direct3d made the problem worse i would say, and i saw rather low framrates (i think i was seeing some 40fps there for a bit). The text problem mentioned earlier was gone, but the hicup was still present if not worse. Additionally, i tried the card on another computer and had the same problems.
not only do i hicup in cs, i get really unsmooth game play in the vietcong demo included with the card, i get hicups and unsmooth gameplay in the farcry demo, and im sure if i tried more games, the list would go on. I am going to call Hightech (the company who made the card) and if they dont have any ideas, i will contact newegg seeking a refund.