PC Graphics

[Brent2410]

Crossposting from AMDHelp subreddit to get more eyes on this issue.

Computer Type: Desktop

GPU: Sapphire Nitro+ AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX

CPU: Intel I5 - 12600k

Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix Z690-A Gaming WIFI D4

BIOS Version: 2103

RAM: 64 GB Corsair Vengeance Pro

PSU: EVGA 1600 P2

Case: Fractal Torrent

Operating System & Version: WINDOWS 11 Home 21H2

GPU Drivers: 23.4.1

Chipset Drivers: Current

Background Applications: Doesn't matter, does it with everything open, does it with only one thing open

Description of Original Problem: HDMI audio cutting out for 1-2 seconds every 5 seconds - 2 minutes. Seemingly random during benchmarking and gaming. Reproducible by mousing over icons on the task bar outside of gaming (able to completely mute my speakers while doing this) The primary and video-only signal chain is Card to Displayport to primary 1440p 180hz monitor. The secondary video and audio signal chain is Card to HDMI to Denon 5.1 surround sound (AVR-S540BT) AVR to HDMI to 4k 60hz monitor.

Troubleshooting: This setup worked without issue with my GTX 1080. I've tried changing to different tunings in AMD software and even creating a custom UV/OC - doesn't seem to change anything. I used REGEDIT to disable MPO. Tried using the other HDMI slot. Tried using the other DP slot. Tried disabling and reenabling HDCP support. Tried using windows HDMI audio drivers, but before testing if they even worked decided since they were limited to stereo audio that they weren't a viable solution. Tried switching between 16 bit and 24 bit audio. Tried switching between 44100 Hz and 48000 Hz. Tried disabling everything in Adrenalin's preferences including the overlay.

What works: Now, cloning the displays in adrenaline settings makes the audio work absolutely perfectly, but I don't want cloned displays. Bringing the 4k60hz monitor down to 1440p60 does nothing. Bringing the 1440p180hz monitor down to 1440p60hz does nothing. Bringing the 4k display down to 4k30 or 1080p60 also works, which (I think) confirms my suspicion that the 7900 XTX's HDMI 2.2 isn't playing nice with running backwards compatibility for HDMI 2.0.

Things I'm not willing to troubleshoot:

Getting any new expensive hardware. This setup worked perfectly fine with a 7 year old Nvidia card, there's no reason a brand new AMD card can't make it work. And I just spent all my money on a shiny new card.

Anything that would lose surround sound capability or degrade sound quality, ie running windows audio drivers, using ARC to transfer audio from the monitor to the AVR, running audio through optical, using headphones instead of speakers, etc

I have reasonable suspicion that running a DP to HDMI cable between the card and the receiver instead of using the card's HDMI out may be a solution, but I don't have a cable on hand to test this theory. An active 4k60 capable DP to HDMI cable has been order and I will test it when it arrives.

I also attached an HDMI audio extractor between the graphics card and the receiver (not to actually extract audio, sometimes they're just a good intermediary if there are HDMI handshaking issues between different versions of HDMI and I had it laying around, no idea if that contributed to the fix or not) Generally if there's HDMI handshaking issues then video is going to cut out at some point as well, but the video works fine regardless of settings.

[Brent2410]

Preliminary testing shows that the DP to HDMI cable has corrected the issue.

[bravheartm]

I am running through the same issues, not matter what I do , I get audio drop outs over hdmi. Running a sapphire pulse 7900xtx over an hdmi 2.1 optical cable to a philips 65oled707. I tried disabling and enabling every setting one by one and nothing solves the audio drop-out issues. Didn't had this problem with previous 1080ti on the same setup.

Didn't tried the DP to HDMI cable yet as I can't find a DP2.1 to HDMI 2.1 adapter and I am worried that will not carry the free-sync stuff as well.  I expect AMD would address this issue in a driver release. This is driving me nuts and I might decide to go back to team green if AMD doesn't fix this soon.

[bravheartm]

Today I made a test with old drivers ... they are all broken in terms of HDMI audio with one exception: 22.12.1. For some reason, the first driver release for 7900 XTX is the most stable in terms of HDMI audio, although not perfect .. I did experience very few occasionally drop-outs but far less then any of the other driver releases. HDMI LINK Status Monitoring appeared Disabled in all drivers releases, including 22.12.1

[bravheartm]

Hello everyone .. I want to point out that my issue has been resolved. I bought a new hdmi 2.1 certified cable and that has completely solved my problem.

[bravheartm]

Well .. it appears problem still there even with new cable.  I will give AMD 2 more months to fix it and if that doesn't get done my only choice would be to switch back to competition.

[TaaviE]

I stumbled upon the same issue with Denon 3800H and 7900 XTX. In addition to broken VRR and stuttery audio, it has now completely refused to display an image from the HDMI ports. Tried a different cable but no dice. A DP->HDMI converter did however make it work again. So it seems that something is massively broken in AMD's HDMI implementation.

The same setup worked flawlessly with an Nvidia card for years. I'm quite sure if I swap the card back it'll work again.

[bravheartm]

I just upgraded the driver to version 23.8.1 and I didn't got a single audio drop in the last 12 hours. Fingers crossed it will stay like that

[Koyote7667]

Odd, how, in the 23.8.1 notes, that wasn't even a fix, or even a thought on the newest driver.

  Good luck with that finger crossed thingy. 

[motorcyclehead]

Been having sound issue over HDMI since day one with my Sapphire Nitro 7900 XTX. Logged a bug report with AMD support and have been hoping ever since that it would be addressed in a driver update. I upgraded from a RTX 2080 TI which I used in the exact same setup I am currently using and the sound over HDMI never missed a beat. Very dissappointed with AMD drivers and wish I had remained team green at this point.

[atari1980]

I had the same issue with my 6750 XT and reported it weekly for about 6  months on their bug tool. I can't believe that they still have not fixed it with the newer series. The only way I could get it to work properly was by using an active HDMI splitter (audio in one cable, video in another) but that would cause BSODs.

In the end I was only using it to decode TrueHD / DTS Master to the stereo output. I figured it was too much of a hassle so I sold my Pre-pro and connected the computer via USB directly to my dac.

[trihy]

Any fix to this issue? I'm having the same problem but with series 6000.

Issue is most notable when connecting to av receiver.

Mine is a sapphire too.

[trihy]

Some people suggest doing this

https://www.reddit.com/r/AMDHelp/comments/175jn6y/solved_solution_audio_cuts_out_when_outputting/

But you will lose many audio features. Curious it happens mostly with av receivers.

[GhostInTheHell]

So I was suffering from HDMI link stability issues causing intermittend sound dropouts (cutting out) with an AMD Radeon RX6700XT in combination with both a Marantz N1606 (which would not recover after dropping out unless I changed the AVR mode from Auto to Direct or vice versa) and Denon X1200W (which drops out for about half a second and then continues).

I noticed so far that it happened most frequently in Fallout 4 and in AI The Somnium Files. What both had in common is that I was using Radeon Chill to limit the FPS because those games have issues when they reach high FPS. I suppose this low usage allowed the RX6700XT to downclock and lose HDMI connectivity momentarily.

It happened less frequently when playing a more graphically demanding, non FPS limited game, like Fort Solis.

So I do think that this HDMI connectivity instability is related to the AMD GPU entering a lower power state. I hope that this can somehow be brought to AMD's attention.

I'll try to clone the display instead of extending monitor 1 (DisplayPort) to "monitor 2" (the AVR connected through HDMI to keep it active) and see if that helps. It would sure be nice if the audio could be output to the HDMI without having to send an image there...