Audio popping issue

[Sarhina]

Not as of yet, my CPU is 6-7 years old, which doesn't seem that old to me.
My GPU needs upgrading (whose doesn't at the moment), but is still in the minimum required range.

[Maeklos]

Not as of yet, my CPU is 6-7 years old, which doesn't seem that old to me.
My GPU needs upgrading (whose doesn't at the moment), but is still in the minimum required range.

It's not that old, at least for your CPU. CPU technology peaked nearly 20 years ago. That's why you don't see advances in CPU speed (most CPUs are between 3-4 GHz). CPU technology basically plateaued because of heat - they can't get any faster without creating a heat buildup feedback loop which would eventually cook the chip. Until new technologies in materials and heat dissipation are innovated, this is pretty much it. Which is why motherboard technology has advanced to include multiple CPUs working in tandem.

This, combined with the fact that AMD FX-series, Ryzen, and Intel i7 chips have been solid and used for dozens of mid-range model computers for years means that they're one of the more prevalent CPUs for people who didn't want to dump $3k on a computer while still getting a decent machine. Even today, if you go to Amazon and browse through their computers that are ~$1500, the vast majority of them are *still* AMD FX-series, Ryzen 5 or 7, and Intel i7 cores.