Sorry to hear your having problems. I was having a problem with static and a few other things with my PC and it is an i7 with 16MB's also. I found this tutorial and followed it to tweak out my PC and it fixed my problems with recording. Only in my case, I'm no expert but I think my problems had to do with the PC's Core Parking, there's a tweak in this Tutorial that tells you how to turn that off in the registry. Although make sure you have everything backed up before trying it.
Anyway, thought I would mention this in case it might help you. Believe me, I know how frustrating it can be to know your PC can do what you want it to do with ease but still have problems. I hope you get it fixed. Best of luck!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwLzg0GJhoA