RFI Problems in PC, Anyone have any suggestions to make? Options

[pbirkett]

I've just gone from a Cambridge Audio DAC3 running of the end of a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz soundcard to a Terratec EWX24/96 soundcard. I have recently got a loan of some AKG K271S headphones which I run out of my headphone amplifier, connected to the EWX24/96. The headphones are quite a low impedance, and are very detailed. As a consequence, when no music is playing, I can "hear" my fans through the headphones when the volume is high. This was not a problem on the Beyer's as they had a higher impedance. I can also hear an even more noticable buzzing noise whenever I move my mouse.

I have heard that grounding the PC may help, but how do i do this? Also, I will try moving the soundcard to the lowest PCI slot in the case, away from everything. Finally, its been suggested that my 300 watt PSU may somehow be to blame (I suspect its running relatively close to its limits nowadays, with an XP1800+ CPU, 3 case fans, a fanbus, Geforce4 TI-4200, 2 CD drives, etc).

Does anyone else have any suggestions to make?

[sthayashi]

Well, you could try one of several things:

• Get a new USB sound card
• Replace your powersupply with a name brand one (that presumably has better shielding). Here's a good review of power supplies
• Replace you case fans with name brands for the same effect

It's in order of things that are less likely to solve your problem.

[pbirkett]

Thanks for the reply sthayashi.

I dont really want a USB soundcard since I have only just bought the Terratec less than a month ago now. Had I have realised this would have been a problem, I may have got a USB one to start with.

The power supply theory is an interesting one. I am going to my mate's house over the weekend. He has the same soundcard and same motherboard and processor, obviously the other components have been replaced. I may take the headphones and amp with me to try.

Finally on the fans, I have replaced the stock fans with silent YS-Tech jobs.

I am going to try moving slots tonight, but I cant see that making a huge difference, but its worth a try.

Cheers

[pbirkett]

Hey, just to let you know, I have moved the soundcard completely away from the graphics card in the bottom PCI slot, and its all but eliminated the problem.