Various doubts with Asus Xonar STX

[Obione]

Hello team, I wasn't sure if I should post this here, as the topic will cover cooling, motherboard, power supply, and case.

Ugh, I don't know where to start… Well, let's start with sound for example, I'll try to be brief :ugly:

I just received the title card, I got it on eBay for 80 euros, my gadget fever got the best of me :rolleyes:

The thing is, I was getting frustrated with the USB Plug & Play card from the Beyer Dynamic MMX-300 that left me without headphones with voltage surges and well, these headphones also deserved something better (I haven't won in baffles quality). Since I need ASIO drivers for the audio sequencer, this seemed like a good candidate. With it, I'm not paying for options that I thought I might need to work with audio and ended up not using. Issues like a DSP mixer or MIDI connections that my Marian Trace Alpha has. In the end, what I wanted wasn't there, and that's the headphone output mainly, plus the microphone input.

Moving on to the rest of the components, the brick is tough to chew :risitas:

I'm very happy with my motherboard but, the latest PCI connectors are conventional and I need PCIe for the Xonar, and when assembling the Silver Arrow that I'm also very happy with, I lose the top PCIe. With my current setup, there's no other option but to put the Xonar next to 2 of the 3 GPU fans, which isn't cool now that temperatures are starting to rise.

The thing is, I don't know if I should change the cooler or the motherboard to gain a top or bottom PCIe and let the graphics card breathe better or from lost to the river also look at the case. I've wanted a quieter case for a while now and I love the Fractal Define Mini and R4. My gadget fever wasn't as intense because I was held back by not having cables that were long enough in the power supply to buy the R4 and manage the wiring well, I don't know if the EPS will arrive; and the Silver Arrow, if my Google search didn't deceive me, barely fits in the Mini.

To be honest, I'm very happy with the power supply, it has a bit of noise at 12V but it's very quiet and 80+ Silver. A friend is going to build a PC soon and I had thought about selling him the motherboard and case with the Fractal fans, having him keep the cooler from a friend who also isn't short on a Armaggedon that I sold him for the 3570K, selling the Silver Arrow to the latter. For this, I would have to find an i5 from 2nd... Hey, I just saw a 2400 in the valuation subforum of H2M right now

Anyway, liquidating the brick. I don't know if I should try to carry out this rocambolesque plan or investigate more about compatibility, my head is smoking, if it explodes I'll put the Xonar up for sale on H2M :rollani:

I had thought about getting a Z77 Pro4-M + HR-02 (it would be very close to the GPU :ffu: ) + Fractal Define Mini for about 200€ and selling the case + 2 Fractal fans and 1 Gentle Typhoon + cooler + motherboard + wifi card + eSATA bracket + mounting + lifetime technical assistance to my friend for 150€. In total, it's going to make me dizzy anyway xD

What do you think, am I too crazy, should I change some component, rethink my life? :facepalm:

PD: Illustrative photo...

[Fassou]

If changing the heatsink also fixes it, what about the option of an RL?

Regards!

[whoololon]

I am still amazed by the immense stupidity of motherboard manufacturers, who do not want to acknowledge that graphics cards, today, already accelerate 3D and need space for ventilation. :wall:

I totally agree with Fassou about the RL, otherwise you would have to change the case.

[Sylver]

A small RL will act as a heatsink without taking up much space, and it will also lower the temperature by a few degrees if the radiator is good :sisi:

[Obione]

I'm scared of the bulb's noise and I don't think it's better than a Silver Arrow but, if I mount it behind taking air from outside I could improve something, the top one is already there to take out the heat.

I'm going to investigate the noise issue.

Thanks for your opinions, it's greatly appreciated and I think it's a very sensible option. We'll see how things turn out, I'd also like to gain silence and that means changing the case, disk and cooling the graphics card well, although the latter is not so important because it bothers less when playing. I regret a little not having bought some GT 1450 that I saw not long ago when they were scarce. Given the noise the GPU makes when playing, the 1450 RPM wouldn't have bothered at all and they would have been great in a Fractal. I didn't get them because the front ones in my case, having a grid, make more noise and the top one (SilentWings 14 cms.) behaves like a GT 1150.

Ouch, I hope my gadget fever passes soon, let's hope it's just a matter of a few days :facepalm:

[Obione]

It turns out that the card has noise problems and sometimes the sound goes out on the left channel or the volume is lowered. I'm already afraid of the worst, last night I got in touch with the seller and today after trying everything I sent him an email telling him that I'm not willing to pay for something that doesn't work. Let's hope he's a reasonable person because I'm ready to fight through all the channels and pay court fees if necessary, I'm working in a law firm so the lawyer will be on my side.

The eBay user only had 4 sales, all positive. I trusted him because he has been registered since 2008. It was payment by transfer and without return. I'll tell you how it ends.

[Sylver]

I only trust h2m for second-hand transactions and maybe milanuncios, after meeting the seller in person, otherwise nothing…

That's a bad thing, I hope you get lucky and there's a reasonable solution to the matter.

[Obione]

I am testing the only thing left to me, another house. For the moment there are no noises after a few minutes but even if it worked well here it seems like a fucking shit, in my house there are 3 integrated and 2 dedicated that work perfectly :wall:

Editing: This guy has replied to my email, he is quite nice. He recommended that I check that the op-amps were in place and they didn't seem to have moved even a bit but well, to try it out just in case. I'm crossing my fingers, I pressed them without noticing that there would be a bad contact but, I have been a long time without noises ;D

[amd125]

I hope you get lucky in the end with the card, it has quite a reputation.

A month ago I bought the Xonar DG, quite normal, but it's a normal pci, to avoid the issue of having it stuck to the graphics card, and the truth is, for what it cost me it sounds very good and I notice a difference in games but especially in music.

I'm glad the Ebay seller was nice. I've been on Ebay for about 15 years, but I haven't bought any hardware for many years. I think the last thing was a 74 Gigas Raptor 6-7 years ago and I sold it a year later ;D So in recent years I've only bought some running shoes.

You'll let us know.

[Obione]

The DG/X is a very good card for its price, it is a great buy.

[Obione]

I've had more noise, in the end I changed the op-amps and it seems that finally they work well. The seller doesn't answer me, I told him that I don't want to deal with these problems myself. I suppose that the guy must have been scared because he hasn't answered for a few days. I'm thinking of asking eBay for the phone number, they give you the option when they don't answer, to see what they say. It may not be his fault but rather the shipping and the design, but he could have handled it well and taken the blame for the crappy Asus sockets that have no idea how to make real sound cards. If Asus doesn't handle it, I have no choice but to rant, I'll explain in a review why it's poorly designed and why the drivers/software suck too. As for the buyer, well, a bit of negative publicity in a couple of forums and a negative vote. If the noise comes back, I'll probably stop adjusting the operational ones again and change the sockets, I'll pay a visit to a good friend, an engineer like a pine tree that makes some amazing stages and processors (among other collaborations like with Siemens for example). In his factory it will be a piece of cake, my welder is older than the Duchess of Alba and he's not good enough for me to even start. Besides, this one surely has sockets around and I'll save myself the trouble of looking for them. He will probably give me a friend price, if he tells me to go home without charging me it will taste bad <:( He already left me some speakers for 600€ for 200 and the battered one of my old man only gave him 100€ xD

The thing is that maybe I can save myself the visit and not bother him even though, I would like to pay him a proper visit and do a video-review-presentation of some star product and the company, RAM Audio, has been with a "professional" collaboration pending with the audio forum that I moderate (Hispasonic, sorry for the SPAM, I've also commented there about our forum so I hope they don't get angry :ugly: ). I say that I could save myself the visit to the factory because I already have the play clear and this will result in an op-amp swap, which will make them stop losing contact due to dirty, hang-up, and slippery people.

Sus pongo links so that the more astute users can get an idea ;D

Mid-tower
Extension cable

I was excited to go for a smaller gadget, I was hooked on the Fractal Define Mini and really interested in crazy-carambola-gadgets as I've mentioned above but, Thermalright has treated me very well and I have 2 clips for the Silver Arrow on the way, the smart guy who sold it to me at h2m forgot to mention that one clip was broken, it fits by the minimum (who told me to give him a positive vote…). Very happy with the performance and the sound, and of course with the customer service that not only the competition knows how to give (fuck Noctua xD), I was feeling bad about getting rid of the cooler (fuck RL too xD) that would have been dangerously close to the GPU on an mATX motherboard. In the end, the most sensible thing seemed to me a riser for the STX and not to change anything else but the case. Less headaches and less money spent on buying/selling that compensate for the desire to have a more compact setup and the price difference between the R4 and the Mini.

Anyway, I'll talk to Asus too to see if they treat well or if they are as cheap as their designs, without any hope because I don't even know if it's under warranty, I supposed it wasn't but maybe the guy didn't know that they offered 3 years... I finish this rant with a semi-bad news that I was telling the Asus seller in the last message and a brief comment:

The noise from the STX has left me with the left woofer of the MMX-300 damaged (twice as expensive as the little card...), luckily they are under warranty and that I'm going to move on to the summer season with in-ear, the ones from Huawei along with this adapter on the front. The previous summer meant a frying of the ears that I don't want to repeat :eoh:

¡Ya sus colgare fotos compañeros!

PD: As much as I'm looking for more silence than capacity, I'll change the hard drive for a 7200.14 of 1TB at least xD

[Obione]

I have 2 or 3 little things left to fix, the contraption will look more or less like this: