So I just made the switch to Windows 7, and I'm having nonstop sound issues. I installed the newest drivers from Realtek's god awful slow site. Installed them, and occasionally now I hear popping noises whenever sounds are played, along with skipping audio, etc.
But anyways, I didn't really know where else to post this at the moment, but my main question are if anyone knows how to solve this "popping" problem with the Realtek drivers, I'll give you a hug.

Best way to solve it... get a better sound card. I've never had anything except problems with Realtek in the past, problems that were easily resolved by replacing it with a cheap 5.1 sound card from my local computer parts store.

Never used it. Always had something from Creative to save me from Realtek's rubbish.

You only found that out just now?
Suggestion: get a decent sound card that actually does some work by itself instead of dumping everything on the main CPU, from Creative, Asus or Auzentech.

I just uninstalled the Realtek drivers, and used the main Windows 7 ones, and I still heard the popping. I am now planning on getting a sound card, any suggestions?
Also, is the popping noise possibly a Windows 7 issues or is it the headphones (the mic already broke, so it's possible the sound is giving up as well)

I solved the problem by reinstalling the drivers that came on the system. Updating sound drivers won't work for me. Went to the manufacturers site, downloaded and installed their sound driver and my problems stopped.
Update again later, same problem, rolled back to my old driver, problem went away.

I have found Realtek to have the best onboard sound solution in everything. Constant new drivers, very good sound quality, no problems with games or OS.
Problem while installing drivers can appear with any thing. It's not necessarily Realtek's fault.
I know I am not going back to seperate sound cards again.
Spending 100's of pounds/euros each time, meh.

I have had no problems with Realtek. One thing you could try is downloading the drivers from the motherboard manufacturer's website rather than Realtek itself.
You should also check the Hz setting in the Windows sound panel (not the Realtek one); the drivers don't always set the highest level your hardware can actually support, and lower settings will result in noticeably worse audio (which may be the cause of your problems). Note that a handful of games have corrupted or missing audio if the quality is set above 48000 Hz (such as Prototype and Avatar).
Hardware DirectSound acceleration does not exist from Vista onwards. Some third-party APIs such as OpenAL still make use of it, but most games just use DirectSound.
The days of dedicated sound cards blowing away onboard ones are long gone. Unless you need additional speaker jacks your motherboard lacks a dedicated sound card is a waste of money.

I concur with the two dudes above. No problems whatsoever with Realtek stuff on Windows 7 or XP myself. Been using it for many years and it sounds great with no apparent issues. :)
It certainly seems likely your problem is with your speakers/headphones or Windows 7 itself. Try a different pair first. If you still have the issue, there's the option of reinstalling Windows...
I suppose there's the offchance some install issue occured with the drivers. Sure you installed the correct ones (32/64 bit)? Could also try uninstalling them, cleaning them out with Driver Sweeper (it's reputable), then installing the new.

To those claiming that there is no difference between onboard sound and dedicated sound cards in Windows Vista/7:
Digitally, there should be no difference. Unfortunately for you, most speakers and headphones work with an analog signal, not a digital one. So, while the sound created in the midst of a game or film may be identical, unless it will be leaving your system via TOSLINK or some other digital port, and connecting directly to an expensive audio receiver, the difference in audio quality from onboard sound as compared to a dedicated sound card, for an analog line, will be significant.
Why is the audio quality so much better on a decent dedicated sound card? Well, noise level (electronic noise from the rest of the motherboard, measured in dBm), DAC quality, and post-processing (simulated surround sound, etc.). If you care about the quality of your sound, I highly recommend getting a dedicated sound card. At $60 or less for a good card, I consider it a worthwhile investment.

Creative is interesting...I don't get what there deal is.
I had an XtrememMusic Xfi and it rocked, then I got a PCIe Xfi Titanium, and it was cool using the digital out but it kept cracking and popping. It turned out my PCI Wifi N card was doing it. WTF? It was also causing a lot of other problems. Good card though.
I have a USB Xfi now on my laptop.
You could probably get an XtremeMusic for pretty cheap, that was a great card. Just don't do it if you use an Nforce motherboard, and check out the Support Pack on Creatives forums.
It's kind of dumb that very few PC games do Dolby and if you want to do EAX to dolby with the Xfi it's just a pain.

The fuck? Retardism. USB, AC'97, and crap graphics - all technologies from Intel where the drivers basically say "I can do anything!" and then throw all the work back to the CPU instead of offloading it like a piece of specialised hardware should. Firewire, dedicated graphics, and dedicated sound are the way to go.

Microsoft dumped hardware accelerated sound when they rewrote the audio stack because the likes of Creative kept adding layers and layers of proprietary features that only worked on certain cards from a particular manufacturer (e.g. EAX). By enforcing this hard standard all gamers now benefit from the same sound effects.
Moving audio back to the CPU is not nearly as bad as it might sou--er, appear; current CPUs are exponentially faster than those from even a couple of years ago, and every new line adds more cores while increasing efficiency and cache size; sound demands won't go much further than 5.1/7.1 surround and 24-bit high-Hz output, so the performance hit--which is already not worth worrying about--will have essentially disappeared in a couple of years.

Indeed. Just to clear things up people:
Unlike back in the "Soundblaster or bust" days, a sound card will not help with system performance under Windows Vista/7. Advanced users will notice differences in audio quality, however. If you like your music lively, and not flat or sullied by circuit noise, get a sound card.