Driver failure issues with MSI GTX260

Hello everyone.

I recently purchased this card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

No matter what game I'm playing the driver fails and usually takes the game out with it. Vista (x64) reports the driver failed and has recovered; yet once I start up another game the same thing happens, even games not as GPU intensive like World of Warcraft are unplayable as the screen blacks out every few seconds each time the driver fails then “recovers”. I've read several different forums and it seems this is a common issue but no one can definitively say that it’s a defective card or shoddy drivers from nvidia. The consensus seems to be its drivers. I've done a clean driver (197.45 at the moment) install using Driver Sweeper and monitored the GPU temps/fan speeds and everything seems fine leading me to the (perhaps ignorant) conclusion that the issue is with the drivers. Also I should note that it has no problem at all with IE8, Firefox, and apps such as Photoshop and FLStudio. Movies also play fine without a problem. It only misbehaves in games, ironic since thats what I bought it for   .

Should I be patient and wait for nvidia to release a more stable driver or should I RMA the card? In the meantime is there anything I should try? Suggestions?

Thank you to anyone thats read this far, and thanks in advance to any feedback.

System Specs:
AMD Phenom II x4 940 (3.0Ghz) not OC'd
4GB DDR2
Vista x64 Home
MSI GTX260
Antec True Power 650w PSU