BleepingComputer.com: mass effect problems

i purchased mass effect a while ago, and have been having problems with it since i got it. the game itselfe is fine, but the mass amounts of glitches causing the game to lagg and freez for about fifteen minites before i can even get to the desktop, let alone shut the game off. it has realy ticked me off, and im wondering if its my hardware. i have:

* a PCI express motherboard

* 4 gigs of ram

* a terabite of harddrive.

* a GEforce 9600 graphics card (what i suspect to be the problem)

* and a 550 wat power suply


thanks if you know the problem.