I have installed Google Earth 5.1 from .bin on my laptop (intel graphic) and when I run GE, after few seconds my system hangs 
I am using openSUSE 11.1 with KDE 4.3.1
I can move cursor but nothing else.
I have test it with kwin composing enabled and disabled.
Any ideas?
Did you try running it from a terminal to see if any errors pop up?