I've recently had some issues with my computer where (Running Windows 7 (64 bit) on a i5-2500k@4.3 GHz, 16 GB ram, ASRock z77 Extreme4, GTX680), when watching video, the audio cuts out for a half second or so, sometimes frequently, sometimes less frequently. At first I thought it was my headphones (USB, Logitech G35), but it happens using my speakers as well. The audio source (usually videos, but sometimes happens in games and over vent) isn't the problem, as I've played those videos both previously on the same computer, and on more recently on other computers, without issue. I use VLC for playing videos. What I've noticed is that this issue doesn't occur on a fresh boot, but over time the issue gets worse.
A potentially related issue I've noticed is that one of various svchosts, over time, grows in memory usage. This svchost has the following services associated with it: COM+ Event System, Diagnostic Service Host, Function Discovery Provider Host, Network Store Interface Service, Network List Service, Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol Service, and Windows Font Cache Service. Unfortunately I haven't been able to figure out which specific service is the cause of the memory usage. The "worst" memory usage I've seen on it is 6.5 GB working set, while the service starts at ~11 MB on reboot. Now, memory usage itself isn't a cause for alarm, but when the entire system slows down, at a rate roughly corresponding to the increase in the svchost memory usage, I figure there's at least a correlation, if not a causation.
Any thoughts on what the cause could be/how I could fix it?