You have a good system there ...
... but getting games and the right drivers can prove dauting, however, nVidia have recently released a new set of drivers for the nForce boards, and they include new graphic drivers within the bundle as well as, finally, new IDE drivers.
Do a 'restore point' in XP then pop over and
get these drivers
You may wish to install DX9, but only, and I mean only if the games require it. I do not have any problems with DX9 and any 'older' games, but some have reported problems, the choice is yours on that one.