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I've spent the better part of this week trying to track down why my new HTPC build's audio occasionally stutters during SPDIF playback of dolby/dts encoded streams. It is completely random, does not coincide with any kind of video slowdown or stutter and ONLY does it with SPDIF passthrough of 5.1+ streams. It's just a very slight random "skip" of the audio cutting out for a split second then right back to business. I've checked latency on the computer and Windows XP/Vista/7 with a multitude of drivers/codec packs/media players etc etc. Now here's the kicker;
If I take the case enclosure off, it stops skipping.
Now, the computer IS a tiny HTPC build using the Zotac 9300 board in an Apex MI-100 enclosure (pretty cramped). However, I have already done a lot of things to make sure airflow in the case is adequate, so much so that without further extensive modding, I do not see how I can reduce the heat any more.
Has anyone ever heard of an issue like this? I don't understand how a difference of a few degrees could be causing such a problem. Could it just be a faulty/finicky board? Everything else is flawless. In fact I can play back full 1080p rips and never see CPU usage over 50%. I've pegged prime95 on both cores while playing back these rips and the video was still smooth. Never BSOD'd, hasn't been overclocked, memtest passes, prime95 stable for 12 hours.
The temps DO get a little warm. With the case enclosure on, the e5200 45nm chip sits @ 50C idle and can reach up to 58-60C during playback. With the enclosure off, the temperature drops ~8 degrees on both idle and playback.
I am using a Silverstone NT07 on the cpu for cooling and there are two 120MM fans providing airflow from the sides of the case. I relocated the hard drive to the bottom of the case with rubber standoffs to create air pockets above and beneath it. I even created a little "cubby" for all the wiring so it's all out of the way as much as possible.
I really am out of ideas. Is it the ambient case temp causing the onboard sound to get hot and cause errors? All I am doing is passing the dolby/dts signal through optical so my receiver can decode it. I've tried 5 different cables including coax with same results.
My OCD won't let me rest until this is fixed, help me [H]!
If I take the case enclosure off, it stops skipping.
Now, the computer IS a tiny HTPC build using the Zotac 9300 board in an Apex MI-100 enclosure (pretty cramped). However, I have already done a lot of things to make sure airflow in the case is adequate, so much so that without further extensive modding, I do not see how I can reduce the heat any more.
Has anyone ever heard of an issue like this? I don't understand how a difference of a few degrees could be causing such a problem. Could it just be a faulty/finicky board? Everything else is flawless. In fact I can play back full 1080p rips and never see CPU usage over 50%. I've pegged prime95 on both cores while playing back these rips and the video was still smooth. Never BSOD'd, hasn't been overclocked, memtest passes, prime95 stable for 12 hours.
The temps DO get a little warm. With the case enclosure on, the e5200 45nm chip sits @ 50C idle and can reach up to 58-60C during playback. With the enclosure off, the temperature drops ~8 degrees on both idle and playback.
I am using a Silverstone NT07 on the cpu for cooling and there are two 120MM fans providing airflow from the sides of the case. I relocated the hard drive to the bottom of the case with rubber standoffs to create air pockets above and beneath it. I even created a little "cubby" for all the wiring so it's all out of the way as much as possible.
I really am out of ideas. Is it the ambient case temp causing the onboard sound to get hot and cause errors? All I am doing is passing the dolby/dts signal through optical so my receiver can decode it. I've tried 5 different cables including coax with same results.
My OCD won't let me rest until this is fixed, help me [H]!
