Hey guys so recently the sound on my computer has been stuttering/crackling no matter if its through my headsets, monitor, or speakers. This has lead me to believe I am due for some upgrades. I had a friend help ( i brought the snacks) build my computer around legion and now that he has moved away i have no one to help me pick out upgrades. Here is a list of my specs. I have a budget of around 800 for critical upgrades. Any ideas?
here are my specs
System Information report written at: 03/14/20 07:21:23
System Name: DESKTOP-OFQVKK5
[System Summary]
Item Value
OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Home
Version 10.0.18363 Build 18363
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name DESKTOP-OFQVKK5
System Manufacturer System manufacturer
System Model System Product Name
System Type x64-based PC
System SKU SKU
Processor Intel® Core™ i5-6600K CPU @ 3.50GHz, 3501 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 1801, 3/24/2016
SMBIOS Version 3.0
Embedded Controller Version 255.255
BIOS Mode Legacy
BaseBoard Manufacturer ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
BaseBoard Product Z170-A
BaseBoard Version Rev 1.xx
Platform Role Desktop
Secure Boot State Unsupported
PCR7 Configuration Binding Not Possible
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = “10.0.18362.628”
User Name DESKTOP-OFQVKK5\Potter
Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 16.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 15.9 GB
Available Physical Memory 9.54 GB
Total Virtual Memory 18.8 GB
Available Virtual Memory 10.1 GB
Page File Space 2.88 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Kernel DMA Protection Off
Virtualization-based security Not enabled
Device Encryption Support Reasons for failed automatic device encryption: TPM is not usable, PCR7 binding is not supported, Hardware Security Test Interface failed and device is not Modern Standby, Un-allowed DMA capable bus/device(s) detected, TPM is not usable
Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Virtualization Enabled in Firmware Yes
Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection Yes
Well are you looking to fix your sounds issues or build a new system?
Both. Ive tried all sorts of audio fixes, from disabling enhancements, uninstalling drivers,full windows resets, etc. I also have some extra cash to add on/upgrade. I put a lot of stress on the machine with multiple clients constantly and have finally started to feel the glitching
You should not need a new system. That board and CPU should be golden for the next 5 years easily.
If you’re having audio issues, it’s got to be a driver issue, possibly an issue with the audio drivers from the motherboard itself, since it’s advertised as having its own audio drivers.
But that CPU should be fine for quite some time, and that is a solid motherboard with plenty of upgrade potential to keep the entire system relevant for years. It even has on-board provision for an M.2 drive.
So, if anything I would recommend getting in touch with Asus, seeing if anyone else is reporting similar audio issues and/or if they have any updates for the onboard audio systems for that motherboard.
They do have a BIOS update listed that is 2 years younger than what your current BIOS version lists:
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/Z170-A/HelpDesk_BIOS/
2 Likes
When you said you tried the audio with a headset/speakers as well, are you connecting them directly to your computer, or are you connecting them to the monitor? Make sure you aren’t using them connected to the monitor.
I’ve heard of audio crackling being reported in Windows before(when starting up audio playback), varying in severity, but I haven’t heard of stuttering I think.
Directly to my computer. It would lag out and crackle every few seconds giving feedback no matter what audio I was using
Have you tried doing a fresh Windows install rather then resetting it? Be sure to download the drivers from the Asus website and if you haven’t updated the bios yet do that as well.
Could also be another device close by causing interference? Or maybe a bios settings?
Saw this post on Tomshardware about the same issue, one guy went into the Realtek audio interface and turned off surround sound. Another guy turned down the sample rate to 44.1 kHz.
Yeah i did a full fresh windows install as well after the reset didnt work. Ive read everything on tomshardware and watched numerous vids to try and fix it. Im updating my bios now and cleaned out inside my towers and all my fans to see how it goes. thanks for all the suggestions so far will update once i get back up and running