Media Center Build - Audio Artifacts

I didn't even think about the CPU, but I would definitely not rule that out. I have no experience at all with integrated graphics, never had a CPU with that. I don't know if it's possible that the CPU is doing the desktop rendering, which might explain your issues.
 
I installed the new CPU (with no integrated GPU) and the audio drops/artifacts still exist.

For now I'm just setting screen to 1920x1080 and using analog stereo.

I've yet to contact Sony about the amp because I think the limited warranty period has passed. I'm not really sure how to resolve this?

Kinda sucks because I hoped a dedicated PC with dedicated video card would have dominance over a laptop or shuttle PC.
Games run fine on it! ha ha!

I wonder if settings the system to real-time kernel would make a difference?
Maybe the audio is a latency issue?

https://ubuntu.com/blog/real-time-ubuntu-is-now-generally-available
 
You aren't going to believe this!
I may have stumbled on the problem with my video card performance!

 
Isn't it typical, we keep looking for complicated reasons for the issue and then it turns out to be something simple.

But if you had a laptop without this problem, and it also had Nvidia, then it might only be certain models that have some issues with the nvidia power management.
 
Yup, that is the way of IT! ha ha!
You wouldn't believe how many times I'm looking at logs, updates, firmware and it was just a simple on/off toggle.

So the only problem now is... how do I get this setting to stick?

I built a Media Center Linux PC with Mint earlier this year and had constant problems with stuttering video and audio drop outs. I posted all of my issues here in the GamersOnLinux forum with no solutions. http://www.gamersonlinux.com/forum/threads/media-center-build-audio-artifacts.4435/page-2#post-39112 I think I finally found the issue! Nvidia control panel is set to adaptive which throttles the GPU clock speed and Memory. This seems to be causing my issues with video stuttering and audio dropping out randomly. When I set it to "Maximum Performance" it all goes away! When I close Nvidia control panel it should save right? NOPE! Something is preventing it from saving and even thought it still shows "Maximum Performance" it acts like Adaptive.
Click to expand...

For some reason the Nvidia control panel will not save to xorg or keep the setting when quitting.
 
So after a bit of searching, there is supposedly a command that should do this. Try it to see if it changes it to maximum performance:

Code: 
nvidia-settings -a '[gpu:0]/GpuPowerMizerMode=1'

If that successfully changes it to maximum performance, then I can help you implement it as part of the startup.
 
Ok, Yeah I'll give this a try...
I did a bunch of research too and didn't find this command... you are really good at searching!
 
That worked!
So how would I set this to run at boot?

I tried /etc/rc.local
I also tried startup applications in Mint, but neither worked.

nvidiasettings.png
 
systemd does not look at rc.local at all, and unless Mint has some compatibility tools to parse rc.local, then that file is completely ignored.

I'm not familiar with startup applications for Mint. When you tried creating one, did you use sudo in it? You should not use sudo for this command, same when you are simply running it in the terminal.
 
My wife has a laptop with Mint and an Nvidia gpu, so I found the startup application in mint and it worked on her laptop. Just simply having it run the command (no sudo of course).
 
Yes that worked! Turns out I had a "typo" in the startup applications command.
Now it works when I start my computer and login.

But... of course... I found that the PowerMizer setting doesn't stick. Even when I set it in Nvidia Control Panel. Sometimes it reverts back to "auto" and I have to change it back. Totally doesn't make sense!
So I've been leaving the command line up with the command ready to fire just in case I start getting audio drop-outs.

I hope Nvidia can fix this! What is the point of having these customization settings and power settings if we can't set them?

Thank for your help as always!
 
It changes back on its own? That seems to defeat the whole purpose of being able to change settings. Well, we could make a script that checks the value of powermizer, and switches it to performance if it is at any other value.

Or for an even simpler brute-force style solution. A simple script that sets it to performance every second:

Code: 
#! /bin/bash
while :
do
    nvidia-settings -a '[gpu:0]/GpuPowerMizerMode=1'
    sleep 1
done

You can put that into a text file, ensure it is executable, and then create a startup application to run this script. You could also simply run the script manually after starting the system.

I don't see why this shouldn't work, unless changing powermizer setting continually will cause some performance loss. If you keep this running, but experience some loss of performance, then we can move away from this brute force approach. But hopefully this simple solution is sufficient.
 
Nevermind, after leaving the command in startup application for a few days it appears that PowerMizer doesn't change back to "auto" after all.

I guess changing it manually reverts back to "auto" but somehow this startup command does not!

Thank you so much Daerandin!
 
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