Windows 7 problem

[Elmo Putney]

Well my problems came back so ignore my advice further up this thread, after much googling on this issue and other audio issues in Win7 I downloaded DPC latency checker. I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of what this does but simplistically it shows the audio hardware latency, spikes in latency are known to cause pops, corruption and sync issues. Running it on my rig does indeed show massive latency spikes as the corruption occurs, some investigation with the device manager shows that if I disable the onboard realtek network the latency drops and the sound isues go away....this is of course not a solution but at least I'm starting to understand the problem.
Armed with this new information I have tried lots of realtek NIC drivers but none have fixed the issue, googling "dpc latency network" reveals lots of people having very similar issue, it would also appear (pob) that Gigabyte boards are worse affected than others but there are still many other makes being affected, there also appears to be a lot of people with amd 7 series chipset who see it.
So for me no fix yet I have logged a ticket with gigabyte, if they come up with no fix I think I have a spare PCIe slot so maybe a network card may fix or...back to XP.
I would like to hear if your issues are the same, grab dpc latency checker and post results please.

[Pob]

DPC latency checker showed no problems on my rig - always in the green. I think my issue is more to do with the power-saving features - Cool and Quiet and minimal power management in Windows. Gigabyte have recently posted new audio drivers, but they made no difference for me. I should try upgrading the BIOS to the latest, but always reluctant to do this unless I am pretty sure it will make a difference. Although a couple of people reported new BIOS helped, others said it did not...

[whurlston]

Have you tried the latest drivers from the Realtek website? Http://www.realtek.com.tw and click the HD Audio link under "Quick Links". The latest driver is dated April 2010 and is version 2.47

I also recommend disabling Cool and Quiet in the BIOS.

[Pob]

I wil try the Realtek drivers - though usually prefer to wait until Gigabyte post them, presumably they check they're A-ok in their hardware first....
Disabling cool n quiet is not an option - I think it is essential for any HTPC.
WHat still puzzles me about this sound issue in Win7 is why it effects some channels and not others - for example BBC HD is always fine, ITV HD always has the glitchy sound.

[whurlston]

I use Gigabyte boards pretty much exclusively and I've never had issues with the latest Realtek drivers. I never install from the Gigabyte CDs or website. As for Cool and Quiet, I've never got it to work properly. I've always had issues with it unthrottling the CPU when needed, so I prefer not to use the dynamic throttling. My fans still slow down while the CPU is idle and power draw is sufficiently reduced so I see no need for the dynamic throttling of the CPU especially when it affects the performance of the HTPC.

[Pob]

Just to report back that after installing the newest Realtek driver - 2.48 - the problem originally posted about has almost gone. Still the occasional glitch but not enough to notice too much.
I still have cool 'n quiet turned on - I do think it is essential for a cool, quiet, and cheaper-to-run PC. 99% of the time my CPU cores run at 1.00v, 1000Mhz -and when watching HD TV they don't get near 100% load. The CPU fan does not spin at all until the PC has been on for 10-15 minutes! But when I do fancy a game, and the cores go to full voltage and 3000Mhz, I can certainly hear the difference!

[whurlston]

Hmm, I'll have to test CNQ again at some point then.