Help With MSI 970 Gaming

I

ikesmasher

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Jul 18, 2014
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5
Im pretty much decided im gonna RMA but figured i ask here first to make sure i didnt miss anything.

ive recently got an MSI 970 Gaming motherboard (yes, thats the model :p). It, supposedly, has some superior integrated sound that was a selling point to me. Isolated circuits and front/rear amplifers.

My problem is that 1.) sound output is way too quiet to use
2.) with headphones, the louder the sound gets (still being too quiet) the more popping/crackling i get.

Im not an audio expert so i dont know what causes that. However its not a fault on the part of my speakers (which ARE powered, my old socket 775 motherboard easily gave them enough signal) or my headphones which work fine with my other tech.

Ive 1.) reinstalled windows
2.) reinstalled the official MSI realtek audio drivers MULTIPLE times
3.) tried just the windows 7 drivers
4.) tried realtek drivers from the realtek site
5.) unplugging the front audio panel and just using the rear

to no avail. Ive come to the conclusion that its a hardware problem on the board. It kills me to RMA (newegg, yes i know but no where else had the board yet) because im leaving for college in 2 weeks and IDK if i can get a new one back that quickly, and plus that leaves me without a PC to use (unless i want to reinstall windows on the HDD again and move all my crap over again, which i DONT)...
But i gotta do what i gotta do.

Anyway just wanted to make sure there wasn't something that could be wrong that I didn't think of.
PS. also there are no extra standoffs that i didnt unscrew causing a short.
Thanks for any help!

EDIT: specs in case they are somehow relevant:
MSI 970 Gaming
FX-6300 stock clock, NEW
4GB DDR3 1600 G.Skill Ares (one stick, with the second for dual channel to come later on)
GTX 660 evga stock clock 2GB
white label 500GB 7200 rpm hard drive
750w bronze rated seasonic power supply
Corsair C70
 
Are you sure you are hooking your headphones into the speaker/ headphone port and not the line out, that would for sure cause a low level sound to occur. Also are you using a front connector or the rear ones? If its the front ones try the rear and if they work but the front doesnt try making sure your front panel connector is hooked up correctly. Also make sure to get the latest drivers for your sound card as the windows default drivers for realtek are not the best.
 
both connectors had the same problem. And I am certain i was using the correct input.

Thanks for your suggestions though. (The RMA process has been approved surprisingly quickly and the new one is on its way :p hopefully itll work this time)
 
ikesmasher said:
both connectors had the same problem. And I am certain i was using the correct input.

Thanks for your suggestions though. (The RMA process has been approved surprisingly quickly and the new one is on its way :p hopefully itll work this time)
Click to expand...

Hey ikesmasher, just wanted to check in and see if the new board was okay and didnt have the same problem as before:)
 
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