Alright so, let me tell you this dumpsterfire of a story.
Seeing as I finally got a modern-ish PC, and looking at the games I wanted to play, and how they play on an RX 570...
I decided to do one more purchase, the purchase to end all purchases - The AMD RX 6600.
Looking at the CPU and GPU performance, and GPU price/performance ratio, the RX 6600 made the most sense. In fact, nothing else on the market made sense (for the reasons I list below).
I didn't want to buy something used again, as it's always a gamble. I wanted something new that comes with a warranty.
After doing research, the RX 6600 was just the best deal, for many reasons.
So, I looked around a got a good deal on an PowerColor Fighter RX 6600 8 GB. Around 200 euros for that. A basic model, I was fine with that. It doesn't have RGB *GASP*, which is a significant blow I know but I think I will manage to survive xD the laws of the jungle are harsh, man, but I'll hold on, keep on surviving...
Honestly, I wouldn't spend much more money than that on a GPU anyways, as I have to like, eat and pay the bills and stuff? It's not like I'm rich, and even if I were, it mostly makes more financial sense to go for the bang for the buck parts every time and then upgrade them to newer bang-for-the-buck parts on as-needed basis, than buying high end as futureproofing, since you cannot know the future and how the hardware/software landscape evolves. Well, perhaps unless you're not a hoarder like me and actually sell off your old parts to upgrade. No, you cannot have my Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS. Well, maybe for the right sum hehe :P
So it arrived quickly and I got around to installing it in System #7. It was a straightforward process and I booted it up, installed some games and...
Wtf? I'm getting under 30 fps and constant macro and micro stuttering in Horizon Zero Dawn? On the lowest settings?! The fuck is this.
So, I try different drivers, different settings, double checking everything...
As a last resort, I decided to nuke the Windows 11 install that was on the PC (rip in peace) and install Windows 10 on it.
No difference.
Fuck.
*sigh* So, next step. I'll try testing it in System #6, because it's the only other PC that has UEFI instead of legacy BIOS that I have, and I've read that modern cards don't really like legacy BIOS...
So, I fire up DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller, this needs to be added on the software section whenever I write that...) on both machines, take the cards out and put the RX 6600 in System #6, and install Horizon Zero Dawn on it. Getting over a 100 FPS.
Ok cool, at least the card is working. A sigh of relief.
My next idea is that, maybe the PSU in System #7 is not good enough to power the card. It's only 500W and made by Chicony. Looking it up, it seems to be a legitimate company but... System #6 had a Corsair CX650, a 650W power supply, from a much more reputable brand.
So, the taking apart of the PCs begins. I find it fun. I find computer hardware to be the most enjoyable when being worked at the hardware level. You know, it's a physical, tangible thing that you can touch. Like touch, really touch, with your real hands, you know? Reality is so cool.
At this point, I'm well into the night and I know I'm robbing myself the sleep, but I still go on because it's just so annoying for me xD I hate it when tech should logically work, but it doesn't. It's the most annoying thing.
System #7 also has a wifi card, which I take out for good measure, just in case it is causing issues.
Okay so the wifi card is removed, the PSUs are swapped now, and the rigs are put back, sooo....
Makes no difference. Fuck.
At this point I say fuck it, call it a night and continue another day.
Throughout my day at work I contemplate what the issue could be. Searching on the internet gives nothing tangible.
Anyway I get back home, and begin troubleshooting. I disconnect all peripherals and...
Wait a minute, the stuttering is gone? Wtf?
I test it one by one and...
Wait, as soon as I plug in my headphones, the problem comes back. What the hell?
Okay, so it has something to do with the sound card. Phew!
I scour around my component pile, and I remember that I have a spare ASUS Xonar DX that I got years ago from a friend. I never tested it because I didn't have specific use case for it, but here goes nothing.
I disable the onboard audio in the UEFI, put the Xonar card in place of the Wifi card in the PCI-E slot, install the drivers and...
The same results. What the hell is this?
Well, at least the card is working great otherwise. Now I have two working ASUS Xonar DX's. Yay :D
I think and think. How the fuck am I supposed to enjoy gaming if I can't have sound? Then I remember. My monitor, the Monitor #1, while it doesn't have integrated speakers, it does have an 3,5mm headphone jack. Could it work...?
I plug in my headphone amp to the monitor, disable all audio devices except the video card HDMI and... It works. Wow. What the hell?
Well, it mostly works. You see, in some games, when the GPU usage reaches 100%, it will begin to stutter and artifact. But not in all games. Makes a whole lotta fucking sense.
I get around that by limiting the framerate in MSI Afterburner or in-game frame limiter if the game has that. Then it works.
I mean, at this point, I'll take it. But I still wonder what is the issue here.
My only thoughts are that, maybe the PCI-E bus gets overloaded and/or the motherboard audio circuitry/implementation/whatever is just crap.
So as the last ditch effort, I order a cheap USB sound card. Since the USB is a different bus. I order the Creative Sound Blaster Play 3 for around 20 euros. Even if it doesn't solve it, it's still not a lot of money and I can use it in some other machine if I need it.
The Sound Blaster arrives, I install it and... same issue.
I'm stumped. And annoyed.
I try to mess around with the GPU settings in AMD Radeon Software, to give it more power, to adjust the clock speeds, voltage and...
Hard freeze as soon as I click apply settings. Uh oh.
Uhh, that's fine right? I'll just power down and power on the PC.
Nope, blue screen as soon as I get to Windows. "CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED". Wonderful. I haven't seen BSODs in ages, I think it must be close to 10 years now. How nostalgic :D
I try the recovery options. Safe mode? Nope, same BSOD. System restore? Well, it launches, and I did make a restore point, but it won't let me restore it! Restore to default settings? Nope, doesn't work. None of the command prompt tricks I found online worked either.
*sigh* Fuck it, I'll just reinstall Windows and hope that I didn't fry my GPU or any other components.
After waiting through a fast (thanks, NVME SSD) but still nerve wrecking Windows reinstall, getting all the updates and of course the AMD drivers install last after all the 100 GB (probably. exaggeration) Windows Updates, well...
It works. Phew. It just works.
I'm done messing around with it. HDMI audio it is, I will just frame limit it so that it doesn't reach 100% usage in the games that give me issues.
The only other option is, the motherboard has integrated bluetooth support, and bluetooth audio works separately from the sound card or anything, so that could be something I could test.
Problem is, I don't have any bluetooth headphones. And I don't feel like buying them just for this experiment, at least not yet. The only audio output device I have that supports bluetooth is our JBL Horizon alarm clock/radio/speaker combo (which is a crap device, never buy it, maybe I will write about it at some point). Lol. I could try it with that, haven't had the time yet.
But I see that bluetooth headphones that meet my criteria:
...are rare or nonexistent?? Granted I did only limited research, but I'm not overly enthusiastic about BT headphones to say the least... I already have good and varied wired headphones and wired is better in every way and cheaper than wireless for the similar audio quality (deal with it), so no bluetooth for now. I kinda wanna test the alarm clock speaker thingy at some point lol. Maybe on the weekend.
Anyway, I've accepted the system's limitation for now. I can work with them, and leave the PC be as it is. All of this is supposed to fun anyway, and when it stops being fun, it's good to take a step back and realize: I have so many PCs already. They just work. I could just play the back catalogue of PC games and all the old console emulators, just sticking with that there are more games than I can ever play in my lifetime. And for serious adult work stuff? I have working PCs already. So it's not like any of this is that big of a deal. Gaming is a luxury anyway, not a necessity.
Oh wow got a little philosophical there huh? Marcus Aurelius would be proud :)
Oh and btw, in some games, like Cyberpunk 2077, I'm not getting as good of a performance as I should, based on machines that have the same specs (CPU, GPU, RAM).
So all I can conclude is this:
TL;DR - Prebuilt PCs and especially motherboards suck, avoid them like the plague.
Peace out.
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