Skippy/crackly audio. Speakers likely not at fault. Do I need a new sound card?

puggy

Estimable
Oct 2, 2014
2
0
4,510
I'm running Windows XP, and my present sound card is a Realtek AC97. I've counted out the speakers as the cause of this problem, because they work fine with all other devices.

This crackly/skippy effect occurs sporadically - it's not at all consistent. It doesn't occur when no audio is playing. It seems to intensify during CPU spikes and when I'm plugging in/taking out the speaker plug. I updated my drivers to notice a slight change - where before this sound was a bit more on the percussive/crackly side, now it's more just skippy.

Is my sound card fried? Is there anything I can do?

EDIT: Something I forgot to mention: I've had this computer since 2008, and only had this problem for a few weeks. I haven't made any changes to it recently, either.
 
Solution
onboard sound often does that, tends to receive more interference from components. Invest in any cheap soundcard, some of the asus xonar cards can be had for pretty cheap.