Welcome gdm2415,
I use ME without the sorts of problems that you are having. I have run patched & unpatched. I dont think ME is the problem.
XP on the other hand is a different ballgame. Look in the tech tips thread for the well documented solutions to the XP problems. I think that you will have to address those problems before you go looking at other things like your video card.
Goodluck.
__________________
|