Well the 2gig of ram is a bit overkill unless you are doing massive graphical work. 1gig would be plenty for fs9, though 2gig shouldnt cause any adverse effects, though its easy to tell just remove a gig and run your benchmark prog.

9800XT 256ddr card should at least score 6000 on 3Dmarks03.  Latest official drivers are cats 4.5 i think.

I am unsure as to what the FSB of your processor is. If your CPU's FSB is 400mhz then an upgrade to PC3200 ram would be worth it.  This would mean your CPU and Ram can run at 1:1.

Its very strange your PC socres this low, maybe there is other stuff on the pc slowin it down.

Are you running 3d mark at its default settings, or are your driver settings forcing it into a higher mode, giving you poor apparent results when there is actually nothing wrong?

You should be getting pretty good performance in FS9, there is no doubt about that.

It's probable that your rig is choked on background apps and a lot of horrible HP installed apps (which seem typically horrible and slow). It may be a possibility that are some other software/driver disfunctions or incorrect BIOS settings.

But more than likely, your instincts are right in assuming the roadside option with any HP or Dell machine.