Reply 120 of 189, by Kodai
- Rank
- Member
wrote:Does the CT1920 Goldfinch card have the hanging note bug? I was looking at it for EMU8000 midi sound, but I noticed it doesn't h […]
Does the CT1920 Goldfinch card have the hanging note bug? I was looking at it for EMU8000 midi sound, but I noticed it doesn't have a Game/midi port. What cards have:
Waveblaster header
Game/midi port
Goldfinch header
No hanging note bug
No, the Goldfinch cards does not have the any of the hanging not bugs. But....the card you attach it to might. If you put it on a SB16 with a bugged DSP then you can run into it. It also requires the use of a second ISA slot. Having played with one in the past, I can not recommend the Goldfinch. Its fun to play with and get going, but its not a good solution for FM sound and EMU8k. If you want an OPL3 based FM and EMU8k soundcard, I would recommend either spending the money and getting a CT2760 (original model), CT2760 (rev 3 model), CT3900, CT3980. If you can live without the OPL3 then just get an AWE64 (any kind, it doesnt matter for games).
Personally I love the EMU8k and use the AWE32's I mentioned above, because I love the OPL3 as well. I hate the AWE64 for games because I dont like the sound of its FM chip which is called CQM. The CQM does have a good, warm sound to it, but its not accurate when it comes to running OPL3 based games. Its fantastic for playing general FM music files on, and even good for people who don't have a good aural memory of how a game sounded on real OPL based FM.
If gaming is your main purpose and you did not have an x86 PC back in the 80's and 90's then consider an AWE64. It will simply work, sound fine, is free of any bugs, and it can be had cheap. Its also a single ISA slot and much shorter than the AWE32/SB32 line of cards. If however you want to recreate the sounds of something you had or grew up with and you might want to stick with something with a real OPL2/3 chip. Games that directly supported the EMU8k are slim and of those, only a few did it correctly. But those few are truly fantastic sounding. Tyrian is a classic example. A number of games threw in "official support" for the EMU8k, but sound god awful when you select AWE32. DukeNukem 3D is a great example of this. Ughh, talk about rough sounding.
Again, if gaming is the main purpose then you can ignore the ability to add memory to the sound card. In DOS, its next to pointless and in Win9x its kinda slow and cumbersome to load up a new soundfont each time you want to take advantage of the EMU8K's extra ability to "sound better".
The Audition 32 is an awesome little card. Its cheap, simple to setup, true OPL3, and offers a wavetable header (but its so low you may have to make a cable to hookup older and larger wavetable cards) and does not suffer from any hanging note bugs. Its also a single slot solution so you can add something like a GUS. It also works well with SoftMPU for connecting sound modules.
I think your build is fine for mixing in early Win9x games, but I wouldn't recommend a SS7 based rig for the later stuff. You might want to consider this a good starter build that can be converted to a DOS/Win3.1 only build down the road and build a higher end P3 or Athlon for pure Win9x games. This will let you get the best bang for the buck when it comes to picking out hardware now, by saving you some cash down the road. You will want to take advantage of those V2's in SLI and the higher end Win9x rig will let you do that. Also, not all original V1 games work on V2 and up without a bit of tinkering and even then some only work on original V1's. So a V1 for a pure DOS rig would be a great option as very few DOS only VooDoo games pushed the 640x480 limit.
By the way, when it comes to running those V2's in SLI, try not to put them next to each other. Try to keep a free PCI slot between them to prevent excessive heat build up. The SLI cable should be long enough for that and any lower profile cards used between them will help block direct heat from one card to the next. Those little guys run hot when used in pairs.
As for a primary video card, I would like to toss out a different idea (assuming you have not already bought one). The Diamond Stealth III S540 (with latest drivers) is fine for early Win9x games and fantastic for DOS games. It handles problem games like the Commander Keen and Jazz Jackrabbit series without issue. No more scrolling issues on those games. Again, a cheap and easy to find card. Its also in PCI and AGP as well as 16MB and 32MB variants.
On a final note, with the hardware you are going for, I don't see a reason for going with an older PSU. A modern ATX based PSU will have plenty of juice on its rails for all your listed hardware. If you start running older 3+ volt CPU's and soundcards like Media Vision PAS cards, then you might want to consider an ATX 1.0 PSU on the 5AX. All of the hardware you seem to be listing is low enough on the amp draw that you shouldn't lose any sleep about it.
***EDIT***
As far as storage is concerned, I'd stick with any modern HDD with a SATA to IDE adaptor if you are going for a Win9x/DOS build. If you are going for a pure DOS/Win3.1 build, use an 8GB DOM (disk on module) or CF to IDE adaptor. If you go with the DOM, then try to find one on a male adaptor. The much more common female adaptor will use up an entire IDE port whereas the male adaptor can be stuck on any standard IDE cable and leave the other spot open. Most DOM's are by default a master device and cant be changed, but some can. That might be something to look for as well. They are very small, low power, and cool running and are meant for 24/7 operation so they will last a very long time. Well worth the few extra bucks if you go with a pure DOS build.
