I had been stability problems with games on my AMD thunderbird on MSI K7T Pro MB, DX 8.0, Win 98, Geforce 256-B. AH seemed to be particularly sensitive locking up about once per hour, very frustrating. The system dramatically stabilized (rarely locks now)when I went from onboard sound (AC-97 chip) to SB Live! Value.
I hope this helps some of you that have been experiencing stability problems.