Sound skips or stutters

Categories: Topics | Games | Valve Games | Source (PC) | Performance Issues

Article ID: 4911-EICN-7411

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Important:

If you are encountering very long loading times in addition to sound skipping or stuttering, the issue may be related to game cache file fragmentation (if your cache files are split up over different locations on your hard drive, loading sounds and maps will take significantly longer than it would if the data were stored in the same place).

Please see the Defragmenting Game Cache Files topic if you are encountering long loading times and sound skipping or stuttering.

Stuttering or skipping audio may be caused by a variety of issues including:

Your system has outdated video drivers
Running graphics detail levels beyond what your hardware can support
Fragmented game cache files
Your system has outdated audio drivers
There is a corrupted installation of DirectX on your system

Updating Drivers

Confirm that your sound and video drivers are updated - see the FAQ linked below for full instructions:

Updating Drivers

Optimize Video Settings

From the startup splash screen for the game, select Options or Settings then Video and click on Advanced Settings.

Lower or disable your Anti-aliasing setting (Many cards should default to no Anti-aliasing)
Lower your Video Resolution one level
Lower your Texture one setting
Set the Shadow and Shader Detail to Low
Turn on Vertical Sync.

If these recommendations do not improve performance, please see the Reset Video Settings and Force a Video Mode topic for extended troubleshooting and optimization recommendations.

Reinstall DirectX

If the issue cannot be resolved by lowering your video detail and texture settings, please see the Checking DirectX Settings topic for a link to download and reinstall DirectX.

Advanced Settings

Warning:

Changing system resources can result in your computer not functioning properly. It is very important to record your original settings in the event that you must restore them. If you do not feel comfortable editing settings in the system BIOS, please contact your system manufacturer for assistance.

PCI Latency Timings

In some rare cases, the PCI Latency is a setting that can affect your system in such a way that you may experience "stuttering" or a looping sound crash while playing the game. There are various ways to go about adjusting your PCI latency timings to troubleshoot the issue. Please follow the directions included in the example below:

PCI Latency Tool provided by Guru3d.com.

Enable HPET

If the issue still cannot be resolved, you may be able to resolve the issue by going into your BIOS and enabling HPET (High Precision Event Timer).

Retrieved from "http://supportwiki.steampowered.com/wiki/Sound_skips_or_stutters"

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