VisualBoyAdvance-M

my display runs at 120z which is probably why the most reliable speed setting i have is audio sync. i've just tried forcing 3d clocks as you suggested but the frame skips are still there.

 

i'm getting a new sound card in the next few weeks, will come back and report if anything's changed.

I get the same. 3570k, AMD 7950 HD - annoying stutter with "sync game to audio", with any combinations of settings including disabling audio. Same results with either a sound card (X-fi using OpenAL) or onboard (DS or XAudio2). DPC latency checker reveals less than 100 microseconds latency...