VLC and YouTube video freezes briefly, while audio keeps going, then they re-sync - How to fix?

[SweetBearCub]

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System:    Host: mathan-70A4001LUX Kernel: 5.0.0-32-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 7.4.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.2.4 
           Distro: Linux Mint 19.2 Tina base: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic 
Machine:   Type: Desktop System: LENOVO product: ThinkServer TS140 v: 70A4001LUX serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: LENOVO model: ThinkServer TS140 serial: <filter> UEFI: LENOVO v: FBKTCSAUS date: 01/12/2018 
CPU:       Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Xeon E3-1225 v3 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Haswell rev: 3 L2 cache: 8192 KiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 25540 
           Speed: 1773 MHz min/max: 800/3600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1222 2: 1233 3: 1209 4: 1267 
Graphics:  Device-1: NVIDIA GM204 [GeForce GTX 970] vendor: ZOTAC driver: nvidia v: 430.50 bus ID: 01:00.0 
           Device-2: NVIDIA GM107 [GeForce GTX 750 Ti] vendor: eVga.com. driver: nvidia v: 430.50 bus ID: 05:00.0 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.6 driver: modesetting,nouveau,nvidia unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
           resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GTX 750 Ti/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 430.50 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:1b.0 
           Device-2: NVIDIA GM204 High Definition Audio vendor: ZOTAC driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.1 
           Device-3: NVIDIA vendor: eVga.com. driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 05:00.1 
           Device-4: Logitech type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus ID: 3-2:2 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.0.0-32-generic 
Network:   Device-1: Intel Ethernet I217-LM vendor: Lenovo driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k port: f040 bus ID: 00:19.0 
           IF: eno1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 11.83 TiB used: 6.76 TiB (57.1%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 840 EVO 1TB size: 931.51 GiB 
           ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Seagate model: ST8000DM004-2CX188 size: 7.28 TiB 
           ID-3: /dev/sdc vendor: Seagate model: ST4000DM000-1F2168 size: 3.64 TiB 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 883.27 GiB used: 652.29 GiB (73.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-1 
           ID-2: /boot size: 704.5 MiB used: 372.0 MiB (52.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 31.92 GiB used: 1024 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-3 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 26.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 21 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 40% 
Info:      Processes: 274 Uptime: 19d 10h 09m Memory: 31.33 GiB used: 14.07 GiB (44.9%) Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: 
           gcc: 7.4.0 Shell: bash v: 4.4.20 inxi: 3.0.32

Usually, after my system has been up for maybe 2 weeks or more (currently at 19 days), videos files in VLC (as well as YouTube videos in Firefox) will freeze the video for a fraction of a second while the audio will continue, then the players will drop frames to sync back up. This happens for maybe every 10 minutes worth of video content played.

Rebooting it fixes this, even after re-opening Firefox and all of my tabs, but it will happen again.

My system has 32 GB of RAM and almost 600 open tabs (no judgement please, it's just how I work). RAM usage is currently hovering around 14 GB used, although that can go up and down.

Please help!

[zcot]

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Graphics:  Device-1: NVIDIA GM204 [GeForce GTX 970] vendor: ZOTAC driver: nvidia v: 430.50 bus ID: 01:00.0 
           Device-2: NVIDIA GM107 [GeForce GTX 750 Ti] vendor: eVga.com. driver: nvidia v: 430.50 bus ID: 05:00.0 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.6 driver: modesetting,nouveau,nvidia unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
           resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GTX 750 Ti/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 430.50 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:1b.0 
           Device-2: NVIDIA GM204 High Definition Audio vendor: ZOTAC driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.1 
           Device-3: NVIDIA vendor: eVga.com. driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 05:00.1 
           Device-4: Logitech type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus ID: 3-2:2 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.0.0-32-generic 

So, I don't know the answer really, but just looking at the info.

I only see one monitor, and that's running off the 750 Ti?

Is the 970 not being used? I would think this is some kind of sli setup, bridge, I don't know.

Both the gpu systems are providing sound devices though, as well as the Intel sound.

The graphics layout appears to be ok for each card, showing the Nvidia 430 driver on each card. But also the display info is showing that nouveau driver loaded too, which is not a good combo. Is nouveau actually driving something there? A correctly installed Nvidia proprietary driver like that will/should never show nouveau available because part of the installation process does blacklist nouveau. Although to be clear I haven't seen a setup where dual gpu's might actually be able to use Nvidia on one and nouveau on the other(probably not best anyway).

Is one card providing graphics, and the other, sound? But either way, is nouveau interacting in that?

Also, for that output anyway, only using 44% of memory yet: ID-3: swap-1 size: 31.92 GiB used: 1024 KiB -so what/why is swapping?


And maybe none of this relates anyway. lol -quite a collection of hardware though.

[SweetBearCub]

Yes, 1 monitor, running off the 750 Ti. Previously, the 970 was dedicated solely to Folding@Home for team EVGA. However, since they changed their reward limits to favor more powerful cards, I may someday remove the 750 Ti and promote the 970 to primary GPU duties. My system is in an awkward spot to get to, and it's not at the top of my priority list.

I'm sure both GPUs are capable of sound, but it's not something I use. I use the onboard Intel sound hardware, which either runs to my speaker system, or gets diverted to my bluetooth headset, when turned on.

I followed the normal procedure to set up the Nvidia drivers, and didn't do anything manual beyond adding the driver PPA, so I have no idea how/why nouveau would be loaded. See driver manager screenshot here: https://i.imgur.com/Z8144Wo.png

I have no idea what would be swapping. Judging by the low usage, I'd guess that it's some kind of heartbeat check to make sure that swap space is available.

Thanks. Yeah, it was a cheap computer, frontpage on Slickdeals in late 2014, when I needed to upgrade an aging ~2008 Core 2 Quad, maxed out with 8 GB of DDR2/800 RAM. The fact that it's technically a server doesn't matter too much in my usage, although it might be valuable to someone else when I upgrade, as it is maxed out with 32 GB of ECC RAM (another Slickdeals thing).