HDMI audio cuts out

[TheAmorphous]

Not sure whether to post this here or in the audio section, but that one seemed to be more geared toward soundcards and headphones.

I have a 390 hooked up to an Onkyo receiver via HDMI which I am only using for audio. There is a television plugged into this same receiver, but it's usually turned off and I just set the displays to extend to it regardless since I know you can't get audio over HDMI without video.

Anyway, when listening to music I get frequent audio cut-outs of one or two seconds. This occurs maybe every 30 to 60 seconds, seemingly at random. It does NOT happen when gaming so far. I've seen a few threads on other forums that suggest the minimum core clock is set too low at 300mhz and that may be the cause. These sites have instructions for setting the minimum clock to 500mhz, but it's for a much older version of Radeon. I don't seem to have any of the options in their walkthroughs in my version of Radeon Settings.

I'm currently running 16.10.1. How can I increase the core clock to 500mhz with that version to see if that resolves my sound issue?

 

[thesmokingman]

Not sure whether to post this here or in the audio section, but that one seemed to be more geared toward soundcards and headphones.

I have a 390 hooked up to an Onkyo receiver via HDMI which I am only using for audio. There is a television plugged into this same receiver, but it's usually turned off and I just set the displays to extend to it regardless since I know you can't get audio over HDMI without video.

Anyway, when listening to music I get frequent audio cut-outs of one or two seconds. This occurs maybe every 30 to 60 seconds, seemingly at random. It does NOT happen when gaming so far. I've seen a few threads on other forums that suggest the minimum core clock is set too low at 300mhz and that may be the cause. These sites have instructions for setting the minimum clock to 500mhz, but it's for a much older version of Radeon. I don't seem to have any of the options in their walkthroughs in my version of Radeon Settings.

I'm currently running 16.10.1. How can I increase the core clock to 500mhz with that version to see if that resolves my sound issue?

Hmm, something you can do is create a profile in afterburner for the desired clock. Then tie that to the app you're using to play your music. Using RTSS, make a profile for the app you are using and set the detection level for that app to med. In the link below I explain how to use RTSS to control what is allowed to have acceleration or not. You will use this method to force acceleration on any app, say spotify or whatever. It's a stop gap, but it will work. And as long as that app is on, RTSS will force the clock profile you choose. You'll also have to change the clock profile back to say a gaming profile when gaming, etc. It's not perfect but it should tide you over.

The AMD How To Thread

I've also read of ppl doing various custom installs of the old driver, then installing the new driver on top, etc.

 

[TheAmorphous]

Hmm, something you can do is create a profile in afterburner for the desired clock. Then tie that to the app you're using to play your music. Using RTSS, make a profile for the app you are using and set the detection level for that app to med. In the link below I explain how to use RTSS to control what is allowed to have acceleration or not. You will use this method to force acceleration on any app, say spotify or whatever. It's a stop gap, but it will work. And as long as that app is on, RTSS will force the clock profile you choose. You'll also have to change the clock profile back to say a gaming profile when gaming, etc. It's not perfect but it should tide you over.

The AMD How To Thread

I've also read of ppl doing various custom installs of the old driver, then installing the new driver on top, etc.

I'll give it a try, much thanks. I can't believe I have to go through this much trouble to get something as simple as audio over HDMI working though. I was hoping it would be as simple as a registry entry or setting I was missing somewhere that kept the minimum clock higher at all times. Also, I'm seeing threads regarding this issue going back six years. Shame on you, AMD.

 

[thesmokingman]

I'll give it a try, much thanks. I can't believe I have to go through this much trouble to get something as simple as audio over HDMI working though. I was hoping it would be as simple as a registry entry or setting I was missing somewhere that kept the minimum clock higher at all times. Also, I'm seeing threads regarding this issue going back six years. Shame on you, AMD.

To be fair, its the same method for Nvidia cards, so in other words its not really any easier to force specific idle clocks red or green. But c'mon, its really not hard either and should be the defacto standard way of setting up profiles. In other words you should have been using profiles before.

After posting that, duh... I forgot about shortcuts. Leave the profiles as your game profile and instead, create a separate profile with the clocks you want for hdmi audio. Then you set that profile up with a shortcut key. Whenever you run the "app" that you've setup in RTSS, it will enable hw acceleration. At this point you hit your shortcut keys and your specific clocks get enabled.

 

[TheAmorphous]

An update for anyone that might be having the same issue:

I'm not entirely certain it's a core clock issue now. I was getting these audio cut outs with an old Onkyo receiver that works fine with all other sources (and even this AMD 390 when gaming). I've now tried two other receiver brands I had lying around. The Yamaha (last year's model) had the same exact issue. A Marantz NR1504, on the other hand, is working flawlessly with the 390, both in games and at the desktop listening to music. Can't explain it.

 

[Ragenrok]

very weird, I have a similar setup with a 290 hooked up to my onkyo reciever that then displays the video to my projector. I dont have issues with sound cutting out but I have notice dif I do something like test the speakers from the windows speaker setup page that sometimes it wont play the sound for the first speaker almost as if the receiver had went to sleep and had to wake up. After the first sound there is no issues playing noise through the other speakers, and if I redo the test the first speaker works no issue. It really does seems like theres some kind of power save or sleep mode that likes to be a bother but I never notice it when watching a movie or playing games.

I use to have an issue with my old nvidia gtx 260 and motherboard optical outputting to the same receiver though, sound would cut out all the time randomly for 1-2 seconds then come back on using this same onkyo reciever. Every time it did the words "PCM" would disapear from the stereo lcd then reapear and sound would come back.

 

[TheAmorphous]

very weird, I have a similar setup with a 290 hooked up to my onkyo reciever that then displays the video to my projector. I dont have issues with sound cutting out but I have notice dif I do something like test the speakers from the windows speaker setup page that sometimes it wont play the sound for the first speaker almost as if the receiver had went to sleep and had to wake up. After the first sound there is no issues playing noise through the other speakers, and if I redo the test the first speaker works no issue. It really does seems like theres some kind of power save or sleep mode that likes to be a bother but I never notice it when watching a movie or playing games.

My Onkyo did exactly as you describe with the sound test, too. I didn't think it worth mentioning because it wasn't a big deal to me. Neither the Marantz nor the Yamaha do it, though.

I use to have an issue with my old nvidia gtx 260 and motherboard optical outputting to the same receiver though, sound would cut out all the time randomly for 1-2 seconds then come back on using this same onkyo reciever. Every time it did the words "PCM" would disapear from the stereo lcd then reapear and sound would come back.

I didn't have any problems with optical from the 390 to the Onkyo at all. I wasn't getting 5.1 from some games, though, which is what set me along this journey to get HDMI audio working.