Fellaz,

I have the following rig:

Intel Core i7 920
Gigabyte X58-UD3R
Corsair 2 GB DDR3
Powercolor 1 GB ATI Radeon HD5870
OCZ Stealth-X-treme 700W PSU
3 SATA HDDs at varying capacities

The problem started occuring a while ago.

At rates I couldn't specifically figure out, my PC stutters. It, I guess, generally happens when PC is playing a sound, but it may only be since there is generally something playing on my PC anyway.

The stutter makes PC to pause for 2-3 seconds, the sound, if present, repeats itself for the cached part (?). I hear "click" sound from inside the computer case and it all goes back to normal.

It may happen while I'm trying to get to Windows Explorer, even the mouse cursor freezes at such times, or while I'm playing Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 whereas the vision and the gameplay is not affected at all while only the sound comes stuttering.

The video card up there and one of the HDDs (Samsung 1.5 TB internal, IIRC) were bought a few months back, so I'm doubtful if it's anything related to them as well. I also tend to think it may have something to do with the on-board Azalia sound chip.

Do you have anything in mind to cure or diagnose please ?

Thanks in advance.