More Awesome Than You!

I've got ALL the Sims games, and the latest patch but a few problems.  :D

Firstly, I'm getting this error while playing:
Direct 3D returned an error: D3DERR_Notavailable. The application will now terminate.

I know my Directx is up to date and I'm using a modified driver that was made to fix the Nvidia freezes in the Sims (because with the latest driver, my game would always freeze with this blue screen, and I would get the even worse BSOD so plzplz don't tell me I need to download the newest one -hides-) This driver I've had has been working fine for weeks until now anyway.  I'm running a system that is definitely capable of running the Sims, I just don't know what to do to make it work right.   ???  (check the notepad attachment for my system specs)

Anyways, I think its a Directx problem...maybe.. haha   :-\
I get these errors when I test Direct3D:
DDraw Test Result: All tests were successful.
 D3D7 Test Result: Failure at step 8 (Creating 3D Device): HRESULT = 0x887602eb (error code)
 D3D8 Test Result: Failure at step 8 (Creating 3D Device): HRESULT = 0x8876086a (3D not available)
 D3D9 Test Result: Failure at step 8 (Creating 3D Device): HRESULT = 0x8876086a (3D not available)

Any insight would be great!  (EDIT:  I first noticed this problem actually about two days ago, I just realized, after my computer updated it self, some service pack or something, not sure if that is causing the problem?)


And now for the other problem I've had since I very first installed the Sims..
After awhile of playing the game I get the most ridiculous graphics bugs..
(http://i26.tinypic.com/1zm1rhc.png)
Here's an example of what is supposed to be a house after the graphics problems start occurring.
I've tried SO many things to fix this, I run my game on really low settings and it still doesn't always help from it.  I know my computer can do better than this.  Please please help!  The more detailed you can be with your posts the better, I know a fair amount about computers but not /that/ much.  Thanks.  (Oh, if I forgot to include something, let me know.  I might be a tad slow at responding, I don't have a lot of computer time at the moment.)

I don´t know if this is your problem, but when my game start to act like that, removing the dust from the fans, videocard and CPU helps a lot ! I use a tiny soft brush and a ton of patience.