Very interesting problem with BFG 8800GTS (g92)

I haven't seen anything like this, ever... in over a dozen years of working with gaming computers.

My card is only "awake" on the second boot from a cold boot.

Let me make that clearer:

1) I boot up the computer after coming from work
2) I start ANY 3D game or application (3DMark06 is a perfect example)
3) I get 15FPS NO MATTER THE SETTINGS. I mean, ultra low to ultra high, I'm capped at 15FPS!
4) Reboot
5) Start any 3D games / apps
6) Get top FPS in anything

I've tried everything to see what the hell is going on before and after the reboot; everything is the SAME... GPU speed, GDDR speed, PCI-E speed, heat, driver settings, CPU speed, DDR2 speed, more heat checking... it's ALL THE DAMN SAME!!! lol

The surrounding hardware is definitely working full speed before and after reboot, and the benchmarks I've ran on every component prove that... it's the friggin video card, it's seriously stuck in "power saving" mode on first cold boot for some weird reason.

I find it more funny than anything, not really a big annoyance since now I just reboot before the OS is even finished, XP loads so damn fast.

Anybody ever hear of this?

Thanks!

i would tell the manufacturer and tell them this story. then i would rma it. or reflash the bios. that may be a good idea.