- Aug 26, 2014
- 21
- 0
- 4,510
Component List:
CPU: Intel Pentium Processor G3258 @ 3.20GHz (2 cores)
MOB: MSI H81M-P33
RAM: 8GB of Crucial Ballistix Sport (4GB x 2)
HDD: 500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue @ 7200rpm
PSU: EVGA 500W ATX Power Supply
WIFI: Rosewill RNWD-11011 Wireless Adapter
Audio: Avid Fast Track Solo (Using proprietary ASIO audio drivers.)
Recently, I've consistently had an issue with my audio stuttering and dropping out during playback. This happens in editing software like Ableton Live or Pro Tools, streaming services like Spotify Youtube, and Netflix, and also just regular playback from Media Player. The stuttering most reliably occurs whenever I click, change, or load something new, but not always. Examples:
1. While streaming from Spotify, if I open Chrome or browse to a new page, audio will stutter.
2. While creating music in Ableton Live audio will randomly stutter and sometimes Ableton freezes.
3. While watching Netflix, audio and video will freeze and stutter more and more frequently until Chrome crashes.
I've tried numerous things: Reinstalled all kinds of drivers, disabled various services and the wifi, ran the computer in safe mode, increased audio interface buffer, monitored latency (no abnormal latency), tried playing audio via headphones, used a different audio interface. No improvement.
Today I tried something new: I monitored CPU usage via Task Manager and found that not always, but often, the stuttering would correlate with spikes near 100% usage. I tweaked around with this again, trying to see if there were some competing services that were doing this, but I found none. I then wondered if overclocking my CPU would help by possible increase my processing power overhead. (To be clear, I do know I have a Pentium Core, but this setup has never given me a headache before, and has always ran all of these programs just fine, even Pro Tools. The CPU seems to be just as zippy as ever, and does everything else at regular speeds. It only seems like audio has been having problems.)
That's when I discovered the weird part: Upon opening my BIOS, the CPU temp read a constant 99° Celcius! Just to double check, I downloaded a temp program and it measured at a lower level fluctuating between 78° and 83°. Still very high, but considerable a discrepancy? I switched off my computer and took it apart. I have several fans; the whole system is well ventilated and not very dusty. The only thing I can think is that my thermal paste needs to be replaced? Essentially my questions are:
1. Because this problem has been on going for several months, it's likely the CPU has also been operating at these temps. Have I damaged my CPU? If so, that's not a huge deal as I got it for free, but why can it do all other tasks normally?
2. Obviously my CPU has been running too hot, but is this possibly correlated to the audio problem? It seems like a stretch, but still possible?
3. Besides the thermal paste, what else could be causing those temperatures? It seems to me that those temperatures are very high to be caused by just year old thermal paste?
Any help on this issue would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!
CPU: Intel Pentium Processor G3258 @ 3.20GHz (2 cores)
MOB: MSI H81M-P33
RAM: 8GB of Crucial Ballistix Sport (4GB x 2)
HDD: 500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue @ 7200rpm
PSU: EVGA 500W ATX Power Supply
WIFI: Rosewill RNWD-11011 Wireless Adapter
Audio: Avid Fast Track Solo (Using proprietary ASIO audio drivers.)
Recently, I've consistently had an issue with my audio stuttering and dropping out during playback. This happens in editing software like Ableton Live or Pro Tools, streaming services like Spotify Youtube, and Netflix, and also just regular playback from Media Player. The stuttering most reliably occurs whenever I click, change, or load something new, but not always. Examples:
1. While streaming from Spotify, if I open Chrome or browse to a new page, audio will stutter.
2. While creating music in Ableton Live audio will randomly stutter and sometimes Ableton freezes.
3. While watching Netflix, audio and video will freeze and stutter more and more frequently until Chrome crashes.
I've tried numerous things: Reinstalled all kinds of drivers, disabled various services and the wifi, ran the computer in safe mode, increased audio interface buffer, monitored latency (no abnormal latency), tried playing audio via headphones, used a different audio interface. No improvement.
Today I tried something new: I monitored CPU usage via Task Manager and found that not always, but often, the stuttering would correlate with spikes near 100% usage. I tweaked around with this again, trying to see if there were some competing services that were doing this, but I found none. I then wondered if overclocking my CPU would help by possible increase my processing power overhead. (To be clear, I do know I have a Pentium Core, but this setup has never given me a headache before, and has always ran all of these programs just fine, even Pro Tools. The CPU seems to be just as zippy as ever, and does everything else at regular speeds. It only seems like audio has been having problems.)
That's when I discovered the weird part: Upon opening my BIOS, the CPU temp read a constant 99° Celcius! Just to double check, I downloaded a temp program and it measured at a lower level fluctuating between 78° and 83°. Still very high, but considerable a discrepancy? I switched off my computer and took it apart. I have several fans; the whole system is well ventilated and not very dusty. The only thing I can think is that my thermal paste needs to be replaced? Essentially my questions are:
1. Because this problem has been on going for several months, it's likely the CPU has also been operating at these temps. Have I damaged my CPU? If so, that's not a huge deal as I got it for free, but why can it do all other tasks normally?
2. Obviously my CPU has been running too hot, but is this possibly correlated to the audio problem? It seems like a stretch, but still possible?
3. Besides the thermal paste, what else could be causing those temperatures? It seems to me that those temperatures are very high to be caused by just year old thermal paste?
Any help on this issue would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!
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