Lately, there is a particular problem that has been bugging the hell out of me, and I can't figure out what is causing it.

What happens is that, in Skyrim, I will open my map. While the map is open, everything will freeze for a few seconds, at which point one of two things happens. Option one is that the map will seem to go into an "ultra low-res" mode, such that everything looks like horribly blurred, out-of-focus paint splotches rather than terrain (although all of the visible symbols and words are crystal clear.) Option two is that the screen will crash to a pure white screen. When it does so, I have to alt-tab out, open up the file manager and manually stop the "not responding" Skyrim program.

Processor:

(Message accidentally sent off before complete)

Computer: Gateway FX 6831
Processor: Intl i7 2.8 GHz
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 5800 series - can't remember memory size, but it's either 1 or 2 GB

Game running at recommended settings, according to initial setup program (ie High).

And, yes, I had installed a few mods, one of which was "A Quality World Map". However, when I started encountering problems using the world map (dungeons and city maps don't cause crashes), I disabled that mod. There are a few character mods that are still online, but since the problem happens when I open the world map, I figure that is where the problem is.

Just as important, the problem does not happen all the time. It seems to be intermittent where nothing will happen for a few minutes, only to either go ultra low-res or whitescreen the next time I use the map.

Uninstall, don't disable, mods. You need to make sure all related files are gone as well.

That is the issue right there. Mods, particularly ones like maps and graphics replacers have to be uninstalled, not just disabled. If you used Wrye Bash to install the mod, then you can use that to uninstall it. If you did not use Wrye Bash, you may want to uninstall the game and reinstall it then use Wrye Bash to install the mods you want. Or, you can figure out all the files the mod added to the game, then find them in the install directory and remove them.

A better solution would be to delete all of the non-vanilla files (or move them) and then verify the files, if one is not using a good mod manager.

The manager I'm using is Nexus Mod Manager.

Anyways, I did uninstall both the map mod and another mod using NMM. I'll have to see if I still get problems. If I do, it looks like I'm going to have to do a cold install.

Not necessarily. First, you'll want to verify your files. And uninstall all mods. That's the best way to narrow it down. At least it'll tell you if it's a mod problem or not. If it is a mod problem, and you are unable to figure out the problem yourself after trying for a bit, you'd do better over here: http://www.gamesas.com/forum/183-skyrim-mods/