I don't know to much about computer hardware and software, but for the past while every time I play Oblivion the game will randomly freeze up and the textures and screen will get distorted and start flashing. You can't even make out whats on the screen. Often when this happens my computer freezes and I have to manually turn it off. I'm not sure what it is. This also often happens in other games such as Fallout 3 and L4D2. Is it my graphics card? I have a 9800gt, OS windows XP SP3, 3.50 gigs of ram, 500 gig HD, and a 650 watt PSU.
If any one can help figure out what is causing this problem I'd really appreciate it.

Here's a pic of what it looks like:

[IMG]http://i55.tinypic.com/11sjsox.jpg[/IMG]

Yikes, this doesn't look good! Yeah, my first inclination is that your GPU is going bad. Have you opened you case since this started happening and insured that the various fans (including GPU fan) still spin and aren't choked with debris? Give 'em a good cleaning with compressed air (with the system off and unplugged) and see if it helps.

-Decrepit-