Member Avatar for GeorgeMendes

So the the longest time I had been struggling with popping and crackle when using HDMI audio on my GPU out to my TV. I've tried different cables, different graphics card drivers, new Windows installs, not using the nvidia HDMI audio drivers, uninstalling nvidia experience, even a new GPU, lots of things. I think the cause was a latency problem of some kind. I downloaded a latency checker program and indeed, when the audio was crackling there was a latency spike. I tried disabling various drivers, which helped, but never fully solved the problem.

But then, after I did a fresh Windows install, I found that the problem had expanded to affect even my primary audio. In addition, I was getting an abysmal frame rate even in older games that I had played before. Out of desperation, I reinstalled Windows again, but this time, I let Windows automatically install all my drivers, save for my GPU. Lo and behold! Perfect, crystal clear HDMI audio and I was getting more frames than I ever had out of my GPU! I was being a good little PC builder and making sure to download all the latest drivers from my motherboard manufacturer's site, but I was punished!

So yeah, from now on, I'm only going to install drivers if Windows doesn't install them or if it doesn't install the latest one (i.e GPU drivers, after I found RTX was disabled when using the Windows drivers). It seems times have changed and not only are the default Windows drivers perfectly fine, they seem to cause less issues.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by happygeek

Dani AI

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Useful context from the thread: ’s experience is a common pattern — audio crackle tied to latency spikes often comes from driver or vendor-suite behavior rather than hardware per se. ’s point about similar reports turning up elsewhere is fair; the pragmatic response is to measure and isolate rather than assume a single cause.

Practical checklist to diagnose and fix HDMI audio crackle / DPC-latency problems:

  • Measure first. Run a latency tool (LatencyMon or DPC Latency Checker) while reproducing the crackle and note the driver filenames shown with high ISR/DPC times. Those names point to the offending device or service.
  • Clean boot to isolate third-party services (msconfig -> hide Microsoft services -> disable remaining services; Task Manager -> disable startup items). Reproduce the issue under that minimal set.
  • Swap to the Microsoft audio driver to test if vendor audio packages are guilty: Device Manager -> Sound, video and game controllers -> Update driver -> Browse my computer -> Let me pick -> High Definition Audio Device.
  • Remove audio suites and utilities (Nahimic, Sonic Studio, Realtek control panels) temporarily. These often install background services that add latency.
  • Use a safe-mode GPU driver cleanup (Display Driver Uninstaller) and reinstall only the needed GPU components; opt out of optional audio components if present.
  • Test power/polices: set Windows to High Performance and briefly raise minimum CPU state to 100% to see if deep C-states are contributing (do not leave these permanently unless acceptable for the environment).
  • If LatencyMon points to a specific driver file, search that filename to identify the vendor component before removing it.

Helpful commands for audit and repair:

sfc /scannow
pnputil /enum-drivers
pnputil /delete-driver oem#.inf /uninstall /force

Summary: default Windows drivers can be the least invasive option and are fine to keep if they eliminate the problem; however, GPU drivers are worth managing manually when features or performance require it. Measurement (LatencyMon) plus a staged, documented rollback plan gives the best path to a reliable system without unnecessary guessing.

Member Avatar for happygeek

This appears to be a direct cut and paste of a posting from Reddit?

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