Check your PCI bus latency settings in BIOS and see if there's anything there you can adjust if you're comfortable with doing that. I would also check to see if you have any processes causing conflict with the adapter.
I don't know how to check what processes may be causing conflict with the adapter, and I sure don't want to mess with my BIOS =(
I do however have this piece of information for you that may be helpful cause it puzzled me. When I reformated I only installed my DWA-552 and the DLink software as my Network Card/Wireless Adapter. I disabled Windows Zero Config and although my Intel Pro 100 VE Network Card is in a slot I didn't reinstall it. When my computer was setup like this my download speeds were VERY slow (20kb/s), this included anything that had to do with internet access (games/browser/ftp/ect..). I then proceeded to install my Intel Network Card although it's not used and saw a HUGE boost in performance (20kb/s to 1.6mb/s). Why would my Intel Card have any effect on my DWA-552? Should I remove the Intel Card and put the DWA-552 in it's slot? Just to clarify my Intel Card is not used as a wireless card and was only used when I had my DI-604 router with an ethernet cable, infact it's ten years old at least.