I don't know if this plays a role in the whole topic, but I'm experiencing the exact same problems with Max Payne 2. Bringing the taskmanager to the screen and then ending the manager solves the problem for some time. I thougt this was a game specific problem, but as the same happens with 3dgs this is maybe a directx or windows related problem?

Win2k
Amd Athlon XP

Always learn from history, to be sure you make the same mistakes again...