Games freeze up breifly every time there is a new sound played

[Muleos]

Hi All,

So, when I play almost any game on my pc, I have an issue with a stutter / freeze which occurs each time a new sound is played.

For example:

Arma 3 - I switch between fire modes and the small 'click' sound of the gun switching, causes my pc to freeze up for a second whilst it tries to load the sound. Also, any new gunfire sound causes this - which, as you could imagine, gets me killed - a lot.

Paragon - Pretty much every single new sound, especially on my first game after loading for the first time that day, will cause the game to freeze up for at least a second, sometimes more. I literally have to run around firing my weapon and running near my teammates to hear their sounds to get most of the stuttering out of the way before the round begins. Then an enemy character comes along with a whole new set of sounds, causing the stutter and again, gets me killed.

These are the most recent examples I can think of, but it does happen in nearly every game I have.

I only noticed it may be sound related after it was getting too frequent to play anything properly and tried to monitor it.

I've also noticed that it's more noticeable on games installed on my HDD (not my SSD).

I have tried disabling all sound devices not currently being used and also disabled them all entirely.

Disabling them entirely seemed to help, but is obviously useless as I need sound to play!

All my drivers are up to date.

I'm going to list my specs for all you clever people to look at and hopefully tell me where my problem lies!

CPU : Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151
GPU : MSI GeForce GTX 1070 GAMING X 8G 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express
MOB: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX
PSU : Super Flower Leadex GOLD 750W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold"
RAM : Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit
SSD : OCZ-TRION100
HDD : WDC WD20EZRZ-00Z5HBO
O/S: Windows 10 Pro

This problem occurs whether I'm using my Corsair VOID USB headset or my desktop speakers through the 3.5mm jack.

Any insight or information on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Mule

 

[popatim]

Can you confirm that these games are on the WD Blue 2tb drive?
I suspect this may be the issue. If these are steam games can you move 1 to the ssd and retest please.

 

[Carnaxus]

You mentioned that it's "more noticeable" on games that are installed on your HDD; do you get this issue at all in games installed on your SSD?