Try the older 97.92 drivers (what I'm currently using). In the driver settings, make sure the "force" options, like forced anti-aliasing and different forms of texture filtering that the game does not support are not enabled. You can also tweak some other miscellaneous settings to find the optimal one. My guess is that it's a driver compatibility issue (the new ones are buggy).
The geforce 8x series works at much higher temperatures by design. When out of port, alt-tab and open the nvidia control panel to check the card's temperature. Anything over 75 degrees celcius is a bit too hot and needs better cooling. Although officially the "good" temp limit under load is 80 degrees celcius but I prefer to keep it as much cool as possible. It could also be an issue with your computer's power supply unit. Make sure that the power supply provides enough wattage and amps per rail for your video card.
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