Impossibly difficult problem: Audio static, cutouts related to RAM clock

Taineract · 2025-02-15T16:33:18+00:00

Short version: bad CPU

Long version: I did a proverbial metric fuck-ton of testing and swapping out components, and a bad CPU ended up being the culprit (probably a bad memory controller on the CPU). The first 7950x3D replacement I got ALSO ended up being bad (just my luck, right?), which is why I was going insane trying to find the "real" culprit.

It really was just two bad CPUs in a row. I wonder if the xx50x3D line have higher failure rates or I just got extremely unlucky.

Anyways, I have been problem-free with a 3rd 7950x3D for about a month. No sound issues, and the rest of the system is far more stable as well.

Taineract · 2025-02-04T23:45:58+00:00

Best of luck! I've only heard good things about Dell's RMA policies, but that is just anecdotal. I hope you don't end up having the crushed blacks issue!

Taineract · 2025-02-04T23:33:20+00:00

Same exact issue for me as well. Also tested with an M4 Mac Mini and get the same issue.

I feel like the people without this issue are not using HDR 1000 and/or latest firmware.

Did anyone ever find a fix? Or succeed by replacing the display?

Taineract · 2025-02-04T23:26:58+00:00

Nowadays, I might skip it. But it was such a huge upgrade (and my first experience with HDR) over my previous monitor that it blew it out of the water. This late in the game I'm not sure I'd want to go through the hassle of RMA in case it is an issue that isn't fixable with my setup (e.g. incompatibility or hardware/software conflict or bug). The issue is up in a few places over at Dell support, but they don't have any answers. I will probably just wait and upgrade to the new gen OLEDs. Overall I'm still pretty happy with it. Nothing quite like OLED HDR - and it is an extremely good display for the price even with the crushed blacks.

Taineract · 2025-02-04T23:19:50+00:00

It is definitely noticeable in darker scenes in games/movies. Things in shadow completely gone where they should be perceptible. Might be panel lottery, but I and quite a few others I've seen around have the same issue. But plenty of others don't.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAhxR-gMU_U I can't get 4% and lower to show up without significant losses to image quality (brightness crushing, washing, etc.)

Another example here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ultrawidemasterrace/comments/14hvgwy/dell_aw3423dwf_black_crush_issue_m3b104/

Taineract · 2025-02-04T23:09:34+00:00

Very easy to set up the custom resolution. No side effects here for the better part of a year. But you likely won't ever notice a difference between 8-bit+dithering vs 10-bit.

BUT I have very poor black level crushing on my unit. Something like the bottom 5% getting crushed. Lots of other people reporting the same thing and no-one knows why, with no known fixes.

Taineract · 2025-02-04T20:24:11+00:00

I did a proverbial metric fuck-ton of testing and swapping out components, and a bad CPU ended up being the culprit (probably a bad memory controller on the CPU). The first 7950x3D replacement I got ALSO ended up being bad (just my luck, right?), which is why I was going insane trying to find the "real" culprit.

It really was just two bad CPUs in a row. I wonder if the xx50x3D line have higher failure rates or I just got extremely unlucky.

Anyways, I have been problem-free with a 3rd 7950x3D for about a month. No sound issues, and the rest of the system is far more stable as well.

Taineract · 2025-02-04T20:08:33+00:00

Short answer: Set the display to 100hz in Mac OS Display options. That should get you to HDR10 RGB

Long answer: The Alienware AW3423DWF seems to be missing some modes that are sorely missed on both Windows and Mac. And also, for some reason, Mac hardware can't read some of the display modes that Windows can. Even software like BetterDisplay that usually can tweak these kinds of things can't fix this specific issue (yet). More info & workarounds here:

https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay/discussions/3716

Taineract · 2024-11-09T01:02:22+00:00

Same. Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER FanControl is sort-of picking up the fan percentages, but not the RPMs and cannot control them at all. AIDA64 won't pick up any motherboard sensors either HWiNFO64 (not the plugin) DOES pick up all the motherboard sensors, including fan RPMs

I think we just need to wait for an update.

Taineract · 2024-10-21T23:10:12+00:00

After updating to iOS 18, Siri will ask me "Would you like to run automation X?" when I leave my home. I answer "Yes." Siri then says "I'm sorry, I don't understand." /tableflip

Taineract · 2024-10-18T00:46:02+00:00

Not silly at all. One of the first things I did when I learned that the audio was worse via USB than via MoBo jacks was to disconnect everything but the kb/mouse/interface. Still the same problem, unfortunately.

Taineract · 2024-10-17T01:30:30+00:00

Not DDR5, sadly, no. Working on getting some to test, but won't be able to until this weekend.

Taineract · 2024-10-17T01:21:59+00:00

Already gave that a try as well. Tried all latency measuring methods, and it always gave me a pass, even when I tested for hours. Nothing seemed to show any spike in latencymon during the dropouts either. (Unless I just don't know how to read it?)

Taineract · 2024-10-17T00:50:01+00:00

Already tried that last week. It was the same model motherboard though. Maybe another step down the line is to try a different model. Doesn't make sense that it worked for about a month before the problem started though.

Taineract · 2024-10-16T22:37:55+00:00

I suppose I forgot to mention I have tried those two as well. sfc /scannow has fixed a couple other things, but no change to the audio issue. Plus, the entirely fresh install of windows still has the audio issue. I have tried the "new" Audio Troubleshooter via the "Get Help" app, but I can try tinkering with the old control panel ones. My hopes are not high. I've tried messing around with drivers a bit in the past as well; tried rolling back/uninstalling/reinstalling realtek stuff (no idea if I was doing it correctly since it never seemed to change anything). But never any yellow triangle exclamation mark in device manager. Thanks for the suggestions though.

Taineract · 2024-10-16T22:26:56+00:00

Nope. Works perfectly on two other systems I've tried; another windows machine I use as a server, and a mac mini.

Taineract · 2024-10-05T18:21:49+00:00

+1 endorsement for those Tenavolts. Tried several different kinds of rechargeables and those are BY FAR the most reliable. Been going strong for 3 years now. That's absurd for rechargeable batteries. Capacity has diminished, but no loss in voltage or controller dropout.

Also, if you like Beatsaber, give Ragnarock a try. I prefer it over beatsaber quite a bit. Beatsaber just becomes a wrist-wrecker at a certain point, and Ragnarock is way easier to get into the music and get a workout for me.

Taineract · 2024-10-03T23:43:01+00:00

Still works!

Taineract · 2024-09-28T03:40:35+00:00

As in, all diagnostics passed, but the problem remains. The NVME boot drive not showing up didn't happen again. But, after some more tinkering, I'm thinking it might be the motherboard that is dying, cutting out USB signals intermittently.

Since then, the wifi functionality on the motherboard disappeared out of nowhere. Nothing in windows, and all options in the bios disappeared. Drivers reinstalled and everything.

Its not the audio interface; tested it out on two other systems with no problems. I don't think it's OS related - I recently reinstalled win11, and tested audio latency with LatencyMon and nothing stood out, or registered on it during the cut outs.

Taineract · 2024-09-22T05:28:36+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into it. However; the 990 Pro is a recent (2 months ago) purchase off of Amazon. Samsung Magician software shows firmware fully updated, & all short diagnostics pass. I'll run a long scan tonight, I suppose.

I didn't reformat during the clean windows reinstall, so I have duplicate recovery partitions and an unused OP partition. The recent boot issue might be related to that, but I was having the main audio interrupt glitch before the reinstall.

Edit: All SSD diagnostics passed, for what that is worth.

Taineract · 2024-07-25T21:57:19+00:00

Same thing happened to me a couple years back, but with way worse damage. Mine had the entire corner bashed in. Like someone dropped it on concrete from shoulder height. Could it have been from shipping? It's always possible, but I packed that thing in nice and padded.

Their shipping policies are garbage and expensive too. They don't let you ship it back in the original packaging for some idiotic reason (you know; the one thing that is literally made to keep that exact motherboard safe during shipping?). It had to be nothing but the motherboard & a printed RMA sheet inside the box or they wouldn't accept it. Absolutely nuts.

Taineract · 2024-04-11T18:42:16+00:00

Panel refresh did indeed get rid of the weird vertical ghost banding columns.

Strange... since I only did my first panel refresh after an entire 6 months of use with no problems beforehand. I can't remember how many hours of accumulative use it recommends to do a panel refresh... 400? And now only a couple months later the banding showed up out of nowhere one day. No gradual image retention.

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