I do just the opposite... To me, it's pointless trying to solve a problem in software until you've eliminated hardware problems as a possibility. The problem with the reverse is that so many hardware issues can be transient!
For example, say you are using Jolo's suggestion above, and the alternate media player works fine in your test. If the problem does happen to be hardware related, then that doesn't mean anything (because it could have been just dumb luck, or the "alternative player" could stress the system differently), but would lead you down a wild goose chase!
Dealing with issues that turn out to be hardware based can quickly become nightmarish if you are convinced it's software related. You end up spiraling into a hell of uninstalling and reinstalling, changing registry settings, and eventually lose track of what you've done when and how to put things back to the way they were. The good thing about operating in the reverse is that there are usually simple "benchmark" and "testing" types of applications that you can use to find out for sure if the hardware is good or bad. After you've eliminated those possibilities, there's no ambiguity, and then you can start on the wild software diagnosis ride!
Plus... issues exactly like what you're experiencing are quite often (in this order):
1. Anti-Virus related.
2. Spyware (or Spyware "Protector" app) related
3. Hardware
It's something that is "slowing down" your computer's access to the files in some way (either in memory or on disk). The main reason I'd have you check the disk is that it could be a sign that your drive (or drive controller) is failing, which is better to know about than to hide from!
Assuming you've never gone in and messed with MC's preloading and cache settings in the registry anyway...
By the way, one way you could potentially get around this issue (even if it is caused by one of the above reasons) is to increase MC's buffering. Go to:
Tools --> Options --> Playback --> Audio --> Output Mode Settings and drag the Buffering slider to the left. That won't really "solve" the problem (and with a modern machine really should not be necessary at all so it could be indicative of other problems), but it could help work around the problem until you get it sorted.