Hm... First guess would be the video card. I had an 8800 with 1gb of ram and found it wasn't quite enough to go beyond middling. Do other games run ok? How does your system sound lately? Fans noisier than usual? Worse still- quieter? I'm wondering if the card is on it's last legs and you're getting inconsistent cooling.
Second guess... Did you upgrade the power supply when you put the card in? Most stock systems come with a 350 watt supply which isn't enough for all but the most basic of aftermarket cards. A 40gb gard drive set off major warning bells for me. That's generally a spec only found in small form factor/microtower low cost systems, and those can have a power supply as weak as 250 watts. If you've been running the system without an adequate ps you may have burnt yours out. Which can cause a whole host of ugliness since it's the main cooling source for the whole system.
My first step would be to check the system specs on the mfgs webpage, and the card specs. If you don't have enough power to run the card try upgrading the PS. If you do have enough I'd think about upgrading the card. The 7000 series came out seven or eight years back. That's a pretty good lifespan for a card, but you can get much better for pretty cheap nowadays. It may just be showing it's age.
no subject
Do other games run ok? How does your system sound lately? Fans noisier than usual? Worse still- quieter? I'm wondering if the card is on it's last legs and you're getting inconsistent cooling.
Second guess... Did you upgrade the power supply when you put the card in? Most stock systems come with a 350 watt supply which isn't enough for all but the most basic of aftermarket cards. A 40gb gard drive set off major warning bells for me. That's generally a spec only found in small form factor/microtower low cost systems, and those can have a power supply as weak as 250 watts. If you've been running the system without an adequate ps you may have burnt yours out. Which can cause a whole host of ugliness since it's the main cooling source for the whole system.
My first step would be to check the system specs on the mfgs webpage, and the card specs. If you don't have enough power to run the card try upgrading the PS. If you do have enough I'd think about upgrading the card. The 7000 series came out seven or eight years back. That's a pretty good lifespan for a card, but you can get much better for pretty cheap nowadays. It may just be showing it's age.