[Solved] "System Interrupts" process causing performance loss.

[Alex_120]

UPDATE - Corsair Link ended up being the problem, turned it off and all is good. See my response below for more details.

Hi all,

I will preface this by saying that I've done quite a lot of research on this issue, but can't seem to find a fix that has worked for me.

The issue started a few days after my new build, and I noticed a lot of auditory pops and cracking sounds coming from my speakers. I also noticed that the frequency of these sounds came with the increased CPU usage in System Interrupts process; about 10% usage is the highest I've seen it. The thing is, once I boot my PC, it runs fine, but after an hour or two of gaming, the audio cracks start happening and I get a small amount of input lag. A quick reset will remedy this, but I'm hoping I can come to a more permanent solution.

After some research, I used LatencyMon to determine which drivers are causing a high DPC count, and it led me to the culprit being nvlddmkm.sys. I've reinstalled all nvidia drivers with a clean install, and even disabled all nvidia sound related devices. (nothing changed)

I also went through device manager and disabled everything that was not critical to the operation of the pc. I.e. all sound, lan, usb devices, etc,. Nothing I disabled helped the system interrupts. This brought me to my next guess, that bios needed updated, as this is apparently a common issue with my mobo. However, when checking my bios version number with ASUS, my version number is greater than the one listed, so I should not update my bios (according to ASUS).

My last and final thought is that it could be a hardware issue. But before I start troubleshooting by swapping out hardware, I wanted to see if anyone knew of another fix. Also, if you think it might be hardware, what should I start troubleshooting first?

Thanks!

System Specs:
Mobo: ASUS Maximus Ranger VIII
GPU: ASUS strix nvidia gtx 1070
CPU: Intel core-i5 6600k
Memory: 16gb DDR4 3000 G.SKill ripjaws 4 series
PSU: 750w Corsair ??? gold certified (can't remember exact model)

 

[ajpaolello]

See if you can get another gpu to test and run without the gpu at all and see if you still get the popping sound

 

[Alex_120]

See if you can get another gpu to test and run without the gpu at all and see if you still get the popping sound

I'll try running on the integrated graphics on the 6600k when I get home from work and post results.

 

[Alex_120]

So I tested it with the integrated graphics on my processor.. and no changes. However, I think I've finally found the culprit, and it wasn't drivers or hardware. It was in fact Corsair Link software. After an hour or so of up time, the CPU usage of the "System Interrupts" process was about 8%, and I accidentally closed out of Corsair Link when meaning to shut off skype. And to my amazement, the 8% usage plummeted to a steady 0.0% - 0.5%. And with a quick restart of the program, I watched as the CPU usage instantly jumped to 3% and started climbing.

This application was causing other drivers to appear as if they were at fault, such as my USB, sound, and graphics drivers. I ran LatencyMon for ~5minutes and all looks good.

TL;DR - Corsair Link, a fan/water pump control software for my water cooler was causing the interrupts.

 

[ajpaolello]

Good to know. Glad you solved your own problem.