Actually you could try this as well. (I had some stuttering in Vampire the masquerade Bloodlines. The stuttering got to the point where the game was unplayable).
Nforce™ Audio Users: (But all onboard audio user's could benifit).
1.) Click on the Windows® "Start" button.
2.) Click on the "Run" option on your Start Menu.
3.) Type "dxdiag" in the Run Dialogue Box without the quotes.
4.) Once the DirectX® Diagnostic Tool has finished running, click on the "Sound" tab.
5.) Turn the "Hardware Acceleration Level" down to "Basic."
This can help with a big performance increase if your audio is stuttering badly. Its quiet a basic thing that should be tried out sooner rather than later.(but one of those things i over looked when having audio probs with bloodlines, but thanks to a reminder from DABhand i was reminded
