I have a GeForce FX 5900 Ultra (eVGA) and it works out great and I have never had any kind of thing like that happen. This suprises me.. I didn't know they sold FX's without heat sinks. You can't buy one here without it built into the board.. Maybe you should get a board from another manufacturer..
Windows 98se was the first USB supported windows. Even NT 4 adds it on.. Anyone with a motherboard from more than a couple years ago should go to their makers site and download drivers from the manufacturer for it.. It's a standard thing.. Just like most people get drivers for amiga zorro bus cards..
PS Windows XP is the best windows ever (even with the spyware and security issues)... I would never run a slow DOS based product again..
PSS Also the Vax computer was made by DEC. I used to work on them.. Maybe the poster is confusing the history that someone responsible for VMS (the vax's OS) was responsible for NT (3.x) including it's multi-tasking multiprocessor kernal..