NEC ymf724 PCI soundcard model PK-UG-X013 ....from what I can see, this was very much a Japanese market product ; you can search this site for ymf724 and get some hits.

2B9 on the last picture looks suspiciously like an unpopulated SB-Link header... wich can probably just be soldered in and work. That would give native compability for older dos games (that need isa soundcards).

That is one really nice card. Yamaha YMF724 cards are pretty common, but too often the cards are cheaply made. This one is clearly a quality product and the Toslink digital output is an outstanding feature.

Cards with this chip are good early Windows 95/98 options as they have a very nice MIDI synth under Windows using VXD drivers. They also offer DOS support, but PCI cards are never perfect under DOS. As DerBaum points out, you could solder in an SB-Link header, but SB-Link support is generally only present on motherboards with ISA bus anyway, so added value is limited. For later Windows gaming it is competent, but such games didn't use the MIDI synth and there's no legacy support in Win2k/XP. Also no positional audio (A3D/EAX) support. So this card would shine in a high-end 1997 or 1998 build.

Yeah, this is a decent sound card for Win9x and DOS gaming, but its DOS compatibility can vary based on your motherboard. In short, boards which support DDMA tend to work well, while those with SB-Link are the best. Motherboards without either of those fall back on DSDMA, which can be hit or miss, depending on the game.

Under Win9x, Yamaha YMF 7x4 cards also provide A3D 1.0 and EAX 1.0 through Sensaura. However, I found that EAX support on these cards is a bit spotty, and some games might not detect it correctly. This may depend on the driver version as well. On the other hand, A3D 1.0 mostly works fine and delivers proper HRTF effects.

giantclam wrote on 2024-01-16, 03:25:

NEC ymf724 PCI soundcard model PK-UG-X013 ....from what I can see, this was very much a Japanese market product ; you can search this site for ymf724 and get some hits.

Thanks for the tip!Currently learning.Indeed, this is a sound card from Japan, and it is also my favorite ymf724 sound card.My guess is that it is an OEM product from Yamaha to NEC.

DerBaum wrote on 2024-01-16, 04:45:

2B9 on the last picture looks suspiciously like an unpopulated SB-Link header... wich can probably just be soldered in and work. That would give native compability for older dos games (that need isa soundcards).

Thanks so much!Currently learning about SB-Link.I still have some ancient motherboards and will try connecting SB-Link sometime to see if it runs reliably under DOS.
I remember that when I bought this card, it was always installed on my winxp machine and it ran well.

dionb wrote on 2024-01-16, 10:47:

That is one really nice card. Yamaha YMF724 cards are pretty common, but too often the cards are cheaply made. This one is clearly a quality product and the Toslink digital output is an outstanding feature.

Cards with this chip are good early Windows 95/98 options as they have a very nice MIDI synth under Windows using VXD drivers. They also offer DOS support, but PCI cards are never perfect under DOS. As DerBaum points out, you could solder in an SB-Link header, but SB-Link support is generally only present on motherboards with ISA bus anyway, so added value is limited. For later Windows gaming it is competent, but such games didn't use the MIDI synth and there's no legacy support in Win2k/XP. Also no positional audio (A3D/EAX) support. So this card would shine in a high-end 1997 or 1998 build.

Thanks for the pointers！
Yes, this is a card that I like and remember using for a long time around 2005.The card used in my first computer (1999) was ymf719. I thought the sound quality was excellent, so I have always had a good impression of Yamaha sound cards. Later, I purchased many second-hand Yamaha sound cards, but I have never found one with better workmanship than this card.
If I want to use it on an old motherboard to try to run DOS games and experience MIDI synthesis, I estimate that it will take me a long time to learn.But I will definitely try it

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2024-01-16, 10:57:

Yeah, this is a decent sound card for Win9x and DOS gaming, but its DOS compatibility can vary based on your motherboard. In short, boards which support DDMA tend to work well, while those with SB-Link are the best. Motherboards without either of those fall back on DSDMA, which can be hit or miss, depending on the game.

Under Win9x, Yamaha YMF 7x4 cards also provide A3D 1.0 and EAX 1.0 through Sensaura. However, I found that EAX support on these cards is a bit spotty, and some games might not detect it correctly. This may depend on the driver version as well. On the other hand, A3D 1.0 mostly works fine and delivers proper HRTF effects.

thanks！
It's a pity that I seem to have been using this card under XP. Maybe I missed some interesting functions. I think I will find a way to get them back 😀