I have made a recording of how it sounds. Here it is. It's an "early-stage" crackling - if I let it go unchecked (i.e. don't shut down the computer), it gets faster and louder until it's a constant stream of noise. This is how it sounds once it really gets going. This is most certainly not the fan, it's the left speaker.

The problem persists with both 6.0.1.7564 (July 2015) and 6.0.1.8036 (Jan 2017) Realtek drivers, as well as with the generic Windows High Definition Audio Device driver 10.0.15063.0 (March 2017).

The problem definitely seems to be correlated with the usage of the computer, or possibly its temperature, or fan speeds. If I shut down all games and software and let it cool down, eventually (within 5-15 minutes) the crackling subsides to the point where I can't hear it anymore. However, it doesn't seem to depend on it completely: sometimes it starts after 5 minutes of playing a game, and sometimes after 30 minutes of the same game; and sometimes, though rarely, when I'm not playing at all but the PC is still working at something and the fans are engaged, although at a lower speed. I've checked the temperatures with the CAM software, and it doesn't appear to be overheating.

From my vague recollection of dealing with this problem 1.5 years ago, it had something to do with drivers, but it could've been conflicting with some other drivers. If I've learned one valuable lesson, it's to write down all solutions to weird problems that I find.

Oh, and yes, I ran Windows Update, it says the device is up to date.

Doing this reverts them to the 6.0.1.7564 drivers that I have already tried. However, I think I might have found a solution. It appears that a problem might have something to do with the Intel HD Graphics driver. I have reverted it to the oldest driver I had available (August 2015, I think), and I haven't heard the noise yet. I'll need to do more testing for a few more days, but so far it seems that it might be the solution. If the problem doesn't reappear, I'll mark it as such. Thanks for trying to help anyway, I appreciate your suggestions and swift responses!

After almost two weeks the problem suddenly reappeared this morning. No hardware or software changes that I'm aware of, the drivers are all on the same versions as I put them when I apparently "fixed" it, and it's as annoying as it was before. Makes me think that the "solution" I found was merely a coincidence =(

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Hello there. It's me again. The saga continues, and it's weirder than ever.

So, first of all, I'm fairly certain that the issue is connected to the temperature. Not just the CPU or GPU temp, mind you. The air temperature in the room. I know that's insane, I might be going insane with all this, but for three weeks the problem was gone, and the first day the temperature jumps, it reappears. The crackling starts when I'm playing a game or am using software that warms up the laptop, so there is definitely the combination of the two.

But that's not the weird part. Here is the weird part. I have a USB-powered cooling stand for the laptop, four fans, some unknown brand I found on Amazon. I've had it for almost a year now, and it never caused this issue, until it suddenly started - the day I reinstalled Windows, which made everything even more confusing. And I'm fairly certain that the cooling pad is somehow connected to all this. The issue only occurs when I'm using it. I am suspecting the USB ports might be at fault somehow. But the correlation is not obvious. Here's what happens.

I'm playing a game without the pad. The laptop is very hot, but there is no sign of crackling. I plug in the cooling pad. At first, nothing happens. Then, after about five minutes, it slowly starts crackling, and within ten minutes it's at full force. I disconnect the stand. At first, nothing happens. Then, after about a minute, the crackling starts subsiding, and within five minutes it's gone completely. I tested it about ten times, with different software running, same result every time. The only exception is when I completely disable speakers through Device Manager - no crackling then. I tried connecting the stand to an external source, and the crackling did not appear, further leading me to believe that it's somehow the USB's fault.

Summary: the crackling happens when the surrounding air is hot and the laptop is hot too; and it only seems to happen when the USB cooling stand is pulgged in.

However!!! I distinctly remember having this problem two years ago, long before I had this (or any other) cooling pad. And then I tinkered with drivers and it went away for two years, and returned when I reinstalled Windows; and it might have been a coincidence, but it shows that the pad alone isn't the only problem. Or is it?! I think I might be literally going mad.

Is it something that can be feasibly done at home, or should I seek professional help? The warranty has expired a long time ago.

Okay, well, I've disassembled and reassembled a few laptops in my life, though not this one. I'll let you know whether it helps or not For now, the weather is once again on the cold side, so the noise is gone. It sounds super weird when I'm typing this - oh, the laptop is a bit under the weather - but I cannot deny the obvious correlation.