Sound Artifacts

[riva2model64]

Back when I was using my older Sony Vaio system, I noticed that the computer exhibited numerous artifacts and sound anomalies of which I could hear through my speakers and headphones. Like moving the mouse around would cause a buzzing sound, and opening a window would result in me hearing a higher-pitched "laser" sound.

One day, the PSU that came with the Vaio died(it ran for 5 years), so I stuck an OCZ Gamexstream 600w into it. Much to my surprise, most of the sound anomalies were gone! The sound output was much cleaner and most of the artifacts I had heard before were not there.

My question is, is this related to the AC Ripple output level in PSU's, or is it something different?

[kittle]

ive heard such things in the past and found it was related to a poor quality sound card and/or having your sound volume turned up too high. Do you have a CRT monitor?

in your case it sounds like the failing power supply was a good contributor.

Ive also heard of simmilar things in normal home theater setups with bad grounding or poor connections

[riva2model64]

Yup, I was using a CRT monitor.

The thing about the volume control is that it didn't change the volume of the sound artifacts, like the "lasers" or buzzing. Lowering the volume did lower hiss, though.

[jaganath]

I don't think it's caused by AC ripple. PSUs are a large source of radio frequency interference inside a PC due to the high switching frequencies used, this can be intercepted by integrated sound cards and manifest as odd bleeps and crackles in the audio output. Maybe your OCZ just had better RFI shielding.

[Moon GT]

I get this too, everytime there's any ethernet or USB activity (like loading a webpage or moving the mouse). It's fairly quiet but quite annoying nonetheless.

I'd put it down to the motherboard being the cheapest one I could find (Biostar). I'm thinking of upgrading to an Asus.

My PSU is a Seasonic S12II-330 so I'd be a bit disappointed if it was that.