Haunted by DPC latency.

nomadamon · December 21, 2022

For the last two weeks I have been having issues with audio popping and crackling. This has made a lot of games extremely hard to enjoy. I have been looking for a solution for a while now, yet haven't found anything. I'm beyond lost. I have completely wiped all of my drives, changed USB ports for my headphones, moved my PC closer, reset BIOS and CMOS, ect. I even went out and bought an i5-12600k along with a new motherboard to boot. You have no idea how insane I felt when it started back up. Here are my specs

OLD

RTX 3060

Ryzen 5 3600

32gb 3600mhz DDR4

Asus ROG Gaming II B450

NEW

RTX 3060

Intel i5-12600k

32gb 3600mhz DDR4

MSI Pro Z690-a

Here is also a Latencymon report.

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CONCLUSION
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Your system seems to be having difficulty handling real-time audio and other tasks. You may experience drop outs, clicks or pops due to buffer underruns. One or more DPC routines that belong to a driver running in your system appear to be executing for too long. One problem may be related to power management, disable CPU throttling settings in Control Panel and BIOS setup. Check for BIOS updates.
LatencyMon has been analyzing your system for 0:07:13 (h:mm:ss) on all processors.

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SYSTEM INFORMATION
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Computer name: DESKTOP-4TT0NPP
OS version: Windows 10, 10.0, version 2009, build: 19045 (x64)
Hardware: MS-7D25, Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.
BIOS: 1.10
CPU: GenuineIntel 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-12600K
Logical processors: 16
Processor groups: 1
Processor group size: 16
RAM: 32559 MB total

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CPU SPEED
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Reported CPU speed (WMI): 3686 MHz
Reported CPU speed (registry): 3686 MHz

Note: reported execution times may be calculated based on a fixed reported CPU speed. Disable variable speed settings like Intel Speed Step and AMD Cool N Quiet in the BIOS setup for more accurate results.

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MEASURED INTERRUPT TO USER PROCESS LATENCIES
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The interrupt to process latency reflects the measured interval that a usermode process needed to respond to a hardware request from the moment the interrupt service routine started execution. This includes the scheduling and execution of a DPC routine, the signaling of an event and the waking up of a usermode thread from an idle wait state in response to that event.

Highest measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 648.50
Average measured interrupt to process latency (µs): 6.096349

Highest measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 576.10
Average measured interrupt to DPC latency (µs): 3.107648

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REPORTED ISRs
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Interrupt service routines are routines installed by the OS and device drivers that execute in response to a hardware interrupt signal.

Highest ISR routine execution time (µs): 71.195876
Driver with highest ISR routine execution time: HDAudBus.sys - High Definition Audio Bus Driver, Microsoft Corporation

Highest reported total ISR routine time (%): 0.001283
Driver with highest ISR total time: Wdf01000.sys - Kernel Mode Driver Framework Runtime, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in ISRs (%) 0.002498

ISR count (execution time <250 µs): 111717
ISR count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 500-1000 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 1000-2000 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time 2000-4000 µs): 0
ISR count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0

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REPORTED DPCs
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DPC routines are part of the interrupt servicing dispatch mechanism and disable the possibility for a process to utilize the CPU while it is interrupted until the DPC has finished execution.

Highest DPC routine execution time (µs): 1419.060770
Driver with highest DPC routine execution time: nvlddmkm.sys - NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 527.56 , NVIDIA Corporation

Highest reported total DPC routine time (%): 0.062008
Driver with highest DPC total execution time: dxgkrnl.sys - DirectX Graphics Kernel, Microsoft Corporation

Total time spent in DPCs (%) 0.170649

DPC count (execution time <250 µs): 1950141
DPC count (execution time 250-500 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time 500-10000 µs): 240
DPC count (execution time 1000-2000 µs): 2
DPC count (execution time 2000-4000 µs): 0
DPC count (execution time >=4000 µs): 0

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REPORTED HARD PAGEFAULTS
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Hard pagefaults are events that get triggered by making use of virtual memory that is not resident in RAM but backed by a memory mapped file on disk. The process of resolving the hard pagefault requires reading in the memory from disk while the process is interrupted and blocked from execution.

NOTE: some processes were hit by hard pagefaults. If these were programs producing audio, they are likely to interrupt the audio stream resulting in dropouts, clicks and pops. Check the Processes tab to see which programs were hit.

Process with highest pagefault count: cod.exe

Total number of hard pagefaults 99886
Hard pagefault count of hardest hit process: 78836
Number of processes hit: 82

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PER CPU DATA
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CPU 0 Interrupt cycle time (s): 30.934519
CPU 0 ISR highest execution time (µs): 71.195876
CPU 0 ISR total execution time (s): 0.031208
CPU 0 ISR count: 4793
CPU 0 DPC highest execution time (µs): 1419.060770
CPU 0 DPC total execution time (s): 9.422353
CPU 0 DPC count: 1662365
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CPU 1 Interrupt cycle time (s): 7.616724
CPU 1 ISR highest execution time (µs): 24.239284
CPU 1 ISR total execution time (s): 0.005884
CPU 1 ISR count: 3896
CPU 1 DPC highest execution time (µs): 95.756918
CPU 1 DPC total execution time (s): 0.089234
CPU 1 DPC count: 5064
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CPU 2 Interrupt cycle time (s): 8.587470
CPU 2 ISR highest execution time (µs): 59.638633
CPU 2 ISR total execution time (s): 0.094821
CPU 2 ISR count: 77839
CPU 2 DPC highest execution time (µs): 334.020076
CPU 2 DPC total execution time (s): 1.492560
CPU 2 DPC count: 102937
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CPU 3 Interrupt cycle time (s): 4.717828
CPU 3 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 3 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 3 ISR count: 0
CPU 3 DPC highest execution time (µs): 48.026587
CPU 3 DPC total execution time (s): 0.001639
CPU 3 DPC count: 395
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CPU 4 Interrupt cycle time (s): 2.9440
CPU 4 ISR highest execution time (µs): 19.616386
CPU 4 ISR total execution time (s): 0.000113
CPU 4 ISR count: 28
CPU 4 DPC highest execution time (µs): 138.225176
CPU 4 DPC total execution time (s): 0.019668
CPU 4 DPC count: 7467
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CPU 5 Interrupt cycle time (s): 2.538378
CPU 5 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 5 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 5 ISR count: 0
CPU 5 DPC highest execution time (µs): 44.397721
CPU 5 DPC total execution time (s): 0.001378
CPU 5 DPC count: 320
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CPU 6 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.917906
CPU 6 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 6 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 6 ISR count: 0
CPU 6 DPC highest execution time (µs): 60.119371
CPU 6 DPC total execution time (s): 0.009685
CPU 6 DPC count: 3502
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CPU 7 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.785483
CPU 7 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 7 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 7 ISR count: 0
CPU 7 DPC highest execution time (µs): 45.872491
CPU 7 DPC total execution time (s): 0.000757
CPU 7 DPC count: 169
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CPU 8 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.520765
CPU 8 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 8 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 8 ISR count: 0
CPU 8 DPC highest execution time (µs): 42.128052
CPU 8 DPC total execution time (s): 0.003613
CPU 8 DPC count: 1296
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CPU 9 Interrupt cycle time (s): 0.408442
CPU 9 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 9 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 9 ISR count: 0
CPU 9 DPC highest execution time (µs): 28.158980
CPU 9 DPC total execution time (s): 0.000533
CPU 9 DPC count: 137
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CPU 10 Interrupt cycle time (s): 9.638520
CPU 10 ISR highest execution time (µs): 67.557244
CPU 10 ISR total execution time (s): 0.031104
CPU 10 ISR count: 21415
CPU 10 DPC highest execution time (µs): 89.036354
CPU 10 DPC total execution time (s): 0.347219
CPU 10 DPC count: 54482
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CPU 11 Interrupt cycle time (s): 6.896764
CPU 11 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 11 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 11 ISR count: 0
CPU 11 DPC highest execution time (µs): 37.754748
CPU 11 DPC total execution time (s): 0.000841
CPU 11 DPC count: 258
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CPU 12 Interrupt cycle time (s): 9.580145
CPU 12 ISR highest execution time (µs): 23.686923
CPU 12 ISR total execution time (s): 0.009383
CPU 12 ISR count: 3590
CPU 12 DPC highest execution time (µs): 194.334238
CPU 12 DPC total execution time (s): 0.122528
CPU 12 DPC count: 12772
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CPU 13 Interrupt cycle time (s): 8.560281
CPU 13 ISR highest execution time (µs): 19.294628
CPU 13 ISR total execution time (s): 0.000471
CPU 13 ISR count: 148
CPU 13 DPC highest execution time (µs): 85.989691
CPU 13 DPC total execution time (s): 0.034276
CPU 13 DPC count: 6640
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CPU 14 Interrupt cycle time (s): 8.898549
CPU 14 ISR highest execution time (µs): 19.800868
CPU 14 ISR total execution time (s): 0.000154
CPU 14 ISR count: 8
CPU 14 DPC highest execution time (µs): 96.354856
CPU 14 DPC total execution time (s): 0.060959
CPU 14 DPC count: 7959
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CPU 15 Interrupt cycle time (s): 13.417024
CPU 15 ISR highest execution time (µs): 0.0
CPU 15 ISR total execution time (s): 0.0
CPU 15 ISR count: 0
CPU 15 DPC highest execution time (µs): 224.004883
CPU 15 DPC total execution time (s): 0.218768
CPU 15 DPC count: 84620
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Mark Kaine · December 21, 2022

Did you reinstall windows?

nomadamon · December 22, 2022

I did about 5 times. I ended up completely formatting all of my drives too.

nomadamon · December 22, 2022

SOLUTION: My router was causing interference. After moving it away, the popping stopped. When I moved it back, it started popping again. I will update in 24hrs with results.

Vasilis P. · February 11, 2023

On 12/22/2022 at 6:44 AM, nomadamon said:

SOLUTION: My router was causing interference. After moving it away, the popping stopped. When I moved it back, it started popping again. I will update in 24hrs with results.

Is this the solution then?

Having same problems with audio and latency in laptop - Asus Strix Scar III 17" (i7-9750-H, RTX 2070, 970 Evo Plus) when using external sound card (Presonus Studio 24c). 6 clean windows installs, even tried win 11, nothing fixed it.