Well I have finished the guide with mixed results. I have a 7970 but using AA from Catalyst made everything slow, turned it off. Next, similar to jacktannery, only with live another life installed, if I choose the normal intro, I get a CTD right when the cart enters Helgen. I played the Vampire beginning as was able to run around but had to exit to turn off AA as even turning pages in the books was slow. I will play without AA and if I get more crashes, I may just wait until new guide and start over.
@jacktannery - Did you figure out why your game crashed during the intro?