are you serious bret. do you even play games...
the 550ti is way above minimum spec so should deliver 30+ fps minimum.
8800gt is minimum spc for most new AAA games today
2 GHz processor
1 GB RAM (Windows Vista and 7 users will want 2 GB of RAM or more)
8 GB available hard disk space
Shader version 2.0 capable video card
Support for DirectX v9.0c or better
Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. (Note: Mac OS and Linux are not currently supported.)
Recommended System Requirements
3 GHz processor
2 GB of RAM (Windows Vista and 7 users should use 4 GB of RAM or more.)
12 GB available hard disk space
GeForce 8800 or equivalent video card (Dedicated GPU with 512MB+ Video Memory(VRAM))
Support for DirectX v9.0c or better.
Windows XP with the latest service pack installed, Windows Vista with the latest service pack installed, or Windows 7 (As stated above: Mac OS and Linux are currently not supported.)
The latest update to .NET Framework from Microsoft
as you can see the 8800gt is the recommended spec which means it should give 60 fps. at high ish settings. so there is a legitimate problem that may well have nothing to do with the gfx...
at a guess i would say. check your antivirus isnt inter-fearing with the game.
check your drivers are up to date. (go to the nvidia site dont use windows update for this.
make sure you have the correct version of dot.net framwork and its up to date(use windows update)
check your hdd isnt heavily fragmented and full of crap just taking up space.
move all data files such as avi,zip,rar files off your c: and put them on a different drive if possible.
run a reg cleaner like ccleaner (run it multiple times till no more errors show up)
optomize your system with an app like windows 7 manager (use the 12 step optomization wizard, but skip registry optomizer and defrag. better to use a different defragger like defraggler, auslogics defrag, o&o defrag or ultimate defrag.
genrally clean up your system and make sure your connection to the web is good with a low ping.