Hey folks just wondering if anybody has any ideas on a sound video issue I'm having, this could be as easily posted in a forum so forgive me, I just don't know what kind of issue it is. I run an 8800gt, e8400 cpu, Asus P5KE-Wifi and 2 gig Kingston RAM. I also run flight sim , and this is pretty much the only reason I have a PC. For the last few months now when 3D graphic rendering is occurring the sound just crackles like mad, and the frames in the flight sim go to single figures. This would usually be solved by turning PC off for a while and turning back on. But its not heat related. Now the problem is constant. Even when playing a CD or mp3 in windows media player, it plays fine if I'm looking at the library but when I switch to a visualization it almost stops. Also when I scroll up and down in internet explorer it'll cause sounds to stutter. In the sim when I'm looking at heavy load scenery it'll be on its knees but if I look at something not intensive eg the ground it'll be fine. I yesterday installed a sound card and disabled on board sound believing this would solve my problem but it seems to have gotten worse. Last night I discovered that if I use my usb headset, music playback is fine, even with heavy visualations, and in the sim the sound is fine but the frames are still like a sideshow. Apologies for the long winded explanation but if anyone has any ideas even obvious stuff that I may have missed I'd be very grateful.All drivers are installed correctly and up to date.RegardsGeorge

Since this is a general computer problem not necessarily related to FS, you might try posting at the PC Guide forum. There are some pretty good troubleshooters there. For starters, you should set sound to 16 bit as the least taxing setting for your computer.

GeorgeTell us how you know it is not heat related. Are you sure you don't have a virus?Do have a way to check the PSU?Just a few thoughts.Bob

Bob, Very astute observation, because for about two months now I've considered everything else. Its not heat because it can occur when I start the pc up for the first time in days. But since I posted this a number of observations have been made. It is an issue in tandem with the PC not booting, I'll switch it on, it attempts to start and doesnt boot, I press the reset button and it boots no problem but my sound/video issue occurs right off the bat. If I boot it up and don't have to reset it, I know that the sound/video issue will not be there. So the other day I switched off the power button on back of PC, and left it for the evening, when I returned to sim, it booted no problem and I simmed smoothly away. But if I for some reason restart the PC after an hour or so, it will have the sound/video issue. Confusing I know, but its leading me believe a power supply problem. Its an 850W Antec Truepower so its not underpowered, the PSU was only 3 months old when this first began. Could it also be a USB issue?, I have rudder pedals, yoke, throttle, trackir, keyboard and mouse all in the USB ports and it boots more often than not when some of these are plugged out.RegardsGeorge

Did you check the properties of your video display and your sound device and confirm that they are not sharing the same IRQ?Did you turn off all non-essential applications running in the background?

Also hit "Q" when the problem happens and see what the video does.Bob