That being said...I am a bit suprised that they did not get this fixed in FO 3 let alone carry it over to FONV.
Any way....it would seem that FO 3 still, as well as FONV, do not like multi core rigs. Why?
Here is the fix i used for FO 3, and guess what....it works for FONV! And it will work for all versions of windows too.
http://www.pdsys.org/blog/post/2009/02/07/Fallout-3-VideoDisplay-Freezes-sound-keeps-going.aspx
Hope it helps more folks than all this guessing and complaining.
If this helps enough people...perhaps it will get stickyed.