Okay, problem is gone.... Why? Beats me, I didn't change any hardware whatsoever.
There may be an explanation, but it's extremely unlikely.
I cleaned up my registry, there was a lot of AH2 junk remaining after I uninstalled the old game and installed the new one. 137 registry items, and several critical ones relating to the old film viewer.
Immediately after the clean-up, I logged onto the game... No more cyclic stutter. I logged into several arenas. No issues. Finally, I was able to spend some time in the TA and then in the MA. Once again, not stutters at all.
Is there a connection? I don't have the expertise to say. What I do know is that my problem is gone, at least as of right now.
My regards,
Widewing