Maximum PC

Hello all, I've been having this crackling sound problem for a VERY long time,
and I can't seem to find what's causing it.
The crackling sounds shows up in almost every application that has audio. but becomes more intense if the application is heavier: music -> videos -> videos I watch online -> online videos that I watch in full screen makes unbearable noise -> video games.

I've tested my ram using memtest, my CPU with Intel's diagnostics tool and the resulst were OK.
I've just downloaded SpeedFan and I got these resulsts:


I guess my GPU is on fire. aditionally- does the blue arrows means that the temperature is OK ? why isn't there a V mark?

SO:
1) How can I solve the GPU heating problem?
2)I've suspected my computer needs a physical cleaning since it's quite old and dusty.
Where, what, and how should I clean my PC physically? I know I should clean the dust with compressed air, and remove the cooling paste from the CPU right? anything else?

My System:
Windows 7 64bit ultimate
4G Ram
Intel Duo Core 2 E7300 @ 2.66ghz
Nvidia GT9500

I doubt that heat is causing the audio crackling as your GPU is sitting at about the same temperature as mine when it's under a slight load. A GPU is "hot" when it's running over say 85 degrees Celsius for modern GPUs. Older GPUs have a bit lower heat tolerance but your temperatures are well within the tolerance of even a GTX 260. Cleaning out your case of dust isn't a bad idea although I very much doubt it would fix the problem. Simply take the PC to an outdoor area, get a can of compressed air and thoroughly clean out the case. Your temps aren't in any danger zones but cleaning out the dust will bring them down. What you're experiencing is likely an RF noise issue. Are you using the sound built onto the motherboard or are you using a separate sound card? A few more questions to help try and pin down the problem:

1) How are you listening to audio on your PC? Speakers, headphones, line out to a receiver then speakers?

2) Have you tried using different cables to go from your PC to your speakers if that's what you're using?

3) Have you tried different jacks on your PC, if it has them available?

1st of all, I've updated the fundamentals parts of my system in the 1st post.

I'm a musician and I have both an internal sound-card I rarely use and an external sound-card I use for recording,
and I listen with both headphones and speakers.
Although I switched to only using the internal onboard soundcard cause the noise is less apperant with it, that's why I suspect my CPU to be faulty. cause the external soundcard uses a nice amount of CPU.

I tried switching cables...

I also tried Reinstalling windows and different drivers, several times.

If the CPU is faulty, your computer would've been dead a long time ago, as the operations codecs performs are basically simple math (it's a lot of adding). If your computer's math part is borked, then there's no way your computer can run correctly.

To rule out software, play the files in question on another computer or device.

If it's not that, then I would suspect that your audio is not being put out at the right format. To check this, go to Control Panel -> Sound. Double Click on the primary output and go to the advanced tab. Switch this to 16-bit 44,100Hz.

If it's still not that, your audio chip is broke, or its something else down the stream.

Thanks LatiosXT but I've done all this things already and it didn't help.

Anything else I do/test ?

Well, if you really want to make sure it's not the CPU, get a USB based "sound card". I don't know what you can buy as a throwaway, as the ones I've encountered either came with the headset or were part of it.

I checked with speed fan again and these are the (boiling?) results I got,
are they normal?

Well, fan issue aside, those temps are fine.

Idling in the 50s is normal for Intel stock.

I tried removing some dust from the fans earlier, and for some reason one actually did stopped working,
but I toched it lightly and both coretemp and speedfan shows ~38-45 in both cores,
so that was a lil' stupid mistake by me, but probebly doesn't say anything about the long term problem...

Doesn't anybody have any idead about what can cause this problem?

My PC is not really functioning, and wacthing videos and listening to any audio is often a bad experience and even more importantly I can't record or play around with my music AT ALL.

Thanks for the help BTW

Crackling, popping, humming is caused by electrical interference. How is your system plugged in, are you using a quality surge plug or UPS? Have you tried to isolate the components on the circuit (tower plugged into a different circuit then the speakers, etc.) , is there a time of day that the noise is worse even when listening to the same music? Are you using the power cord that came with the PSU? It could be we weak shielding, what make and model PSU and Tower are you running?

nsvander:

I actually moved an apartment and changed some of the cables and the problem remains the same.

There no time of the day that the problem is lessened but it depends on where do I watch the video, and if it's in full screen. for example: youtube with full screen is usually bearable but TED.com or this is site:http://lnk.nana10.co.il/Article/?ArticleID=956976 in full screen is unbearable.

My Psu is core elite ATX-520W, don't know about the tower though...

Have you tried a USB based DAC or "sound card"? We can rule out what's really going on from there.

I just don't wanna spend money on if or nothing, do you think it's necessary?

as I said I have an external fire-wire Audio Interface as well as an onboard soundcard. I switched to the onboard soundcard cause the problem is less apparent when I use it.

I think it has something to do with the amount work the PC has to do. that's why the problem occurs in a worse manner using full screen streaming but is not so bad when I watch a video I have on my hard disk with media player, and why the onboard soundcard is a lil' better than the external interface that demands more "work"...

Unfortunately at this rate, you're going to have to spend money if you want to solve this problem. Also USB based sound cards aren't expensive if you're not demanding perfect quality: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... ageSize=20

The only other option just to completely rule out software is install Windows XP. If you can't do that and you want to get back to your original concern with temperatures (which isn't really the case, but whatever), go to Radio Shack, Best Buy, or some other electronics store and buy a can of air duster. Use that to blow out the dust in your computer.

However, if none of the above work, including getting a USB based DAC, then I'm afraid your system is broke somehow. Since I have this delusion that CPUs can only fail abruptly (if they failed gradually, this would be a very huge problem), it's not the CPU. Memtest came up clean so it's not your RAM. The only thing left is your motherboard.

Where we're going with this though, it's probably time for a new system anyway. I'm pretty sure you can cobble up a $500 machine that would be an upgrade.