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General discussion (archive)Realtek. Sucks....(31 posts)solved(31 posts)solved
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Posted March 20, 2010
So I just made the switch to Windows 7, and I'm having nonstop sound issues. I installed the newest drivers from Realtek's god awful slow site. Installed them, and occasionally now I hear popping noises whenever sounds are played, along with skipping audio, etc.
But anyways, I didn't really know where else to post this at the moment, but my main question are if anyone knows how to solve this "popping" problem with the Realtek drivers, I'll give you a hug.
This question / problem has been solved by melchizimage
Posted March 21, 2010
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melchiz: If you're going to get a dedicated sound card, avoid Creative. They have miserable support, and many of their cards suffer from crackling/popping issues. When Vista came around, Creative refused to release Vista-compatible drivers for all but their newest cards, even though the drivers would work with the older cards. In fact, users who put up custom drivers to enable the older cards in Vista received take-down notices from Creative.
If you're looking for an affordable, reliable sound card, check out the Xonar series from Asus. If you don't need/want optical out, look into:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132013
For something more advanced (if you intend on hooking up an audio receiver, etc.), check out HT Omega:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271001
For the best "value" card, look into SIIG:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829270008

Hmm.... I'm stuck between the Omega and the SIIG. The Omega I would rather have because it looks better quality, along with better reviews, but it's a bit more than the SIIG.
The SIIG only supports 16 bit sound... is there much of a difference between 16 bit and 24 bit sound?
Posted March 21, 2010
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Gamerkought: The SIIG only supports 16 bit sound... is there much of a difference between 16 bit and 24 bit sound?

That depends on your setup. If you have high-quality (good dynamic range) speakers or headphones, you'll want 24-bit sound. SIIG has another affordable card that supports it:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829270006
Remember, Newegg will let you return the card if you don't like it, as long as it is within 30 days.
You may find this helpful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_bit_depth
Posted March 21, 2010
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Gamerkought: The SIIG only supports 16 bit sound... is there much of a difference between 16 bit and 24 bit sound?
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melchiz: That depends on your setup. If you have high-quality (good dynamic range) speakers or headphones, you'll want 24-bit sound. SIIG has another affordable card that supports it:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829270006
Remember, Newegg will let you return the card if you don't like it, as long as it is within 30 days.
You may find this helpful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_bit_depth

Yeah I have a pair of 5.1 headphones, good quality ones, so hopefully this'll work well. That card looks like it should hopefully solve the sound pops and hiccups for me. Thanks for the help! :D
Posted March 21, 2010
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Gamerkought: Yeah I have a pair of 5.1 headphones, good quality ones, so hopefully this'll work well. That card looks like it should hopefully solve the sound pops and hiccups for me. Thanks for the help! :D

Certainly!
Please let us know what you think when it arrives.
EDIT: Just a question: those aren't USB headphones, are they?
Post edited March 21, 2010 by melchiz
Posted March 21, 2010
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cogadh: Best way to solve it... get a better sound card. I've never had anything except problems with Realtek in the past, problems that were easily resolved by replacing it with a cheap 5.1 sound card from my local computer parts store.

Way overkill..
Gamerkought, does the popping occur in any sound or just games? In the latter case did you try using "software sound"?
Most problems occur when people use the DirectSound "Hardware" implementation, which is really dependent on the driver quality.
Also,
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Arkose: Hardware DirectSound acceleration does not exist from Vista onwards. Some third-party APIs such as OpenAL still make use of it, but most games just use DirectSound.

Not really true for Realtek, Asus (Xonar), and Creative: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirectSound#Windows_Vista
In the case of Realtek and Asus it's not hardware acceleration but just a custom DirectSound implementation (featuring EAX 2), and that's the implementation that gets used by default if you don't specify you want "software sound".
Posted March 21, 2010
Melchiz: Nope. Not USB headphones. It's the Tritton AX51.
Syniurge: The popping happens in everything. Winamp, Games, Windows sounds, etc. I've tried all different settings with no luck.
Posted March 21, 2010
Why are you all telling him to buy a new card? The issue is on official W7 forums, and it's the speaker settings in control panel. Change that, the popping stops -_-
Posted March 21, 2010
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Lone3wolf: Why are you all telling him to buy a new card? The issue is on official W7 forums, and it's the speaker settings in control panel. Change that, the popping stops -_-

Change what? Be more specific please.
Posted March 22, 2010
start menu.
On the right side of it, the list of system links, click control panel.
On the window that opens, left column, click Hardware and Sound.
Next page, click Sound. You should now have a properties page, with speakers, and soundcard details under it, and default device, under that in the item description. on it.
Right click it, and select Configure Speakers.
Now you'll have a page that is titled Speaker Setup.
On the Audio Channels box, select Stereo (even if you have 8.1, select stereo), and click test button.
Make sure it plays everything normal - even clicking the individual speaker icons on the right side. then work your way through each "Next" page.
repeat for each item in first page, quad, 5.1, 7.1 etc and finally choose what sounds best for your system.
Funnily enough, I can configure my 5.1 to play everything through just 2 speakers O_o
Posted March 22, 2010
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Lone3wolf: start menu.
On the right side of it, the list of system links, click control panel.
On the window that opens, left column, click Hardware and Sound.
Next page, click Sound. You should now have a properties page, with speakers, and soundcard details under it, and default device, under that in the item description. on it.
Right click it, and select Configure Speakers.
Now you'll have a page that is titled Speaker Setup.
On the Audio Channels box, select Stereo (even if you have 8.1, select stereo), and click test button.
Make sure it plays everything normal - even clicking the individual speaker icons on the right side. then work your way through each "Next" page.
repeat for each item in first page, quad, 5.1, 7.1 etc and finally choose what sounds best for your system.
Funnily enough, I can configure my 5.1 to play everything through just 2 speakers O_o

If you configure your 2 speakers for 5.1 sound or whatnot, you'll have missing sounds in games/applications that use certain audio channels.
Posted March 22, 2010
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Lone3wolf: start menu.
On the right side of it, the list of system links, click control panel.
On the window that opens, left column, click Hardware and Sound.
Next page, click Sound. You should now have a properties page, with speakers, and soundcard details under it, and default device, under that in the item description. on it.
Right click it, and select Configure Speakers.
Now you'll have a page that is titled Speaker Setup.
On the Audio Channels box, select Stereo (even if you have 8.1, select stereo), and click test button.
Make sure it plays everything normal - even clicking the individual speaker icons on the right side. then work your way through each "Next" page.
repeat for each item in first page, quad, 5.1, 7.1 etc and finally choose what sounds best for your system.
Funnily enough, I can configure my 5.1 to play everything through just 2 speakers O_o
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melchiz: If you configure your 2 speakers for 5.1 sound or whatnot, you'll have missing sounds in games/applications that use certain audio channels.

Not really - it plays them all through 2 speakers, just plays the woofer sounds a lot quieter, and the rear speakers a lot louder....it's an option, not a necessity ;)
And once he "detects" which option to use to remove the popping and distortions, he can stop using it...it is a known problem on the W7 forums, and stopped me rushing out to buy an unneeded hardware piece, too.
Posted March 22, 2010
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Lone3wolf: stopped me rushing out to buy an unneeded hardware piece, too.

Unneeded for those who like tinny sound, certainly.
Posted March 22, 2010
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Lone3wolf: stopped me rushing out to buy an unneeded hardware piece, too.
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melchiz: Unneeded for those who like tinny sound, certainly.

I'm tone deaf. Literally. Sound has never been a big need for me :P
I can differentiate between two tones, but I couldn't tell you one was a C# and the other a Db (or whatever)...I have a 5.1 speaker system, and I have a 2.1 system. I switch out depending whether I'm playing crappy games, or doing my online game radio broadcasts and playing real music :P
Posted March 22, 2010
Alright, I tried that, with no luck. I even tried plugging in a USB to analog converter, and plugged earphones into it, so now it's not using the realtek drivers at all, and yet I still heard popping... and this is on stereo....
So... I'm guessing this is a Windows 7 problem? I guess my only other choice is to boot into Ubuntu and try that.
The only issue is that the popping happens quite randomly, it may pop 10 seconds in between, it may take 5 minutes.
Posted March 22, 2010
You could try this site.
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General discussion (archive)Realtek. Sucks....(31 posts)solved(31 posts)solved
(31 posts)solved