bad hardware, or just bad settings?

[funkmassa]

sorry about double posting

I am using the VIA 4in1 drivers. yes the problem persisted when I swapped the radeon out for a TNT2. I have a 10base hub at home and tried at a LAN party over a 10/100 switch. I have TCP/IP and IPX/SPX installed. I have tried joining games with many other computers from my dad's k6-2@350MHz to several PIIIs@800MHz at the aforementioned LAN Party. All of the other computers ran fine. It seems to happen regardless of whether my computer is running as the game's server or a client. It also happens if I start a dedicated server, and join my own game. If my computer is running as the game's server other computers can join and play with no trouble, but my system becomes basically unplayable.

[canit]

funk read this thread in network forum; http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/Forum6/HTML/001557.html

[funkmassa]

I need help. When I play 3D games (Quake 3, Unreal Tournament, Rogue Spear) in multiplayer mode, the graphics start out fine and get progressively choppier. In single player modes I do not have this problem. For example, in UT, I get 90-110 fps in single player. However, when I play multiplayer, It starts out with similar framerates, but quickly becomes EXTREMELY choppy and shows framerates from 25-40. But it's not just that the framerate gets low. Its almost like it is alternating between showing 100 fps and showing 0 fps. I don't get it.

ASUS A7V BIOS ver 1.03
900 MHz Athlon T-Bird
2-128MB sticks of generic PC133 RAM
ATI Radeon 64MB DDR
Win 98 - DX8
SB Live
Linksys 10/100 network card
IBM deskstar 45
Pioneer 16x DVD
creative 4224 cdrw

ATI's site has this to say:

"'Intermittent hangs running 3D applications on some VIA KX/KT-133 based Athlon systems'

This issue affects RADEON products in Windows 98 and Windows ME (Millennium Edition) on some Athlon systems using motherboards based on the VIA KX/KT-133 chipset.

In some instances intermittent hangs may be experienced when running 3D applications on a small number of Athlon system using motherboard based on the VIA KX/KT-133 chipset. This issue does not affect all systems configurations.

This symptom may occur if you are not using the current VIA Chipsets drivers for the KX/KT-133 chipset. Current VIA Chipset drivers are available for download from VIA's Driver Pages.
RADEON display driver version 4.12.3056 or higher should also be used when using a system based on the VIA KX/KT-133 chipset."

I have downloaded the current VIA Drivers and am using the 3056 radeon drivers. No Help. I swapped the Radeon out for a TNT2. I tried a different network card. I tried each stick of RAM individually and in different slots. I tried disabling AGP fast-writes. I tried using AGP 2x instead of 4x. Nothing thus far has helped the problem.

A friend of mine suggested that I might have a defective motherboard, and I sort of agree, but if that was the case, wouldn't I notice problems in other programs? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[canit]

Funk no need to double post we all read the different forums. Anyway you say the problem persisted even when you swapped out the Radeon for a TNT2? Are you using the VIA4in1 424 or 425a drivers? Are you playing over a lan(10/100 hub, switch?crossover cable? protocols?)? with what other machines(specs please)?