Robotic cracking and popping sound.

[fretcruiser]

Hey guys. I just built my new i5 PC. It's running great and I can run pretty large PT sessions at around 20-30%. I have an issue though. Sometimes the entire project will crack and pop and sound sluggish like a robotic voice. I have no idea what's causing this, because it happens at random times and my CPU usage is at around 23%. I've even tried a buffer setting of 1024 and it still happens.

The problem seems to go away once I change the buffer setting (even if I change it to a lower setting), but it returns very shortly.

I did disable the turbo for the i5 in the BIOS. Any input would be great

Here's the siSandra:

SiSoftware Sandra

ID
Host Name :
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Computer
Model : GigaByte H61M-DS2 To be filled by O.E.M.
Serial Number : To be filled by O.E.M.
Chassis : GigaByte Desktop
Mainboard : GigaByte H61M-DS2
Serial Number : To be filled by O.E.M.
BIOS : AMI (OEM) F5 02/10/2012
Intel vPro : 8.00.00.1351
Total Memory : 7.72GB DIMM DDR3

Processors
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570K CPU @ 3.40GHz (4C 3.39GHz, 3.4GHz IMC, 2x 256kB L2, 6MB L3)

Chipset
Memory Controller : Giga-Byte Core (Ivy Bridge) DRAM Controller 100MHz, 2x 4GB DIMM DDR3 1.33GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Kingston 9905403-447A00LF 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)
Memory Module : Kingston 9905403-447A00LF 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)

Video System
Video Adapter : Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (16 SM5.0 650MHz/1.15GHz, 256MB DDR3 1.33GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics)

Graphics Processor
OpenCL GP Processor : Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (16SP 16C 650MHz, 1.5GB DDR3 1.33GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics)
Compute Shader Processor : Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (16SP 650MHz, 256MB DDR3 1.33GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics)

Storage Devices
Seagate ST31000528AS (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm) : 932GB (E:)
Hitachi HDT725025VLA380 (250GB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, 7MB Cache) : 233GB (C:)
HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GSA-H60L (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (D:)

Logical Storage Devices
Hard Disk (C:) : 233GB (NTFS) @ Hitachi HDT725025VLA380 (250GB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, 7MB Cache)
Music (E:) : 932GB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST31000528AS (1TB, SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm)
Optical Drive (D:) : N/A @ HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GSA-H60L (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Giga-Byte H61 LPC Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : T2 87-28
Audio Device : Giga-Byte Cougar Point High Definition Audio Controller
Serial Port(s) : 1
Parallel Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : Giga-Byte Cougar Point 4 port SATA IDE Controller
Disk Controller : Giga-Byte Cougar Point 2 port SATA IDE Controller
USB Controller 1 : Giga-Byte Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
USB Controller 2 : Giga-Byte Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (Ethernet, 100Mbps)

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 7 Home 6.01.7600
Platform Compliance : x64

Windows Experience Index
Current System : 5.4

[Darryl Ramm]

Besides a Sandra report we have next to no information about what you are doing.

What audio interface are you using?

What are all the settings in the playback engine dialog panel?

What are you doing in the Pro Tools session? How many tracks playing/recording? What plugins on how many tracks? Any VIs etc. Which ones?

Pro Tools version? etc.

Darryl

[fretcruiser]

Thanks for the reply. I'm using the Fasttrack USB. Windows7 64bit with Pro Tools mp9

buffer size=512
host processors=3 (of 4)
CPU usage limit=90%
Delay compensation engine=none

DAE Playback buffer=2
cache size=large

I have about 12 tracks and I'm using a few VI's such as Studio Drummer, POD Farm, and Mini Grand along with some PT plugins.

again, the cpu usage stays consistently around 23% and doesn't do random spikes or anything. Infact, when I'm having this issue, the cpu usage meter is still at around 23%.

[albee1952]

2 things hit me. First is; integrated graphics are NOT good for Pro Tools, but second(and most annoying) the Fast Track Pro(usb) I had would cause exactly the same issue and no driver would fix it. I sold it.

[fretcruiser]

I understand the integrated grapics issue. I just used all of my cash on the build and will buy a dedicated GPU shortly. On my old cpu, this setup worked fine, I just wasn't able to do more than about 8 tracks before reaching my cpu limit. Also, it was working fine on this computer until a couple of days ago.


Which relatively inexpensive interface would you recommend?

[fretcruiser]

I just noticed that I'm also getting the pops and clicks even when I use reaper, and with the toneport gx interface I also have. it seems to be some sort of a system thing. I have no idea what to do now.

[dave911]

May not help much, but did you optimize the system for PT.
Turn of any speedstepping, C-state stuff in BIOS
Set the USB hubs to never sleep
Set the HD to never sleep?

[fretcruiser]

Hey, thanks a lot for the replies. I finally fixed it. It turns out that it was a DPC latency issue caused by the "easytune" software that came with the Gigabyte motherboard. I uninstalled it, and now PT runs flawlessly.

[Transputer]

Hi fretcruiser, I was wondering how's the machine going ?

I have been looking at the B75 chipset boards with native PCI - haven't built as yet and of course Haswell on 1150 is getting close just to muddy the waters even more. The 3930K builds are interesting but £440 plus for a CPU is obviously expensive - for 2 extra cores over a 3770K at say £250.

I'm into the idea of 1155 builds and you have one of the few documented ones on the duc - so thanks for that

[albee1952]

2 warnings for anybody curious. #1-NEVER install all the BS that is included on the motherboard disk. ONLY install what you need, and nothing else. #2-socket1155 systems are hit and miss and not the best choice if you want a solid rig(unless you can match a known solid setup, part for part). The socket 2011 i7 on an X79 motherboard is the performance champ as of now. If cash is tight, I would shop for a deal on the older socket 1366 i7 and an X58 motherboard. In all cases, pay attention to RAM, as in, buy what is listed as approved on the mobo maker's website, and buy what will give the best performance(X58 system run triple channel RAM so that means 3 or 6 matching sticks. X79 mobo's run quad channel RAM so that means 4 or 8 matching sticks)