 100% fans) and I started suspecting that the power supply could be the culprit, since I was able to test all the components separately and they did not seem faulty. Things like this, I ordered a Corsair AX1600i, that took forever to arrive, but solved all the problems. Sound is perfect again and the machine is totally stable under heavy load, as it should be. Honestly speaking, this computer draws around 1000W at 80% load according to Corsair Link, so it is not strange that the poor old Seasonic was sweating with it.

Regarding the Corsair, it seems quite an amazing piece of kit. It is silent and very solid, and the cables are made in a way that even somebody with my undecent cable managing skills can keep the PC guts relatively free of clutter.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ecmqtzq64ta1705/tripper.jpg?dl=0
 
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Oh no... it was nine years old already. That particular PSU had seven year warranty :). I works though, but I think I was definitely too close to its limit with this system. It should be totally fine in a PC that draws less power. I will probably sell it on Ebay for whatever amount of money people want to pay explaining what happened with it. I would totally prefer it instead of a cheap 40 pounds unit for a system of mine.
 
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