actually, I solved my problem. apparently I wasn't letting the installer for the video drivers finish. The "freezing halfway through" phenomenon was just the installer trying to complete. I let it finish, and now my frame rate has gone back up to my old near perfect 75.

And, I also got a bonus out of this: Now I have some good adware removal software.

Code:
void main()
{
    cout << "I am MrCode,";
    cout << "hear me roar!";
    system("PAUSE");
}