are any of these sound cards worth keeping? \ VOGONS

are any of these sound cards worth keeping?

Topic actions

Post a reply

First post, by DaveJustDave

Posted on 2017-07-06, 01:56

DaveJustDave Offline

Rank Member

Rank: Member
Posts: 338
Joined: 2013-10-03, 04:00

I picked up a giant box of sound cards recently. Lots of 2xxx and 4xxx series sound blasters, and then some of these that I can't identify...

one has an ESS chipset that seems to have OK OPL3 from what i've read, and one has an XG chip, which i have zero experience with.

are all of these "value" boards? anything worth keeping?

I have no clue what I'm doing! If you want to watch me fumble through all my retro projects, you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/user/MrDavejustdave

Reply 1 of 5, by Jo22

Posted on 2017-07-06, 10:04

Jo22 Offline

Rank l33t++

Rank: l33t++
Posts: 9650
Joined: 2009-12-13, 07:06
Location: Europe

It depends on your definition of value. 😉
ISA cards are generally becoming scarce. The XG card is interesting, though.
I heard it sounds similar to SYXG-50 softh synth or so.

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 2 of 5, by gdjacobs

Posted on 2017-07-06, 14:31

gdjacobs Offline

Rank l33t++

Rank: l33t++
Posts: 7626
Joined: 2015-11-03, 05:51
Location: The Great White North

The "XG" card uses a Yamaha YMF724 chipset. This is one of the few cards with a genuine OPL3 core that can output SPDIF, so definitely a keeper. The Audiodrive and YMF719 (red) based cards are one's I'd keep as well.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 3 of 5, by elod

Posted on 2017-07-09, 20:24

elod Offline

Rank Member

Rank: Member
Posts: 300
Joined: 2016-05-17, 19:01
Location: Timisoara, Romania

These OPTIs are a bit strange. Aren't they supposed to have opl3 clones? Besides the 931 that has it built in of course...
As someone else already said: ISA cards are becomming scarce... I generally pick up all of them.

Reply 4 of 5, by appiah4

Posted on 2017-07-11, 08:49

appiah4 Online

Rank l33t++

Rank: l33t++
Posts: 9080
Joined: 2017-02-19, 07:36
Location: Sea of Sorrows

Whatever you wont keep.. Let me know 😁

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 5 of 5, by calvin

Posted on 2017-07-11, 10:54

calvin Offline

Rank Member

Rank: Member
Posts: 257
Joined: 2015-03-13, 22:38

Ones with an Analog Devices chip are most likely Windows Sound System compatible. They'll be basically an alternative standard to SB - they still use OPLs for FM though. (Note some WSS cards broke the standard and could appear in arbitrary locations, and added SB compat.)

The Yamahas I hear are quite nice - they're your typical WSS deviant, but basically guaranteed real OPL IIRC.

The OPTIs are OK as a basic card for low end machines and business/workstation usage, though drivers past 9x/NT 4 are a massive PITA. Crystal is similar but I'm unsure about drivers and such. ESS is also similar, but the driver story is much better. (I myself am interested in the ESS based ones; I've got an OPTI 933 that's a very bad choice for 2000.)

2xP2 450, 512 MB SDR, GeForce DDR, Asus P2B-D, Windows 2000
P3 866, 512 MB RDRAM, Radeon X1650, Dell Dimension XPS B866, Windows 7
M2 @ 250 MHz, 64 MB SDE, SiS5598, Compaq Presario 2286, Windows 98

Go to top of page Go to top of page

Back to Sound

Main menu

Common searches