win 7 home premium x64. I did a lot of reading and it turned out many people with similar configurations have the same complaint. There were many suggestions such as 'upgrade your drivers', 'use blah...blah in your css config file', 'disable antivirus', 'run optimizer', etc. - nothing worked for me.
I found that the real problem was Windows Desktop Manager. I have changed the service startup configuration from 'Autostart" to "Manual"(!important) and stopped it before running the game (I use Game Booster 3 to stop/start the service for me automatically). Since then, there is no stuttering and the game plays smooth.
Hope it helps. Spread the good word
