Computer Stuttering During Audio Playback

[othellomcbane]

I'm having a strange problem that I have no idea how to even begin diagnosing. I've been using the same home-built computer for two years now—ran Vista for the first year and a Windows 7 beta build for the last year. A few weeks ago I did a clean install of Windows 7 retail (64 bit... the beta build was also 64 bit). So this is the same computer, running a new version of the same operating system I've been using.

Ever since the fresh OS install, my computer has been occasionally stuttering during media playback. It seems to be audio related, but it happens during videos or games too. The audio will "glitch" two or three times, the mouse will skip if I'm currently moving it, and then everything will be normal. It doesn't happen at regular intervals, but I'd say it usually happens about once an hour, sometimes more, sometimes less. I don't think the problem can be corrupted files, because it happens regardless what I'm listening to (and isn't consistent to any specific files), regardless of what harddrive it's stored on, or when I downloaded it (new, freshly downloaded music also stutters).

For music, I use WinAmp or the Zune software. For video, Windows Media Player Classic. It's also happened while playing games, though the stuttering is less noticeable.

Hardware wise, I have some basic Logitech speakers running off onboard audio. Motherboard is Gigabyte P35 DS3L with Realtek ALC888 onboard audio. CPU is an e8400, (not overclocked). Videocard is an 8800GT, 4 gigs of RAM, Win7 64bit. All drivers are up to date.

What can I do? Where do I start? Thanks for you help.

 

[astrallite]

This can happen with onboard sound when it doesn't fully support the sampling rate that Windows 7 is using. Like previous versions of Windows, 7 will resample all audio before outputting it. In previous versions of Windows, it would be a very low quality integer resample at a fixed 48KHz. Now the resampling is floating point, and output frequency can be manually set--44,48,88,96,192 and 16/24 bit, etc, so it's a lot more flexible.

I find setting output at 16 bit is less likely to cause audible issues. You may want to play around with the output frequencies. 44/88 are a good bet since music is at that frequency, as is the music that is mixed into games. Not sure about windows media classic, you may want to switch to 48? or some multiple if it's causing problems.

 

[othellomcbane]

I tried 44, 48 and 96. (88 wasn't an option). 16 bit. Still got the stuttering. Should I do anything with the "give applications exclusive control" checkbox thing?