I've used 2 brand new nvidia geforce 2 gts cards with 64megs of ram, because I thought one of them was the problem.  It ends up i call microsoft and they think its my aureal vortex thats the problem.  So I am getting sent a creative soundblaster live to try in my system.  The problem I have been having is that any game that seems graphics intensive has been freezing on me without fail.  When I took my sound card out it seemed to have fixed the problem at first, but it just took longer for the games to freeze up.  I think that maybe it had something to do with a conflict with the two cards, but now I don't know.  I was using a Leadtek Winfast card, and now I have an ABIT Siluro.  Neither seemed to make any difference.  If you have any suggestions please let me know.

Hey,
 
Make sure your sound card isn't charing an IRQ, thats where a lot of problems like that come from. Alo look at your settings for your video. This is interesting keep me posted on stuff you try to do.
 
Timothy Stankus
One of the First AMD Athlon Users =)

This is a long list of stuff I've tried to fix the problem... I'm pretty
knowledgable about computers, and before I called techinical support I
tried a bunch of things, found out some new tricks in the process also.
 
I tried underclocking the videocard with the onboard drivers.
 
I tried updating to the new detonator 3 drivers
 
looking to see if there were any conflicting IRQ adresses.
 
I took the sound card out (the game actually looked to be working, but I
left it on for a while, and it eventually froze)
 
I tried disabling the soundcard in the profile.
 
Right now i'm waiting for a creative soundblaster live because the
soundcard I had (aureal vortex 2) doesn't have millenium drivers
 
I tried a different video card.
 
I've probably done some other things as well
 
Looked in msinfo32 and searched for forced hardware and problem devices.
 
I have a couple of internet connection sharing problems and an ACPI IRQ
Holder for PCI IRQ Steering problem code 22
 
Also i have the Asus A7V motherboard.  I got the newest drivers and made
sure the AGP port was enabled at 4X, even got registry updaters from
Asus and leadtek to make sure it worked.  Thats about it
 
Eric

Seems your CPU is not stable enough when running graphics intensive programs. Try to increase Vcore a bit and see if it helps. Good luck.-

I have the exact same problem under win98, I've tried everything imaginable, btw, I have a similar setup to yours, but I do have the sblive! card. Oddly enough, I had no probs under WinME... strange eh? I suppose I'll be going back to WinME soon enough with my tail between my legs if I can't figure this out.

Try checking the IRQ's again at boot-up. Don't bother looking at them in Device Manager but when your system first boots up it will give you a list of devices and their IRQ's when posting. (hit the pause key if it goes by to fast) Also give us a rundown of your hardware (everything)

WinME, MS. told you that it's is hdw, not the OS,Imagine that. What motherboard are you using? Is it a VIA chipset,Doh! Since you didn't say which os, motherboard your using it makes it real hard to make a guess. I'm not a VIA hater, It's just that all you have to do is read the forums all over the web, To know why it will be a while before I'll jump the Intel ship. Chipset,chipset.chipset!
Don't get me wrong, I want to go AMD+ DDR but, Not intill the chipset get's it together. Anyway, If you want help, List your entire setup, It could be several things. Then maybe someone can give better advice.

Set the AGP to 2x, instead of 4x. Maybe that will help.

Here is the breakdown of my system - Everything
 
On the bootup the IRQ's are as follows
IDE Controller 14/15
Serial Bus Controller 3
Serial Bus Controller 3
Simple COMM Controller 3
Network Controller 10
Mass Storage Controller 10
Display Controller 11
 
The components of my system
 
an IBM Desktar Hard disk Ultra ATA 100 30Gigs
an older Western Digital Ultra ATA 33 13 Gig HD
a ricoh CDR/RW 4x4x32
and a pioneer 16x dvd rom
 
peripherals
zoom internal voice faxmodem 56k
realtek PCI Fast ethernet device
and the ABIT Siluro 64meg geforce 2 gts video card
 
I also have an Asus A7V Motherboard with 256 Megs of PC 133 Ram
 
Here are the IRQ's in windows
IRQ 0 System timer OK
IRQ 1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard OK
IRQ 2 Programmable interrupt controller OK
IRQ 3 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering OK
IRQ 3 VIA Tech PCI to USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 3 VIA Tech PCI to USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 3 WDM Communication Device OK
IRQ 4 Communications Port (COM1) OK
IRQ 6 Standard Floppy Disk Controller OK
IRQ 7 Printer Port (LPT1) OK
IRQ 8 System CMOS/real time clock OK
IRQ 9 SCI IRQ used by ACPI bus OK
IRQ 10 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering OK
IRQ 10 Realtek RTL8139(A) PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter OK
IRQ 10 WinME Promise Ultra100 (tm) IDE Controller (PDC20265) OK
IRQ 11 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering OK
IRQ 11 NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS/GeForce2 Pro OK
IRQ 12 Microsoft PS/2 IntelliMouse OK
IRQ 13 Numeric data processor OK
IRQ 14 VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller OK
IRQ 14 Primary IDE controller (dual fifo) OK
IRQ 15 VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller OK
IRQ 15 Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo) OK
 
If you ahve any suggestions let me know.  
 
I also have a soundcard on order I should be receiving tomorrow
 
Eric

I had the same problem, I added Case Fans and heatsinks on the memory of my Guillemot 3D Prophet.  It solved the problem for Linux/Win9x/Win2k but not for WinNT 4.0, I think it is the driver issue for this one.  Now that I use Win2000 it does not bother me.
 
Hope that helps!

It seems to be a VIA vs. GeForce thing: (IMO)
 
Via has some problems getting their chipset to run stable with a (any) GeForce; it's a problem I'm also experiencing.
 
The P5A didn't run well with my GeForce (back in the old days); neither does the A7V.
 
What game freezes exactly? Chances are it's an OpenGL game: Running Half-Life in D3D is no problem for me; running Heavy Metal FAKK2 (OpenGL only) freezes my system after a while...
 
The thing is: I've not been able to get a definite "yes, you are right" anywhere on the net. Nothing on either manufacturers website, no definite posts about it, just half a ton of rumors.
 
[CyFR]Wolf
www.cofr.net    
Crusty old FossilRockers

I think the most likely problem is excess heat. Especially if it took longer to crash once one of your cards was removed. {Slightly better airflow improver the situation, but did not fix it.)
 
There's a lot of stuff in your computer and IBM HD's, Athlons, and Geforce cards are all known to generate a lot of heat. I'd invest in some well placed case fans. If you want to test this out, run the computer with the case open and a large fan blowing onto it.

I was thinking that at first also, but what about when I leave my computer on for days and it doesn't freeze.. its only when I get into graphic intensive programs for some reason, I don't get it!

It could still be a heat problem. When my T-bird 900 is  
running math intensitive 3D games, it's core temperature
rise about 5 degrees celcius compared to idle load temp.
How hot is your CPU when idle/running 3d games?
/Xtian

any recommendations on where I can get myself a good fan? and where do I put it in the case?

Well i have a total of 5, front case, back case, Power supply, cpu, and gforce, and guess which fan died 2 days ago? the Gforce card! Creative is sending me another one but i have had the same probelm as you have had so i dunno, i wish there were another fan option on these Gforce cards!
BTW here is my system config
Intel PIII 733
256 megs ram
Soundblaster Live! Value
Creative Annihilator 2 Gforce 2 GTS  
Enlight 7237 Case
Windows ME

i just put a fan underneath the graphics card.. so far I haven't had any problems, but who knows for certain..  I think its strange I need an extra fan to get the games to run.

More fans and better cooling can't hurt but I really don't think that is the problem.
I had an Asus P5A and had lots of problems.  I had read about the AGP slot not providing enough power to the card, I tried upping the voltage.  But that didn't work.
Then one day for shits and giggles I rearranged all my cards so that no card was sharing an IRQ with anything else (both in the bios and in device manager).  After that I had no problems.  Eventhough there are no conflicts reported, there can still be problems.
Now I have the A7V and I again made sure no cards share the same IRQ and I have no problems at all.
If you do not had an ATA100 hard drive, disable the ATA controller in the bios and also disable the promise controller in the device manager.  This will free up some IRQs.  If you are not convinced of the importance of not sharing IRQs, wait until you get your SB Live card, and you will become a true believer.
 
Also make sure there are no PCI cards in the 1st PCI slot next to your video card.

Your right, when I inserted the peripheral fan into the computer I had to change some cards around.  I found when I took the fan out it still worked!!!  
 
I have been having no more problems with the games freezing.
 
On the other hand doing that introduced a very strange situation.  After about an hour or so, the computer starts acting very strange.  The clock runs in slow motion (I've actually watched it, it takes about 4 seconds for every one second the clock actually moves)  ANd the mouse pointer on the screen becomes virtually uncontrollable like it isn't refreshing nearly enough.
 
Here is a breakdown of the new IRQ's for my system
 
IRQ 0 System timer OK
IRQ 1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural Keyboard OK
IRQ 2 Programmable interrupt controller OK
IRQ 3 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering OK
IRQ 3 Realtek RTL8139(A) PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter OK
IRQ 4 Communications Port (COM1) OK
IRQ 5 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering OK
IRQ 5 VIA Tech PCI to USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 5 VIA Tech PCI to USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 5 Creative SB Live! OK
IRQ 6 Standard Floppy Disk Controller OK
IRQ 7 Printer Port (LPT1) OK
IRQ 8 System CMOS/real time clock OK
IRQ 9 SCI IRQ used by ACPI bus OK
IRQ 10 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering OK
IRQ 10 WDM Communication Device OK
IRQ 10 WinME Promise Ultra100 (tm) IDE Controller (PDC20265) OK
IRQ 11 ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering OK
IRQ 11 NVIDIA GeForce2 GTS/GeForce2 Pro OK
IRQ 12 Microsoft PS/2 IntelliMouse OK
IRQ 13 Numeric data processor OK
IRQ 14 VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller OK
IRQ 14 Primary IDE controller (dual fifo) OK
IRQ 15 VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller OK
IRQ 15 Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo) OK
 
 
Any help is appreciated!

I have had similar problems with GeForce2 video cards and it came down to having too small a power supply.  It is suggested you have at least 300 Watts to run that video card, although I've heard of it working with 250.  It sucks more power when the gpu kicks in, so that is probably why it only locks up when you are running graphic intensive games.