Audio choppy when idle - songs getting cut, read issues?

This is like a ghost in a machine issue of mine now, and it's been for a few months, killing me at this point as I can't figure out what it is... what happens is that while I'm working on the computer, everything is fine. As soon as I step away for a few minutes, and the PC is idle, the audio playing starts getting choppy/cutting off for no reason whatsoever. And it doesn't matter whether I am listening to a live stream or if it's something being played off any of my hard drives (Intel SSD with OS on it, two WD Green hard drives for storage).

And it goes on until I move the mouse and regain the control over the computer.

Rinse and repeat.

As soon as I step away from the computer, sometimes within minutes, this issue kicks in, and it sounds like the Windows is reading a huge file and it's clogging the pipeline of sorts, not letting the audio play smoothly, so it starts chopping it up (like a bad feed off the web without enough bandwidth to support smooth playback)... super weird.

Any ideas what it may be? Where to look? How to even begin diagnosing this thing?

Thanks in advance.

I have a (Sonar) recording studio.

Does this happen with the Traktor Knontrol connected? If it is, disconnect it and see if it changes.

Also, if you have any custom settings in the RealTek HD Control Panel, disable those for testing.

Reinstall the RealTek, uninstall the RealTek in the Device Manager but DO NOT uninstall drivers. Then restart the PC and when Windows starts it will detect and reinstall it. If there were any Windows/Audio corruptions this will fix it.

Finally, if not of what I suggest fixes it, download and run the free Respledence Latency Mon.
Resplendence Software - Advanced System Tools and Developer Components

Well, everything kinda goes through Traktor Kontrol sound card - I have it connected via USB to the PC (for power and audio), and if I disconnect it, well, then I can't play anything on the speakers as they are powered speakers hooked up through Traktor only.

Any ideas?

Maybe it's a Traktor issue of sorts, when PC goes idle it starts losing USB power or something?

The Traktor with USB could very well be the problem. .

I have my recording studio PC's Power Plan set to High Performance to eliminate some of the power problems such as USB selective suspend which is set to disabled. The only thing I do, is "power off" the monitor after 30 minutes. Sleep is not used. When I power off the PC, I do not use Hibernate.

"Computer" speakers are powered speakers. However, I can use my studio monitor speakers (JBL LSR308's) connected to the PC audio if I wanted.