Audio Crackling When Multitasking

[UnbidLettuce]

Hello,

 

I have been chasing this issue for months and I'm completely stumped. (Specs at the bottom of post)

 

Every time I try to multitask I get audio cracking through my headphones and speakers. I'm usually just playing Youtube or music while gaming so nothing super resource hungry like streaming. 

 

I feel like I've dug into every possible solution at this point apart from just buying all new parts.

 

I've updated every driver for every component I could find. i.e updated bios flash and chipset drivers, GPU drivers, audio drivers, disabling any potential problem causers in device manager, taken the whole PC apart and put it back together. I've tested my audio hardware with other machines to verify they aren't crackling. Even a fresh Windows install hasn't solved this problem. I thought maybe it was dirty power from my outlets, tried a different circuit and had no change. 

 

While it doesn't render my PC completely useless, it is still very annoying. 

 

I'm wondering if it may be my GPU on its last leg. My two monitors are significantly different resolutions. (The main is 3840x2160 the secondary is 1366x768) I've noticed it crackles more when sending the high resolution to my main monitor, while if I match the resolution to the smaller monitor there is "less" crackling, but still a noticeable issue. Another reason I think it may be GPU related if because after gaming for a bit (between 45 min - 1 hour roughly) both screens will freeze and go black for a moment. When they both come back the gaming monitor runs at a lower frame rate and the youtube monitor freezes the browser window but lets the video (or music with spotify) continue to play but leave me unable to interreact with it to pause or even close the window, it has to be force quit to close the window. I am able to reopen a window and watch youtube just fine after that but it inevitably happens again in the same amount of time if not less.

 

It may also be my motherboard as I run my audio though USB 3.0 to my Focusrite Scarlet 2i2, I've tried all available USB ports and have the issue on all of them. The Focusrite Scarlett has been tested on other machines and is working perfectly fine. 

 

I feel like I'm chasing my tail here. Any suggestions at all would be very much appreciated. My PC specs are below, please feel free to ask for more details on the specs or the situation if needed. 

 

Thank you!

 

Specs: 

Operating System: Windows 10 Version 21H2 (most recent update 6/16/2023

MotherBoard: MSI B450M-Pro-VDH MAX

CPU:  AMD Ryzen 7 5700G With Radeon Graphics

RAM: 4x G.Skill DDR4 8GB at 3200MgHz

SSD: 250GB SSD boot drive

GPU: Nvidia GeForce 1660

Power Supply: EVGA 750 Watt

CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster MLW-D24M-A18PC-R2

Audio Interface: Focusrite 2i2

 

[DrMacintosh]

4 minutes ago, UnbidLettuce said:

It may also be my motherboard as I run my audio though USB 3.0 to my Focusrite Scarlet 2i2

If you do just line out audio from your PC directly, do you get the same result? It very likely is an issue with USB. I used to run my game audio through a USB DAC, but after some game instability while using it I decided to stop. I rarely use that DAC now since Apple has still not released the Apple Music app for Windows 11 fully. 

[UnbidLettuce]

1 hour ago, DrMacintosh said:

If you do just line out audio from your PC directly, do you get the same result? It very likely is an issue with USB. I used to run my game audio through a USB DAC, but after some game instability while using it I decided to stop. I rarely use that DAC now since Apple has still not released the Apple Music app for Windows 11 fully. 

Thanks for the reply!

 

I do get the same result coming out of both line outs on my PC unfortunately. (on front panel and motherboard I/O) Even uninstalled and reinstalled Realtek drivers.