XFX 9800GTX not performing well. Why???

Hey guys, I just got my XFX 9800GTX in from the RMA department in return for my 9600GT. But after using it for 2 weeks now, I am sad to say that I am disappointed with the results I get from gaming with it.

For one, whenever I overclock the card to just 770 core and 1800 on the memory, the moment I open a game, the game crashes and there is a message from Windows saying that "the driver crashed and was successfully recovered." although I am using the latest current version of driver for my computer. (windows 7). It also happens when I do a benchmark using 3D Mark Vantage on my computer.

After giving up running it at OCed speeds, I resulted in running it at stock speeds, but was greatly disappointed. While playing Red Alert 3, full graphics, with V Sync off, the maximum frame rate I get is 30fps with graphic all high(1280*1024). and my benchmark at the same resolution is much lower than the ones I've read in reviews at the same reso. (performance setting)


Therefore, I would like to ask, How can I boost my computer's Performance? Is there something that is preventing it from showing it's true colors??

Here's my computer's specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 OCed to 3.6GHZ
MSI P45 Platinum
Coolermaster V8 CPU Cooler
XFX 9800GTX Graphic Card
Coolermaster M520 Real Power Pro
WD 160GB 7200RPM HDD
Kingston KVR 800 Value ram 2GB x2

I have had it before where a slower OC on the processor resulted in better scores. I would hazzard that it had something to do with the the fact that I had pushed it too far even though it seemed stable after burn in.

More ram might help to, and it also could be something in windows. Do you have an AV running or a malware scanner?

What do your scores look like when you run it at stock.

As well your PSU is too weak for the card

According to XFX it requires a 12V with a minimum of 24A
Your psu has 3X 12 V lines at 19A each

I do not have any AV or malware scanner running as they do not fully support windows 7 yet.
these are the scores running at stock, as the device driver crashes after benchmarking at OC.
As for the power supply, i plug it into 2 different rails, so 19+19=38 isn't it? the 6pin PCIe express are on separate rails each, and the mobo and peripheral are on the last 12v rail.
4 GB of ram is all 32 bit of windows would take, so it's also kinda hard.....
I'll try returning the core to stock speeds and see how things go.
Thanks ya!!

Red alert 3 requires a strong cpu, as do all RTS's as there is alot of computations for them, especially at that resolution. Does overclocking the cpu or gpu give the biggest benefit? 30fps should be playable for an RTS...
Also you have physx on, which impacts performance in non-physx games as it isn't the GT200 series with dedicated physx acceleration. If you run vantage again without physx, your scores will be better to see if anything is wrong, as physx drains the gpu score and puts the cpu score much higher.