Issues with video and audio playback on RX7900 XT device
Issues with video and audio playback on RX7900 XT device
Hello, I regularly upgrade my current system, which means I purchase new components or acquire spare parts to replace the existing ones. Recently, after getting an RX 7900 XT, watching videos on YouTube or Crunchyroll often causes audio and video interruptions—freezes, stutters, or crackling. When playing games like Star Wars Battlefront II, Back4Blood, Satisfactory, Age of Empires II, Fortnite, Frostpunk, Civilization VI, or Remnant, these issues also occur. The disruptions are frustrating because they can also affect Discord audio quality.
The situation looks like this: at random times, I can’t hear others in Discord while everyone else hears me. This usually happens when reconnecting to the channel. My goal is simply to enjoy gaming with friends in full resolution and maximum graphics.
Previously, my setup was Windows 10 Pro (64-bit), ASRock B550M Steel Legend (BIOS 2.50, latest), AMD Ryzen 5 5600G (no overclocking), G.Skill Trident Z RGB DIMM Kit 16GB, DDR4-3000, CL16-18-18-38 RAM (no XMP profile), and an XFX Radeon RX 480 with 8GB. I also had a Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 2TB paired with two Crucial MX500 SSDs at 1TB each, plus a 4TB Seagate IronWolf ST4000VN008 HDD for backup. My power supply was a Pure Power 12M (850W, 80+ gold) and I used two DisplayPort monitors.
I’ve tried adjusting display settings—1440p at 60Hz, turned off fTPM, disabled AMD Adrenalin Overlays, installed drivers with DDU, and cleaned up with AMD Cleanup Utility. Updated the BIOS to version L2.62. I also changed the PSU to a 850W model and used separate power cables for the GPU.
Updates to the GPU driver and firmware helped reduce some issues, but audio still remains a problem. Disabling Hardware-Acceleration in Firefox and Discord made a difference slightly.
Anyone have suggestions? I’m really tired from all this troubleshooting... Thanks ahead!
Hey, thanks for the immediate response! Done. The latest revision number is 5.02.19.2221 Done. Restarted. No crackling, but Audio/Video freezing stays. Starting a game results in Audio/Video freezing/stuttering Done. Restarted. Same behavior after disabling MPO What I've seen or witness more often is, that after restarting my pc or generally starting, the monitors stay black. Only switching them off and on, results in active display. But this only happens after the booting. While booting, I see the BIOS-Screen, and so on... could this issue also be related to this?
So.. a small update: - I did fresh install of windows 11. Issue persists. - Then I installed windows 10. Issue still persists. I even tried disabling MPO/ULPS.. Videos are still freezing, Discord-Problem still there.. oh well
Hey, I attempted it too. The problem continues. Windows 10: Screen 1 HDMI, standalone: YT-Video plays, sound remains distorted and audio/video still stutters/stuttering. Launching a game like League of Legends causes significant distortion/freezing/stuttering. Screen 2 HDMI, standalone: YT-Video is playing, sound still crackling and video freezing/stuttering. Starting a game like League of Legends leads to major distortion/freezing/stuttering. Both Screen 1 and 2 DP: YT-Video plays, sound remains distorted and video still freezes/stutters. Beginning a game like League of Legends causes major distortion/freezing/stuttering. It doesn’t matter whether I run any games or not—I have almost no issues. I tried this with one screen alone, two screens using all HDMI and DisplayPort combinations, new HDMI cables, DP cables, and even used the same setup as before. Still, problems persist. Over time, watching videos reduces the stuttering/freezing. As long as I don’t launch any games, it’s much smoother. I’m considering staying on Windows 10 for a while.
Did you verify the power usage during idle or while streaming? I recall those 7900 XT(X) models were reported to have excessive idle power draw and poor performance in multi-monitor environments since launch. Has AMD addressed this through driver updates? High energy consumption doesn’t cause stuttering, but the unusual usage patterns suggest other issues. It appears these newer cards may struggle with multi-monitor configurations.
The initial image shows "System is idle". The following captures depict "YouTube watching". High-resolution videos cause significant stuttering. Standard quality videos are even more problematic. 720p still experiences stuttering, though less severely. Regrettably, I'm relying on the newest driver and must wait for the upcoming update.
I believe I can fix this. I reviewed most AMD Community discussions and found relevant info about my hardware setup. It seems the mix of an integrated graphics card (RX7900XT) with a BIOS that supports PCIe Gen + lanes might cause issues. My configuration was: RX7900XT in PICE1-Slot BIOS, PCIe lanes x16, auto bus interface. I updated the BIOS to x8x8 lanes, Gen4/auto bus, and the problems disappeared. It appears the Ryzen 5 5600G struggles with Gen4 x16? Here’s a link for reference: https://community.amd.com/t5/drivers-sof...54#M171137 And another: https://community.amd.com/t5/drivers-sof...ue#M170983. Should I proceed with another CPU, or is this fix enough? Any advice?