Initial information: the PC in question is clean, runs all other games flawlessly, and is completely patched to latest in all respects that matter. I've tried scrubbing ESO and re-installing from scratch, which resulted in no changes to the aberrant behavior of the game engine. The game files check out as valid when doing a "repair" from the launcher. I have submitted a support ticket for this, but have had no response in the past week.
Various short videos of the game audio & video glitching badly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y520ejoB38ghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OtHrn0rlqk
Taken after a complete re-install of ESO, and a complete error check of storage devices:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKKo1Wzg2SM
The game does this regardless of the quality settings. I've tried max quality and absolute minimum quality with all options turned off. Same behavior.
Various short videos of other MMORPGs working fine on the same system:
Guild Wars 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LrejATq8A4
Rift
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCbx2j4ChFY
Blade & Soul
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chT1h4snR-o
This system is water-cooled, and the GTX980 is down-clocked to normal ranges for the chipset in order to be completely stable. Elite:Dangerous was suffering from driver crashes before the card was down-clocked. This is the first game I've ever had that has exhibited sound issues, though. The random sound glitches, static bursts, and improper positioning in the sound field make me believe this is a game engine issue, not a system or driver issue.
[MSINFO]
OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise
Version 10.0.10240 Build 10240
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name GAMEBOX24
System Manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer INC.
System Model KGP(M)E-D16
System Type x64-based PC
System SKU To Be Filled By O.E.M.
Processor AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 6344, 2600 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s)
Processor AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 6344, 2600 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 12 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 3201, 2/19/2013
SMBIOS Version 2.6
Embedded Controller Version 255.255
BIOS Mode Legacy
BaseBoard Manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer INC.
BaseBoard Model Not Available
BaseBoard Name Base Board
Platform Role Desktop
Secure Boot State Unsupported
PCR7 Configuration Binding Not Possible
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "10.0.10240.16392"
User Name ROCKWATER\jroch
Time Zone Mountain Standard Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 64.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 63.9 GB
Available Physical Memory 58.0 GB
Total Virtual Memory 73.4 GB
Available Virtual Memory 67.0 GB
Page File Space 9.50 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Device Guard Virtualization based security Not enabled
A hypervisor has been detected. Features required for Hyper-V will not be displayed.
[DXDIAG]
Display Devices
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce GTX 980
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Type: Full Device
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13C0&SUBSYS_29893842&REV_A1
Display Memory: 36744 MB
Dedicated Memory: 4008 MB
Shared Memory: 32735 MB
Current Mode: 3440 x 1440 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Model: 34UM95
Monitor Id: GSM76D8
Native Mode: 3440 x 1440(p) (59.973Hz)
Output Type: Displayport External
Driver Name: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Driver File Version: 10.18.0013.6175 (English)
Driver Version: 10.18.13.6175
DDI Version: 12
Feature Levels: 12.1,12.0,11.1,11.0,10.1,10.0,9.3,9.2,9.1
Driver Model: WDDM 2.0
Graphics Preemption: DMA
Compute Preemption: DMA
Miracast: Not Supported
Hybrid Graphics GPU: Not Supported
Power P-states: Not Supported
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 1/22/2016 20:31:27, 17116616 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Sound Devices
Description: 34UM95-4 (NVIDIA High Definition Audio)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10DE&DEV_0071&SUBSYS_38422989&REV_1001
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: nvhda64v.sys
Driver Version: 1.03.0034.0004 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Date and Size: 11/2/2015 15:49:25, 205456 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: NVIDIA Corporation
HW Accel Level: Basic
Cap Flags: 0xF1F
Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 200000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No