"If your sound system is managed by Realtek, you will not receive automatic driver updates, and the Windows driver update manager in 'Device Manager' isn't able to locate updated RealTek drivers When I read up on out-dated driver software causing FPS instability and stuttering in CS:GO, I found out that my drivers were from 2012! And I bought my computer last summer. The older drivers aren't properly optimized (obviously), and they hog up a significantly larger chunk of background processing demands than I (and maybe you) realized. How to check if your RealTek Drivers need updating (Note: I'm writing this from a Windows 8 perspective) Right click on the sound icon on the bottom right-hand toolbar on your screen. Should be right next to the time, and some other random icons Click playback devices Locate 'speakers' and double click it First, ensure that when the ensuing dialogue box opens, that your speakers are being managed by RealTek (it'll say so near the top of the box under 'controller information' Click properties, then driver. If your drivers aren't from May 15, 2014, running version 6.0.1.7246 then your drivers are out of date How to update your drivers go to http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/ or http://www.filehippo.com/download_realtek_high_definition_audio_vista_64 (this is for 64 bit) if you don't want to download at 50 kb/s Click "High Definition Audio Codecs (Software)" Locate the corresponding driver for your operating system and its bit integer (ie you need to know if your OS is running on 32-bit or 64-bit, or else the driver won't work as intended). Once downloaded, it will restart your computer, then install upon the reboot, and restart your computer for a final time. Quick note: When this is finished, again right click the sound icon, click playback devices and double click speakers Click the 'enhancements' tab, then check the 'disable all enhancements' feature. You're not missing out on anything. If you really think you are, then just disable it before you boot CS"