For any of you who are experiencing the infamous stuttering problem, you can check this out:

http://www.firingsquad.com/new...ticl...p?searchid=7408' ">http://www.firingsquad.com/new...icle.asp?searchid=7408

And for those of you who think you're the only one, I think this says otherwise

Audio Stuttering (Steam Users Forum) (1,700+ posts, 200,000+ views) (Update: 4,782 posts, 422,686 views)
Audio Problem with HL2 (Halflife2.net) (760+ posts, 81,000+ views)
Game Skipping (Half-Life Fallout Forums) (110+ posts)
Audio Problems (Halflife2.net) (60+ posts, 6,000+ views)
Anyone get small 'stuttering' in HL2? (Halflife2.net) (50+ posts, 5,000+ views)
Half-Life 2 Tech Thread: Loading Tweak p16 (Penny Arcade Forums) (650+ posts, 27,000+ views)
Half-Life 2 stuttering issue (Rage3D Forums)
Half-Life 2 Thread of Release (Shacknews Comments) 1
Half-Life 2 Thread of Release (Shacknews Comments) 2
Games: Half Life 2 Stuttering Bug Official (Slashdot) (300+ posts)
What we know about the Half Life 2 stuttering issue thus far (ard|Forum) (90+ posts, 2,600+ views)

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Intel Core i7 860
ASUS P7P55D-E Pro
Corsair HX650W
Corsair XMS DDR3-1333 (4GB @ 8-8-8-24)
Sapphire Radeon HD 6870
Western Digital VelociRaptor 300GB
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB

Had some audio problems but not critical ones.

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World's best Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge mod and Star Trek: Starfleet Command 3 mod: Overmind.ro

I was lucky enough to have a problem free HL2 experience From pre-load to end-game - all just wonderful goodness

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The opinions expressed above do not represent those of Advanced Micro Devices or any of their affiliates.