CUBASE Pro12 clipped and partial playback - any ideas

what does the Cubase performance meter show? If the values there are not constantly in the red, it is most likely not a performance problem of your system.
Test systematically: create an empty project with nothing in it, only add one audio track and record something, then play back. Does it work? Check the performance meter.
Doesn’t hurt to start Cubase in safe mode, just for a test: