I've got a Gigabyte GA-P43-ES3G motherboard (P43 chipset in case you couldn't guess ;)) which I've had for about 8 or 9 months.
Recently the sound has started breaking up periodically. It works fine for a while and then just breaks up. I've tried both speakers and head phones and both experience the problem (And i've used the head phones on my ipod with no issues).
Any idea what the problem might be? I'd rather not be sending the motherboard back to scan just to sort out this minor issue. If it is dying can anyone suggest if I should go for a PCI-X or PCI sound card (Is there any real difference for someone with 10 year old dell speakers!)? Any real benefit in sending out out decent creative card or should I just go with a cheapy generic? I do have a 4 year old soundblaster live I could use but I'm not sure it will be Win7 compatible (Installing in a day or so)?
Thanks!
Edit: I only need sound for gaming and the odd movie - The dell speakers are 2.1's and sound nice and beefy!