The short answer is "yes, it could be." But you won't know until you swap something out and confirm or deny.
 
I swapped out what I thought was a capable video card once and I immediately got huge improvements in all areas. Including pops and clicks that disappeared. So your hunch is viable, but you'll have to confirm it.

I've been getting the occasional BSOD on Win10 with the KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE error. Bad driver, most likely. I've also been getting the occasional (graphics) driver failure notification, followed by a notification the Win10 had been able to correct the problem.
 
My video card is the original AMD Radeon HD 7500 that came with the early (2012) Dell XPS 8500 PCs. I've been updating the driver with each new beta release, but that hasn't helped so far.
 
This thread is motivating me to replace it. Amazon currently has a rebate for Gigabyte nVidia graphics cards ($10 for cheapies; $20 for more expensive ones).
 
They have the nVidia GTX Windforce 750 Ti with 4 GB of 5GDDR RAM for $153, with a $20 rebate through the end of March. The 2 GB version is $20 cheaper, but I'll take an extra 2 GB for $20 (covered by the rebate).
 
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013WAL3AU/
 
I've gotten 4 years out of the AMD adapter. Not bad. Time to move on.
 
Same thing happened with my previous PC. The video adapter lasted for several years and had to be replaced. I actually burned up the original playing Bejeweled Twist. Ha ha ha!

Thanks to everyone for the information and advice. I found a solution to my problem today, not sure which one it was though or maybe all of the suggestions in this tutorial I found. I did everything in this video that's recommended EXCEPT I didn't turn off any of the services and left on my Windows Firewall and Defender because I occasionally go online with this PC. I'm thinking it was the core parking, not sure though, I'm no expert. 
 
This tutorial solved all of my audio recording problems. Just thought I would mention it for anyone who might find it helpful. 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwLzg0GJhoA