Audio "stuttering" during HD access

[Jenova314]

I've had this issue before, but it usually goes away when I move the soundcard to another PCI slot. So I figured it was an issue with PCI bus-mastering. Well, it has been happening again, and unfortunately, I don't know the cause of it this time. Here's a recording using an external MP3 recorder.

mp3 recording of the problem (181KB)

Edit:
courtesy of compusaguy's suggestion

Internal "wave-out" recording in Windows was not able to record the problem, since the interrupts (I'm guessing that's part of the issue) is transparent to the software. It happens on both Winamp and MPC. The recording was done while I tabbed in and out of Warcraft; one of the few ways I can demo the problem consistently. Another way (less reliable) to cause this noise is to start copying a large block of data, from drives attached to my Promise Ultra133 controller to the onboard drive. My tentative guess, for now, is bus-saturation. With proper settings, however, this shouldn't happen!

Edit:
pertinent system specs:
barton 2800+
nf2 mobo
2x 512mb in dual-chan
hercules fortissimo II
promise ultra133

 

[compusaguy]

That's some gay music dude.

 

[Jenova314]

Originally posted by: compusaguy
That's some gay music dude.

Thanks, I've tried your suggestion, but I'm still getting the noise! Perhaps you care to help out some more?

 

[FlyingPenguin]

What sound card ar you using? I presume it's not the onboard? If it's an SBLive throw it in the trash and use the onboard. SBLives are notorious for PCI channel sharing problems. nForce2 mobos have excellent sound chips.

Have you tweaked your PCI Latency settings? This could be a side effect.

You have the latest drivers for the Promise and sound cards?

 

[Jenova314]

Originally posted by: FlyingPenguin
What sound card ar you using? I presume it's not the onboard? If it's an SBLive throw it in the trash and use the onboard. SBLives are notorious for PCI channel sharing problems. nForce2 mobos have excellent sound chips.

Have you tweaked your PCI Latency settings? This could be a side effect.

You have the latest drivers for the Promise and sound cards?

as the OP states, i'm using a hercules fortissimo II via optical-out. pci latency was at 33, but i've tried 24 and 48, to no avail. drivers are all updated.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

PCI Latency should ALWAYS be set to an even number unless set to zero. On most systems the sound card latency is normally set to zero. I would try zero or 32.

Some cards are fussy about PCI channel sharing. You said you've had to move this card around before. Moving it around is all I can suggest, but it sounds like you tried that.

Shot in the dark: are you using a sound utility to record live audio streams like Total Recorder? Total Recorder can cause major stuttering. Go to Control Panel - >Sound and Audio Devices -> Audio tab. See if the playback and recording devices are set to your sound card or to the sound recorder utility. Set them to the sound card.

Hope this helps..