Crysis Game and ATI 5970

Hey all, I'm a little frustrated and need some help (sorry, I'm a noob). I just purchased a computer with an i7 920 with 9gb of ddr3 at 1333; ATI Radeon 5970; 1 TB HD; 850 PSU; Windows 7 Home Premium; 64-bit. The reason for my frustration is that one of the reasons I bought the system was to get into online gaming. I purchased COD MW2 and it runs ok with all settings on high (I get about 40 fps which I think is kinda low, especially for the capabilities of the 5970). The real reason I am posting is that I also purchased Crysis and it runs terribly. I get major tearing, skips, and flashing during scenes and gameplay, even when I turn down the settings (which I really shouldn't have to do, especially with the 5970). On the Crysis graphics set-up I will even do the auto-detect and it will say that my system is capable of High settings. I accept, but still get the same performance. Any ideas? I've updated the Catalyst Control Center to 10.2 (clean update with a driver cleaning utility) to no avail. I have a high end system that can't even seem to run a 3 year-old game at mediocre settings. I realize that Crysis is graphics intensive, but I expected so much more from my 5970... (even with COD MW2 as well). Thanks for any advice!