I had no problems with a Duron 900 (and later 1300), 512MB, 32MB GeForce 2MX, Audigy sound, Win98 system, and other people have played with lesser CPUs. Maybe it is a problem with the video? If your video card is hitting the CPU or main memory hard trying to keep up when you run, maybe the sound card is not getting enough resources. Does reducing the resolution or video settings/quality make a difference?