Games/videos stutter after secondary HDD failure/removal

HousesHouseHouse

Prominent
Feb 16, 2017
2
0
520
OS: Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Motherboard: Z77 Extreme4
Processor: Intel i5-3750k 3.4ghz
Ram: 8gb
HDD: Western Digital Performance Black, 7200RPM, 64mb cache
GPU: GeForce GTX970

I had two HDD's installed in my custom-built desktop PC, the 2nd one wasn't even in use. It was just a HDD that was leftover from my old PC that I decided to install so it didn't just sit around. Anyway, I never actually used it for anything. One day (two days ago) I hear a very weird clicking sound coming from my computer that I narrowed down to being that 2nd HDD. I couldn't open it in Windows Explorer, it would crash Windows Explorer constantly and would cause my computer to hang on the Shutdown screen without ever shutting down. So I removed it from my computer, the clicking sound stopped, confirming it was that HDD. But now when I run games, there is a consistent stutter about every second or so. Fallout 4, MGSV: TPP, Dark Souls 3, Resident Evil 4, and Portal all stutter every second. Videos also stutter consistently.

I've done tests on my main C drive where everything is saved, it passes everything. Health is at 100%, it never gets very warm, 0% fragments. I'm absolutely lost, I don't want to reformat since I lost my Windows disc and I'd have to buy a new one. Any help would be appreciated. Both HDD's were connected using a single cable with multiple power plugs on it, that's the only thing they had in common. My main HDD is also plugged into the sata0 port on my mobo. I've tried buying an SSD and replacing the HDD with that, installing Windows 10 on the SSD and removing the HDD completely from my computer, the stuttering continued. I've tested my RAM sticks, my computer would fail to start up sometimes while I was testing the sticks, but it was inconsistent. I'd plug one stick into the 2nd slot, then the same one into the 4th slot, then do the same with the other stick. Then plug both back into slots 2 and 4, but it would just randomly sometimes not display anything on my screen and would only try to power on for maybe 5-10 seconds before just shutting back off. Sometimes the computer would hang and not shutdown, I would shut it down, the screen would go black like it's supposed to and then computer itself would just not power off. My RAM has been installed into slots 2 and 4 since I built this PC about 2 years ago with no problems, they're currently in slots 1 and 3 now and working fine.

I've also uploaded a video trying to figure out where this buzzing sound was coming from while I was running Portal since it happens consistently with the stutters, here's the link to the video: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9N0aTNUBwP2aWF1c1cwMmJ2TDg

TL;DR here are things I've tried:

Disk Defrag
Booting in Safe Mode
RAM tests
Checked Event Log, no errors
Checked BIOS, reads my HDD fine
Checked Device Manager, HDD is listed, no errors
Formatted HDD, reinstalled Windows 10
Replacing HDD with brand new SSD

I've been dealing with this issue for the past 3 days, so any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
Solution
It's been a week since I posted this, but I figured out the issue. The HDD failing must've been coincidence, maybe not. But what I did was take my GPU out, wipe the very minimal dust off of the top of it and reseat it. Problem solved!

HousesHouseHouse

Prominent
Feb 16, 2017
2
0
520
It's been a week since I posted this, but I figured out the issue. The HDD failing must've been coincidence, maybe not. But what I did was take my GPU out, wipe the very minimal dust off of the top of it and reseat it. Problem solved!
 
Solution