PrE chokes up on preview mode

I have always experienced fitful stops and starts in preview mode.  Even after rendering, whether, in a draft or hi-res mode, I get the same fitful, jerking, stops and starts.  It was suggested that this might be a buffer issue because if I toggle stop/start the project runs a little smoother, for a very short while.

My project includes about 8 still images; 2500 pixels at 300 ppi, with a couple soundtracks, fad transitions, and some animated titles, that I customise using keyframes on my timeline. 

Sometimes, right after I render the project, that starts automatically when it's done, the sound fads in but my animated text jerks in, haltingly, jumping into motion then stopping and starting again.  Then, even though the CTI is passing over an image, the Monitor Panel remains black. The image eventually displays usually just before the next image reached.

I have talked endlessly with Steve Grisetti, who has written books on PrE and runs a PrE forum but neither he nor his members have this problem or can explain why, considering the resources on my computer, I'm having them.

I actually bought my Surface Book because of this problem. I thought it was my desktop, but that didn't solve the problem.

Windows 10 Pro

v 1607

OS Build 14393.1715

Intel Core i7-6600U CPU @2.60GHz 2.81

16 GB RAM

64-bit OS, x64-based processor

475GB SSD with 180 GB free