[geeks] audio issue with PC case

[Barry Keeney]

On Fri, 21 Feb 2014, Shannon wrote:

> I have a gaming rig, and I'm currently using on board sound.
....
> That solves the loudness issue, but the case's audio cable picks up
> noise from the graphics card.
...
> The PC case's audio cable appears to be unshielded, so I imagine that is
> the problem.

    Easy way to shield the cables is wrapping them in aluminium foil,
more foil, more shielding. It's cheap and you might already have
some. Just about anything metal should work, but aluminium foil
would be a quick cheap test.

    I'd cover the foil with something like electical tape,
heat shrink tubing, or just plain clear plastic tape (scotch, etc)
just in case the aluminium conductive, don't want any electical
shorts.

    I know Some types of aluminium are conductive others aren't and
I don't know if common household aluminium foil isn't conductive for
sure or if some brands are and others aren't (I've never tested it
myself). If you've got a Volt/ohm meter you could test it first,
but the tape would look better anyway, better safe then sorry...

    I've done this myself in the past for shielding cables from
electrical noise and it works, atleast most of the time. I had
one problem with a old air compressor causing problems with
some speaker wires and I still had a little bit of noise even
with the aluminium foil, much better then without but I had to
re-route the cables away from the compressor to clear up the
problem completely.

    Mileage may vary, I'm not an electical engineer (that's my
brother), don't play one on TV, etc...

but hope this helps...

Barry Keeney
Chaos Consulting
email barryk at chaoscon.com

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