Question Audio stutter & glitching --- RAM issue perhaps ?

[GeoNL]

Hi there, I have run into a problem I have not faced before in my time as PC user & gamer. In february 2021 I custom built this current rig. For pretty much the entire year I have had no issues with the setup. However, since about 1 - 1,5 month I have had these unidentified issues with my audio. Whenever I am using my PC, there will be times when my audio suddenly cracks up/glitches out entirely. Like a major audio disturbance that turns all audio unbearable for about 2 seconds. This happens daily, and about 1 to 4 times a day. At random. Doesn't matter if I am listening to Spotify, watching YouTube or gaming. It bothers the hell out of me,it jumpscares me almost everytime whenever it happens. Also I can notice a slight disturbance in the gameplay itself while it happens, a minor stutter sometimes during that moment.

Specs:

• Asus ROG Strix X570 E-Gaming
• AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
• 2 x 16GB DDR4-3600 G. Skill TridentZ F4-3600C16-16GTZNC
• Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
• SB AE-5 audio card
• Bios version 4021 2021/08/26
• Windows 11 (but the issues started on Windows 10)

At the time of writing I have run out of options. Things I have tried, but these didn't solve the issue:

• - Formatted the OS and installed Windows 11 cleanly.
• - Reinstalled audio drivers several times from scratch.
• - Disabled and ejected the AE-5 soundcard card and used onboard audio.
• - Replace Ethernet cable with new CAT6 cable, because old one was a bit dubious.
• - Replaced headset with speaker system, both work fine on another system.
• - Used DDU and reinstalled a clean version of the latest Nvidia drivers several times.
• - Disabled onboard audio via BIOS.

​

My conclusion so far: it isn't my AE-5 soundcard and it isn't the headset that I use. Nor any of the other things I tried above. I am starting to think it is my RAM, which is weird because I didn't have these issues for most of the year on exactly the same settings it has been running on in the BIOS (DOCP/XMP settings @ 3600 16-19-19-39-56-1T).

Any suggestions I could use to fiddle around the BIOS perhaps? I have exhausted all options I could think of otherwise.

 

[Ralston18]

Description sounds as if there is some discharge/static occurring.

What all else is plugged into the circuits serving your computer and any peripheral devices?

PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition? History of heavy use for gaming, video editing, bit-mining?

Disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

Manually download drivers directly from the applicable manufacturer's website. Reinstall and reconfigure. No third party tools or installers.

= = = =

Power down, unplug, open the case.

Clean out dust and debris.

Verify by sight and feel that all connectors, cards, RAM, and jumpers are fully and firmly in place.

Look for any signs of damage: bare conductor showing, pinched or kinked wires, melting, browned or blackened components/surfaces.

Check all audio cables, power cables, outlets, surge protectors, power strips etc..

 

[GeoNL]

Just my PC + another PC is connected on this circuit, has been for years without anything else attached. The entire system is new as of early 2021 except the AE-5 which is just 2 years old. PSU is a Corsair RM850X.

Never did video editing, just gaming regularly but nothing too heavy. Did a little bit of mining on the side a couple of months ago during the day when idle or just doing other administrative stuff a few times, but not 24/7. When the issue occured it had been a long time since last bit of mining.

6 disks, 5 SSD (850 PRO, GeIL ZENITH S3 (oldest one, just used for some storage), 860 EVO, 980 PRO (for OS), 970 EVO) and 1 HDD (ST2000DM006-2DM164). According to DiskInfo64 all in good condition and none are over 50% full. Most are just 25-30% full.

I think I am going to unplug everything as you said and check everything, also remove some dust while I am at it.

 

[GeoNL]

I think I might have fixed the issue. An entire day and I haven't had the issue appear yet, normally it would already have been the case.

Yesterday I uncoupled my entire PC and did some investigation. Removed some minor dust, reguided 1 case fan cable to the case fan-hub, because while it was guided to the motherboard itself it was in an awkward position and possibly a hinderance for the GPU above it. Don't know if it mattered, but I like it better this way anyway.

Also I replaced my CMOS battery with a new one.

So far so good, not sure if either of the two could have been the culprit.

 

[AstroThomas]

Have you had the issue since? I've been having the same problem for a month or two but still haven't found any fix.

 

[GeoNL]

Have you had the issue since? I've been having the same problem for a month or two but still haven't found any fix.

No, I am not sure why or what fixed it, but so far I have not had the issue reoccur. As I only did the things I described above.

 

[GeoNL]

Have you had the issue since? I've been having the same problem for a month or two but still haven't found any fix.

Well, I spoke too soon. It was gone for a while after I posted it. But it has come back a few times, pretty random and unpredictably.

 

[tomang891]

do update bios to 4203 or roll back to older ones solved your problem?

 

[GeoNL]

do update bios to 4203 or roll back to older ones solved your problem?

I solved the issue a few days ago. It turns out, it was the fTPM on the motherboard. It's a known issue among AMD.
I turned off the fTPM in the bios, and now I have already been stutter free for days. Hopefully AMD and/or Microsoft will be able to fix it.

Look here:
View: https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/sccict/amd_ftpm_causes_random_stuttering_issue/