http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=20307
--- Comment #13 from Sébastien Fiévet sebastien.fievet@free.fr 2009-11-30 15:04:17 --- I confirm that at least in v1.1.33, disabling shadows restores the frame rate to its normal level. I have the feeling the game is not as so smooth as with Henri's workaround, though.
I found someone on the APPDB entry for cod4 complaining about a poor framerate too : http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=12804. He's got a 9800gt too.
I posted on Nvidia forum, without success so far... http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=140509
If Henri still thinks it's a driver related issue, then maybe byteframe could post a comment on the thread i started on NVnews?
Seb.