Stuttering in Games First Build

[czarmurphy]

So I built my first computer about two weeks ago, and since then I have been noticing stuttering in games I played. I have noticed it most in STALKER: SoC, which may mean this game is simply poorly optimized, but I would like to verify that nothing on the hardware end is causing the stuttering. Here is my build:

i5-750
GTX 460 (Palit OCed)
Asus P7P55D-E Pro (updated to latest BIOS)
2x2GB G.Skill Ripjaws @ 1333 MHz CAS 9
Samsung Spinpoint 1TB 7200 RPM
Windows 7 Pro 64 bit

The game itself is fully updated and modded with the Complete Mod Pack 2009. I am installing a few more games via Steam to test them out as we speak, but if anyone can see any immediate problems, speak up.

Thanks!

 

[czarmurphy]

The game only seems to stutter in large, outdoor areas. I'm assuming this relates to HDD access time. I don't really think it's the RAM, although the RAM is probably relatively slow.

Would an SSD solve the problem? Or is it something else?

 

[czarmurphy]

So, HL2 seemed to be stuttering as well with graphics maxed (and of course an easily playable FPS), just not to the extent that STALKER was. This is most likely because I did not reach any specific point in HL2 that required me to load the large amounts of textures that SoC's prefetching method does.

So now are we back to square one? What is causing the stutters if not the game? RAM or HDD? Anyone?