SOUND AND VIDEO STUTTER/BUZZ

[Repaironthemove]

Specs:
CPU: Intel i3 2200 @3.10 GHz
OS: Windows 7 (x64) Genuine Ultimate 7600. Rated at a 6.2 from Microsoft
GFX: XFX Radeon HD 6790 (x2 with Cross-Fire) (also tried EVGA Nvidia 9600gt [x2 Sli])
Mobo: MSI P67-G43 B3 (Military Class II) 1155 LGA
RAM: 16GB Crucial RAM DDR3, 1333 (x4 = 4Gb)
PSU: OCZ 700w
Network: Asus Wireless N
Sound: Realtek HD (I have also tried cheap Rocketfish 7.1)
Storage:
DVD: Stock
Drive 0: Main Drive running OS Seagate 500Gb
Drive 1: Seagate 500Gb Games, documents
Drive 2: Seagate 500Gb \ Movies, Music, pictures
Drive 3: Seagate 500Gb / Drives Mirrored for backup of Drive 0 and 1
Drive 4: Seagate 1Tb > Drive used for Norton Ghost, Antivirus Software, Utilities, and
Optional hardware: Avis Media Station Premiere, Voltage Meter (Digital Doc 5+), Fan Controller
2 System Fans both 80mm, Stock CPU Cooler, 2 Fans 120mm top, 2 80mm Bottom near PSU, 1 Front 80mm, and side 200mm fan
Monitors: Sony 32inch TV (HDMI), 2 AOC 22in monitors (DVI) (Triple Screen Setup)
Keyboard: Logitech G15
Mouse: Logitech g500
Sound System: Logitech 7.1
Electric bill... Priceless

(Before I start... I apologize for the long specs. But I would rather give my full specs so some may be able to see exactly what is in my system so we can eliminate variables)

Hello, I am hoping I could get some resolution to my issue. This has become quite a conundrum. I have performed many actions with various strategies with very little positive results.
In the beginning the sound buzz, and video stutter was sporadic and almost unnoticeable. As time went on it became more intermittent, and then it became constant.
The malady has become quite a bother since.
What seems to be happening is everything stutters regarding sound and video (Games, Videos (On drive), Streaming (Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, CBS, FOX) Music and even system sounds) Also an added but i believe related issue is when I move my mouse too fast it seems to stop for a second and then it begins to move again replicating the same type of stutter. Another strange occurrence is that my computer is always at a cool 47° C and in between 1% to 15% load as well as a constant 26% regarding RAM.

But if I shut down and restart, the issue doesn't start up for about a minute or so and then it becomes unbearable. I also noticed my network becoming a bit sluggish around the same exact time this issue started getting worse. I am starting to think this is a CPU issue,

Steps I have taken.

• Remove all drivers and re-installed each... one at a time. played a video after each install and still continued.
• Zero'd out each drive installed Windows 7 and still continued
• swapped GFX cards from 8600gt to HD6790 (on fresh installs each)
• Removed unnecessary hardware
• Virus Scan, Malware Scan
• ChkDsk, SFC Scan
• Reset Bios and updated
• Checked RAM 1 at a time
• Re-seated each wire meticulously
• removed extra monitors
• swapped mouse
• swapped keyboard
• removed printer/fax
• Updated Fully
• Removed Updates
• Clean install of Windows 7 x64
• Clean install of Windows XP x64
• Direct X update
• I have even swapped out stand-offs just for the heck of it
• Installed Realtek, Removed Realtek, replaced sound with RocketFish 71SDCD

The major issue hadn't started escalating to a constant until about 1 week ago. Before that it had just been a little annoying.
Worst of it all is I am a trained certified technician. This issue has kept me up for 6 nights trying to narrow down the issue and it is kind of making me question my abilities as a technician. How can I repair other people's computers when I can't even maintain my own. If that makes sense.

Any help would be greatly appreciated please.
Thank you.

 

[Pinhedd]

This is a known issue with some USB 3.0 chips. Since the Intel 6 series chipsets don't have native USB 3.0 the functionality must be obtained through an add-in chip which is connected to the Chipset via the pullout PCIe lanes. Unfortunately, I've met primates with better engineering skills than the morons who developed most of those chips. They are notoriously buggy and the people who designed them should feel bad. This chip may share bandwidth with other PCIe devices and can occasionally get into conflict with them as well. Since most add-in chips use the PCH's PCIe lanes it is not surprising that audio would be affected. Since this can have a negative impact on the driver's responsiveness, the kernel can become blocked which is bad.

Step one would be to turn off the USB 3.0 controller in the EFI setup (I think MSI uses EFI on all their 6 series boards). If this resolves the issue, then you've found the culprit.

Step two is to see if the USB 3.0 controller's firmware can be updated. Grab the latest firmware from http://www.station-drivers.com/page/renesas.htm (also applies to NEC) for the NEC® D720200 and flash it (Windows native executable it seems). I do not think that you can use the D720200a firmware which is located in the same section so make sure you get the right one. I think the applicable firmware is 3.0.3.4

 

[Repaironthemove]

Thank you for your reply.
My software for Renesas is updated to 3.0.3.4 as well as my firmware is now updated as well. Issue persists for some reason. again thank you for helping me with this issue. it is driving me nuts

 

[Pinhedd]

Another thought, it could be a dying hard drive. They are known to cause this kind of problem with Windows. Try booting from a Linux LiveCD and see if the problem persists

You can also use Crystal Disk Info to see if the SMART data indicates any serious problems with those drives

 

[Guest]

I have had a very similar problem!

I have had 4 fresh OS installs and 2 fresh HDDs and still no change, started becoming unbearable recently and I noticed that the network gets very slow during these spikes. I finally realised that it was my wireless card, I've hardwired myself into router and disabled card and computer is running like a dream, this isn't an ideal fix however, and I've got a replacement card coming from PC distributor, although if this doesn't fix it I'm going to go USB dongle as they are pretty bomb proof.


Hope this helps!

 

[rockz_rohan]

Here is a possible solution,
ROLL Back (or change) the driver for Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller. this can be found in device manager/network adapters.

I was facing same problem untill i followed above steps.