FF9 Framerate issue

[spaz_matsui]

I'm having framerate issues with FF9. It used to run more consistatnly around 60 fps, but now is repeatedly dropping into the 20/30's. One second 60, then 20, then 35, very choppy. Here are my settings.... Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I am also running off ISO's, not the CD's

Plugin: Pete's OpenGL2 Driver 2.6
Author: Pete Bernert
Card vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
GFX card: RADEON 9800 Pro x86/SSE2

Resolution/Color:
- 1024x768 Window mode
- Internal X resolution: 1
- Internal Y resolution: 1
- Keep psx aspect ratio: off
- No render-to-texture: off

- Filtering: 6
- Hi-Res textures: 2
- TexWin pixel shader: on
- VRam size: 64 MBytes

Framerate:
- FPS limitation: on
- Frame skipping: off
- FPS limit: 60

Compatibility:
- Offscreen drawing: 2
- Framebuffer effects: 3
- Framebuffer uploads: 2

Misc:
- Scanlines: off
- Mdec filter: off
- Screen filtering: on
- Shader effects: 4/4
- Flicker-fix border size: 0
- GF4/XP crash fix: off
- Game fixes: on [00001000]

[montpics]

It should slow down your frame rate whenever it comes to a battle or a cutscene. Try to use the older plugin for the likes of Pete's OpenGL 1.76.