LatencyMon measures high latency but doesn't appear to by drivers

[oldage]

Been having some audio issue and I'm really close to giving up.

I re installed windows and in one of the past few stays I've started having audio crackling/static. Ended up with LatencyMon to see if it was driver related but the driver reports don't spike ( http://puu.sh/e39Fh/e43544115e.png ) unless I'm understanding this wrong. And I've disabled the cpu throttling for the most part. (I think)

It's very noticeable during a couple of songs, and it also happens when I quickly change between in-game menus (dota 2 for example, clicking on each of the menu tabs in quick succession causes a crackle)

Is this my onboard audio dying? I'm pretty sure I have the same drivers as my last windows install (although I'm somewhat confused about that, the gigabyte website states I have a VIA audio chip but their driver downloads only list RealTek Azalia stuff.

What can cause this aside from drivers and onboard audio hardware? Bad gpu drivers? Bad RAM?


edit: I just tried with some other peripherals and the crackling persists. Earbuds, different earphones and a USB headset. Tried in front and rear jack.

here's a pastebin with everything from latencymon audio issues / latencymon - Pastebin.com

 

[fireberd]

For testing, uninstall the audio drivers and let Windows install the generic High Definition Audio drivers and see if that makes any difference.

To Uninstall the device and drivers, go to the Device Manager, Sound section. RIGHT click on the entry for the sound and then LEFT Click "Uninstall". ALSO, check the box to also uninstall the drivers. Restart the PC and when Windows starts it will detect and install the generic sound driver. See how this works.

Here is how to post screenshots on this forum:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

 

[oldage]

That installs HD audio drivers from Microsoft, but unfortunately the crackling persists. I looked in my PC to see if anything was in need of a re-seat but everything was fine. I also found the audio plug and it had a different cable next to it, AC'97. Removed the HD audio plug and plugged the AC one in but that did not remove the crackling either. (after installing the drivers)

 

[fireberd]

By installing the generic HD Audio drivers, that eliminates the sound drivers as the problem. The HD Audio connector should be used as it has some mic and headphone jack sensing that the older AC97 does not have.

Ndis.sys is related to communications. Do you have a wired or Wi-Fi connection? Wi-Fi is a known cause of the problem you have.

 

[oldage]

I have a wired connection.

Similar sounds in a couple of songs when I plug my headphones in my monitor that's connected with HDMI, but the general sound isn't as 'harsh' as 3.5mm jack

 

[fireberd]

Since it happens with the HDMI, too, that also eliminates the PC sound card as the HDMI sound is generated by a sound chip on the video card and not the PC sound.

As you have a Gigabyte motherboard, most come with "EasyTune" program (mine came with EasyTune6). That program is known to cause this type of problem and should not be used (uninstalled).

 

[oldage]

I've never installed anything else from the cd other than the drivers, and it's a fairly clean windows 7 install (3 weeks)

Someone else suggested it could be a short somewhere, would that be possible?

edit: looked into it more and it could very well be a short. Question is, will it cause trouble to other stuff or will it just be the audio that suffers?