Mu AWE64 Value is a lot noisier. $100 sounds too much. Do you have links?

Here's the last two that ended for over $100:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Creative-Labs-Soundbl … -/110994953118?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Creative-Sound-Blaste … -/190778910351?

Prior to these, they were going for about $40 to $60. It looks like there has been a steady build-up in price since November. I can't figure out why...

Ok that second card is a CT4550. It's the last revision of the AWE64 Gold and slightly shorter compared to the CT4390. So maybe someone wanted to complete hes/her collection. I believe that card is somewhat rare.

The other auction is for a CT4390 and I'm also surprised at the price.

I can understand some of the Buy now prices being inflated, but for an auction? All you can do is keep looking and refusing to pay that much or looking outside of eBay.

Personally I always thought the AWE64 Gold sounded God awfully tinny. The channels are very clear but still, that metallic resonance....a touch of muddiness to soften the notes a bit would make it a lot more soothing to listen to. I guess that's what you get when you try to replace OPL with your own proprietary crap instead of using the real thing.

And making the CPU pick up the load of emulating additional voices in software doesn't help matters, either.

AWE64 is a piece of hardware that is easy to acquire outside of Ebay and pay next to nothing 😀

I found this over at the Vintage Computer Forums and it seems that the AWE64 Gold is not well liked as an "upgrade" to an AWE32 with a boatload of memory onboard.

http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showt … 2-to-awe64-gold

I do have a soft spot for the AWE64. It's an easy card to work with, very quiet, no hanging note bug (but you need to use an external MIDI device like a Sound Canvas).

IMO it's the perfect "speech card" in combination with an external Roland Sound Canvas for later DOS games.

It also allows you to use Reverb and Chorus with FM games: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oPw7C8_K3Q

Making them sound fuller and richer, though not authentic anymore.

Hmm, I still have the box and all the original contents for my AWE64 Gold. Perhaps I could get the $225 back that I paid for it new!

vetz:
If you've got a source for an AWE64 Gold for not too expensive, I could sure use one and would greatly appreciate it.

NJRoadFan:
If you want to sell yours for a reasonable price, I'll gladly buy it. However, at this point in time I think you'll find that there are some folks on eBay willing to pay some crazy prices. I would go for it if I were you! 🤑

sliderider:
I never had the pleasure of running an AWE32. Now, your post has me intrigued and considering the possibility. This soundcard would be going in a box that would not likely see any DOS action. How is the AWE32 for running in Win98SE? Is it as simply PNP as the AWE64 is?

I see a couple of AWE32s on eBay right now with 2MB of extra RAM on them. What do you think of those in a Win98SE system?

KT7AGuy wrote:

This soundcard would be going in a box that would not likely see any DOS action.

Then you are looking at the wrong cards 😀

In short (very short):

Windows: PCI Sound Card
DOS: ISA Sound Card

If you are playing mostly Windows games (Around year 2000) then I would go with a Sound Blaster Live! or Audigy.

Other cards that are ok include the Vortex, Vortex 2, Audio PCI. But IMO you can't go wrong with a Live! or Audigy.

The goods news is that these cards are also a lot cheaper / easier to find 😀

Mau1wurf1977:

I agree with you. However, it's going in a KT7A. It's got an ISA slot and was notorious for having issues with PCI soundcards. I've got a couple other KT7As running with an AWE64 Gold and Value and they've always worked flawlessly with Win98SE.

At one time, I had an Audigy 2 running in my KT7A and it just performed like garbage. This was probably due to the KT133a 686b southbridge bug, but I never troubleshot it very deep. I just popped in an AWE64 and never looked back. They work great! 😲

No worries...

In that case, consider also looking at the Sound Blaster 16. Models like the Vibra16. You should get these for next to nothing really. At least you will have working sound 😀

Mau1wurf1977:

Why choose the SB16 over the AWE32? Also, what version of the SB16 do you feel is best? If I chose to go with an SB16, I would most likely add a midi wavetable daughtercard to it. Which one would you recommend?

I'm not very tech savvy with soundcards. I just know what seems to work best, which is why I've stuck with AWE64 cards in my other KT7A builds. I have seen before where people complain about the lack of OPL3 in the AWE64. Maybe I need a card with OPL3 for a change? Perhaps I don't know what I'm missing? Can you explain?

(I've got an old P200 rocking an SB16 with an ASP chip and a WaveBlaster daughtercard. I bought it new back in 1995 and have used it ever since. I've never really had any complaints with that card either.)

Thanks!

this is crazy, awe64gold was priced like crap here at around $3 and still wanted by no one. now most of them have vanished and i guess it may cost a bit more, but shall not exceed $10.

KT7AGuy wrote:

Mau1wurf1977:

Why choose the SB16 over the AWE32? Also, what version of the SB16 do you feel is best? If I chose to go with an SB16, I would most likely add a midi wavetable daughtercard to it. Which one would you recommend?

Thanks!

Sound Blaster 16 + NEC 385 is a very good combination 😀

Look I'm not telling what you get, just giving you more options with cheap prices and lots of availability in mind!

KT7AGuy wrote:

I was thinking I would grab another AWE64 Gold on eBay for a new legacy build I'm working on. The last time I bought one about […]
Show full quote

I was thinking I would grab another AWE64 Gold on eBay for a new legacy build I'm working on. The last time I bought one about a year ago, I think I paid $20 for it (including shipping).

WHOAH! The last two auctions for AWE64 Golds on eBay have gone well over $100 each. WTF is going on? What has caused this sudden spike in AWE64 Gold prices?

I've got an AWE64 Value in another PC and I can't tell too much of a difference in sound output quality. Do the gold RCA connectors on the AWE64 Gold really make that much of a difference? I just don't understand the sudden increase in demand for these old cards.

(AWE64 Value prices are still real cheap)

I can't really tell. It surprises me that some hardware seems to become so expensive, like someone mentioned Rendition 2100's going for €25 each. I was like "wth?...".
It seems the Gold reached some kind of threshold where demand has outgrown supply, which make prices rise.
Maybe people regard it as one of 'the' cards to have as it's one of the last ISA sound cards ever made and thus has to be good???
Perhaps it's just a temporary spike, but only time will tell. Usually prices won't fall a lot anymore though, if it's like other old hardware.

I think the Gold version has some sort of legendary connotation, in the same breath as P Pros, Tualatins, V2s among old hardware collectors.

That and the fact that online sellers and real brick and mortar life are two entirely different worlds. My friend who owns a PC shop once gave me an AWE64 for free, along with a Tualeron, and a heap of other stuff. In other words, you can only get rid of this stuff in real life if you gave it away for free (and that too, most people would probably say NO). 😒

Yes I remember looking at AWE64 Golds from China for around $20-$30 shipped, I think its one of those situations where I took it for granted and lost the oppurtunity to get one for a reasonable price who knows if the price will drop again.

IMO not worth it. AWE64 swaps OPL3 for CQM (granted, a lot of AWE32s did that too), doesn't use simple FPRAM and instead opts for propriatery bullcrap (there is SIMMCONN though) and ommits the WaveBlaster header.
The only reason you would want one is for the Gold variant's low noise. It is one of the most "quiet" Creative cards although I could hardly tell a difference between it and later PCI sound cards (SB Live!, Aureal Vortex 2...). In fact, I always found the need to swap my speaker cables annoying, I wish they also included a mini jack port on the AWE64 Gold.

Other than that, it's typical AWE32 sound and Midi capabilities from then on. Some people love the sound they produce, some others hate it. I personally love it 😀