snowdog?! why does that look so terrible? have you altered anything/what are your settings cause there is no way that is the same texture quality i get here, also whats wrong with the nanosuit, it looks all messed up? should run great on a C2Q with 8800GTS, i turned off stupid streaming and it reduces 'stuttering' quite a bit, i can see why you think it looks bad now! 
Edit: yes running in DX9 mode gives a slight performance improvement, should give it a try

Edit: yes running in DX9 mode gives a slight performance improvement, should give it a try