Thanks guys. I've been playing around with things more, and have discovered things run fine as long as I set the backup reminder when closing to "Never" - and as long as I don't switch catalogs from within the program (only via the menu when holding alt/opt upon starting). Then things are peachy.
I really doubt it's the graphics card/driver, as setting those options to 'never' doesn't affect it. My system is kind of in a state where I'd rather not reboot right now, but may try for sh*ts & giggles later on (probably should make sure it's updated, regardless).
I did have it send several of it's automated crash reports, so hopefully those here, like David, may be able to have them checked into. I'm not sure if I want to go via the 'trouble ticket' route yet.. As long as I have a workaround to seemingly successfully tinker around with my 2 ongoing test catalogs for now..
Backups obviously aren't all that important to me in this situation.