Audio-related lag while playing games

I have recently been having pretty severe audio-related lag in most games. This issue appeared seemingly out of nowhere a few months ago, and nothing I have tried so far has been able to pinpoint its source. The error manifests differently from game to game, but it usually involves the audio freezing while animations continue, or a small section of audio looping several times before continuing. This is especially noticeable in cutscenes/dialogue, since the characters' mouths typically continue moving normally when the error occurs. Certain sound effects also have a noticeable delay: gunshots often sound a second or two after the gun is fired, for example. Other times, I notice the music looping or freezing, but this doesn't tend to impede gameplay.

I've noticed that the error is especially pronounced in Bioshock Infinite and The Walking Dead (which is not very GPU- or CPU-intensive), but not too bad in some others such as Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Saints Row: The Third. So, as far as I can tell, there's not much of a pattern to the issue.

System specs:
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Intel i5-2450M
NVIDIA Geforce GTX 560m
6 GB RAM

Things I have tried:
Various configurations of video and audio drivers - Some combinations were better than others, but the issue persists in every one.
Cleaning/reapplying thermal paste - Temperatures dropped significantly, but this did not seem to change anything. Even before the cleaning, the CPU and GPU didn't get very hot in some games (like The Walking Dead), but it was worth a shot.
Running chkdsk /f - Windows detected no hard disk errors.
Running memory diagnostics - Again, Windows found no errors.
Changing game settings - No effect.
Reducing audio quality - There may have been a slight improvement, but it was hardly noticeable.

Other info - My laptop has NVIDIA Optimus - it uses an Intel graphics card when the NVIDIA isn't needed. The issue persists regardless of which graphics card is in use. Similarly, my computer uses Realtek HD Audio drivers normally, and Intel Display Audio when hooked up to another monitor via HDMI. Both audio drivers are equally problematic.

Additionally, I have run through the steps in the "Tips on Troubleshooting Game Issues" sticky, and none of those options helped either.

Any ideas or assistance will be greatly appreciated. I can provide additional information if necessary, and I'm willing to test out pretty much any potential fix. Thank you in advance!

+ 1 on the way of downloading drivers... nothing but problems arise when I got them from windows update.

I have also find that some ways or uninstalling and installing audio and video drivers create future problems as well... how did you do this? I am not saying you did it wrong.

Sometimes Nvidia control panel creates problems as well, even though, for me this does not happen often... perhaps having two different audio sources creates some sort of problem that does not show right away? personally, when installing drivers I don't use anything I don't know or know I will not need... second audio source, 3D stuff that I know I don't have or will use anytime soon.

Thanks for your responses so far.

I have already run full scans with MSE, Malwarebytes, and SuperAntiSpyware, and none of them found anything of consequence. I hadn't heard of AdwCleaner before, and it did detect a couple pieces of malware, but again, nothing of consequence.

As for the drivers, I've always downloaded them from the manufacturers - I don't trust the device manager either. I have just used the NVIDIA/Realtek installers to remove the old drivers as I update to new ones. Is there a different way I should have done this?

I've also attempted disabling and uninstalling the Intel audio drivers, but this seemed to have no effect. Since I don't have 3D capabilities, is there any reason to keep the NVIDIA 3D Vision Controller driver?

I usually uninstall from Control Panel (including PhysX), I also use the driver sweeper from Nvidia... I then go to Safe Mode and run Ccleaner, I use the cleaner and the Registry cleaner... I restart once more and I go to the temp folder I downloaded the newer drivers... I right click on the file and use Run as Administrator... I also use CUSTOM install so I have access/options to what I want and don't want to install

Like I said, if you don't have or use any 3D stuff you don't have to install them.

I followed your driver installation instructions, and there seem to have been lots of leftover NVIDIA files that needed to be cleared out. I now have only the most recent NVIDIA and Realtek drivers installed. I don't want to jinx it, but based on some brief testing, I'm pretty sure that this has solved the problem! Thank you very much for your help!

ashowen said:

I followed your driver installation instructions, and there seem to have been lots of leftover NVIDIA files that needed to be cleared out. I now have only the most recent NVIDIA and Realtek drivers installed. I don't want to jinx it, but based on some brief testing, I'm pretty sure that this has solved the problem! Thank you very much for your help!

WOW, I may have finally helped someone... I feel sheepish!

As much as I hate to interrupt your celebration... I guess I was a bit too excited to call this problem solved. My computer was working just as it was supposed to last night, but now that I've tested it again today, the issue is just as bad as it was before. I don't know what could have made the problem reappear overnight, but that's what seems to have happened.