600W does seem underpowered. I checked Studio Cat and PC Audio Labs, their systems that seem similar to yours start at 750W with an option to go to 850W.
 

After Windows Memory Diagnostic finished (It ran 20 Hrs) and turned up no errors, I then ran chkdsk command on all three hard drives and it found no problems.
 
After that I went back through my motherboard settings and double checked everything (RAM timing, power settings, SATA settings, etc.). Everything looked as it was supposed to.
 
Now I plan to run SpeedFan, Smartmontools, and HD Tune to see if they turn up any clues.
 

Splat
Any external display adapter that is compatible with your motherboard... Sorry not sure what to recommend exactly without spending a lot of time researching...  Tom's Hardware forums I suggest for that.

JL81283
I know I'm probably being obtuse, but I just want to be clear on what type of equipment you are suggesting. You are talking about trying an external graphics card which plugs into a USB port on the computer, right? Not just a display adapter that would allow me to plug into a different video port, right? Sorry, I'm fairly new to computer stuff. I didn't even know there was such a thing as an external graphics card until I did some searches after you suggested I try a display adapter.

 
Nope inside your motherboard inside the PC case, I am assuming you are running a desktop. If you are running a laptop forget what I wrote.
 

SplatAlso if you have any Intel utilities running remove them (check in add/remove programs). There seem to be a lot of complaints related. Straight away get rid of Intel proset monitoring service for instance.

 

JL81283
I did check the add/remove and didn't see PROset or any that looked unnecessary, however, I just checked Resource Monitor and found that there are quite a few Intel things running. PROset is one of them. I will try disabling it or removing it. Do you happen to know which others are safe to turn off or remove? The list is as follows:
Intel Dynamic Application Loader Host Interface Service
Intel HD Graphics Control Panel Service
Intel Management and Security Application Local Management Service
Intel PROset Monitoring Service
Intel Rapid Storage Technology

 
Remove proset first and reboot. Check here:

http://www.intel.com/supp.../wlan/sb/CS-030416.htm
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-windows_install/unable-to-manually-remove-intel-proset-wireless/f5419e23-5764-4896-a769-5391d0f5dad5
 
I think you can pretty much uninstall all the intel apps, most of it is bloatware that easily can easily be disruptive.
Google is your friend here for the specifics. 
Avoid removing "Intel Rapid Storage Technology" for now that's a little more complicated.

Afterwards see if you can disable any intel services under control panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services.
Take it step by step. Always back up.
 
BTW turning off EIST will not increase your latency in your scenario. Keep it off for now. You are trying to rule things out.
 
I don't think you have a PSU issue I would expect other symptoms such as machine freezing or shutting down unexpectedly. Forget about your past issues think about your current symptoms (could have been anything, if you haven't had an issue since Jan (and it was just a one off) it's clearly been resolved, if you get a BSOD installing software it was most likely software (or you fixed it by securing an unseated cable). You should easily be able to get by on 600W.

Right now I see something interfering with your CPU and/or audio engine. Intel s/w right now appears to be the next thing to rule out before you take a look at hardware.
 
Thanks

Have you checked Gigabytes' forums to see if others with this motherboard are having troubles with audio processing?
 
My first homebuilt system had a gigabyte motherboard and I actually had to roll back the BIOS to get it to process audio properly.  I also worked with their support on some pre-release BIOS' but ultimately I rolled back to an earlier version and was able to run.
 
My next build used an ASUS motherboard because of this issue and others.

Try removing one stick of RAM. Test it on one stick in different slots and see what happens.
 
Memtest isn't 100% foolproof.

How would bad memory cause CPU spikes or dropouts? You are more likely to get freezes and OS crashes... And it could happen at anytime (not during a specific condition such as playback).

In regards to pagefaults all systems have them and it's generally down to bad software. Page faults are about memory being written to the hard drive(swap file) not to do with physical memory (and it's nothing to do with dodgy storage either)... check Bob's link.

I did send the OP a response about removing Intel software above however Akismet has decided to flag it up after I added another link, could a forum host please undelete the post from the recycle bin. Thankyou.
 
EDIT - Now restored - thankyou:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3196276
 

Splat
 
To be honest I've probably built 1000+ machines in the past, however once I got bitten when building my own PC (an incompatibility with display adapter and motherboard, which neither vendor would swap out) and I realised it was better to go to a vendor like Dell or HP, you get much better support....You don't need a custom built powerhouse to record music nowadays, and even vendors supply powerful workstations if you really need or want the power for some reason (check HP's Z range).

Obviously I'm biased...
And I have built well in excess of 1000 machines the past 20 years.   
 
If you know what you're doing with choosing components for a DAW and how to best configure them for this purpose, the final machine will be FAR better fit than any off-the-shelf system by any manufacturer.
You have complete control over every component... and exactly how the machine is configured.
ie: Many off-the-shelf machines lack certain BIOS parameters that allow super low/consistent DPC Latency.
If those parameters aren't exposed, you're SOL when pushing performance limits at ultra low (audio) latency.
If you make a mistake choosing a part, bite the bullet and get a replacement.  
If you're not doing hard-core video editing, Haswell's stock HD4600 GPU is perfectly fine... as is an inexpensive HD5450 (both of which are also 100% silent).
 
A DAW is no different than any other high-performance machine.
ie: Race drivers looking for maximum performance don't buy stock Chevy, Dodge, Ford, etc.
They custom build to their exact needs/desires.
 
 

... which is why I understand why gamers would want to do it (I can't understand why DAW users would want to unless they've got zillions of plugins and tracks to record, I would have though reliability and support would be the most important factor, state of art tech generally is the least reliable, F1 cars are great but I wouldn't want one commuting to work it will keep breaking down, I want the fastest car I can get for the money I can afford, I don't need it to go above the speed limit, but above all I want a reliable car)....  anyway each to their own... anyway I digressed from the OP's issue.... sorry to start a debate.