Sound Card Problem

Greetings,

I recently built myself a brand new computer for the first time. All is well except for the sound card. The sound card I purchased is the X-Fi Xtreme Gamer.

In most of the games I play such as Age of Conan and World in Conflict, I'm having a big problem with static noise. World in Conflict is unplayable because of it - there will be a lot of static and suddenly the sound will go dead.

I know I have the card installed correctly and I know I have my headphones plugged in properly. I got the latest drivers (even the BETA drivers) as well. I have no idea why it keeps making static - and it's really annoying!

When trying to use my microphone, the people I'm talking to tell me that I sound like I'm stuttering, or that it sounds like a fan is blowing right next to my face.

Thank you very much for any help you can give me.

EDIT: I'm using this motherboard if you would like to know. If I can't fix the problem, I was thinking about just removing the sound card completely and using the motherboard's built-in audio. How would I do this? If I plug my headphones into the motherboard now, I hear no sound. Do I have to take my sound card out in order for that to happen, or is there something that I need to install?

Thanks again.

Do you have an nForce 4 motherboard? There have been reports of conflicts between the nForce 4 chipset and the X-Fi soundcard. There are no fixes yet but there is a possible work around.

The X-Fi has 3 modes of operation. They are gaming, entertainment, and creation. Creation mode seems to be the strongest. Switch your soundcard to creation mode and see what happens.

Another possibility is your motherboard sound. If it is still on it will cause conflicts with the soundcard. Check in BIOS to see if it is turned off.

If you still want to drop down to motherboard sound and remove the soundcard you will need to uninstall the X-Fi drivers and remove the card from the system. Once that is done go into BIOS and turn on the motherboard sound.

EDIT: Oops, I missed the motherboard link. I haven't seen any reports about a problem with the nforce 750i and the X-Fi but that doesn't mean you're not seeing the same problem. Switch to creation mode anyway and see what happens.

Well, I tried your suggestions and THE HORROR!!!

I decided to just ditch the sound card (what a waste of $100) and use the onboard audio on the motherboard. Thankfully, I notice no difference in sound quality between the two. The only real problem I have now is getting my microphone to work via the onboard audio.