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First post, by retro games 100

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Does anyone know how many PCB revisions the Advanced Gravis Ultrasound Classic card had? I can only think of 3, but I'm guessing there may be more. I can think of:

2.4 (I think)
3.4
3.74

I guess there must have been a 1.something card?

Also, I am guessing that the actual sound quality output would be the same across all revisions, or perhaps was that not entirely the case? For example, as revisions went onwards with Creative cards, they sometimes got poorer, as they cut corners with streamlining production.

For those of you who own more than one revision of this card, do they sound the same, in terms of the sound output quality?

Thanks a lot for any comments!

Reply 1 of 11, by Rawit

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From Pouet:

http://www.pouet.net/topic.php?which=97&page=1#c1641

"The early ones had rather horrible 12-bit DACs" makes me assume there is a big difference in sound quality output. Later revisions have a mixer and combined several chips AFAIK. Some versions have their channels swapped and the drivers compensate for this.

I own GUS ACE cards, but both 1.0 and 1.1 sound the same to me. The 1.0 doesn't seem to suffer from the swapped channels bug, but I didn't test this specifically.

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Reply 2 of 11, by tpowell.ca

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I have revision 2.4 and 3.74 cards and cannot hear any diffidence in quality between them.
I'm not so sure about Pouet's 12bit DAC comment as both cards sound clean and don't have the bad aliasing typically associated with low bit-depth DACs.

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Reply 4 of 11, by Rawit

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Disruptor wrote:

I've got a revision 2.2

How does it sound? And did you ever had the chance to compare it to another revision? Revision 2.2 is from what I've read the first one to reach the consumer market.

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Reply 6 of 11, by retro games 100

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I have a 3.7 in my collection. I'd forgotten about that one. Is it slightly less common than the 3.74 version?

Edit:
btw, regarding the gameport on the backplate. Is it just a gameport, or does it also support midi?
And is the term gameport and joystick 100% interchangeable, or is there a suitable difference?) Thanks.
End Edit.

Edit 2:
Regarding the MAX card, is its RAM socket called a SOJ, and if so, what does that stand for? Is this socket only capable of having a 512kB chip in it, or could other (smaller) sizes fit? Thanks.
End Edit 2:

Edit 3:
On the MAX card, what does the Lattice chip do? Thanks.
End Edit 3:

Reply 7 of 11, by 640K!enough

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retro games 100 wrote:

btw, regarding the gameport on the backplate. Is it just a gameport, or does it also support midi?
And is the term gameport and joystick 100% interchangeable, or is there a suitable difference?) Thanks.

The port can pass MIDI data with the appropriate cable, but it is not MPU-401 compatible at the hardware level. In DOS, Mega-Em has to be appropriately configured and loaded for this to work. Windows provides the functionality via the drivers, and it can be selected via the Control Panel.

In the PC context, I am more accustomed to it being called a game port, though the device plugged into that port is sometimes called a joystick.

retro games 100 wrote:

Regarding the MAX card, is its RAM socket called a SOJ, and if so, what does that stand for? Is this socket only capable of having a 512kB chip in it, or could other (smaller) sizes fit? Thanks.

Yes, it is a socket for a SOJ IC; SOJ is "small outline J-lead", a type of surface-mount chip whose leads have a J-like shape, with the end "wrapped" under the edge of the chip. Based on the pin assignment and lead spacing, I don't think you would be able to substitute another capacity in the socket safely. GF1 cards generally work best with the full 1 MiB installed, anyhow. Such chips can be found on mid-90s video cards, or on eBay or various other on-line IC shops.

Reply 8 of 11, by retro games 100

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Thanks for the info! I had a look for an old graphics card, and found a Diamond Stealth Video 2001 card. I took a picture of its SOJ RAM. I know it's hard to see, but do you think one of these might work? Alternatively, do you happen to know of any going on ebay atm? I had a look, and was concerned I'd buy the wrong item, haha! Thanks.

G8-l4ccIcELGChZBkLlhhCgKigvMT3537rokwY_1auxU24Oi_hoinr8HNwDL8EMvtRvVQzD79j07bJ_MWhaMuLvzd5j5-kMjAI-LIxbU8ii6mfOIxLUsCB56kYPAZAuUYJvOgMoaQw=w2400

Reply 9 of 11, by 640K!enough

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retro games 100 wrote:
Thanks for the info! I had a look for an old graphics card, and found a Diamond Stealth Video 2001 card. I took a picture of i […]
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Thanks for the info! I had a look for an old graphics card, and found a Diamond Stealth Video 2001 card. I took a picture of its SOJ RAM. I know it's hard to see, but do you think one of these might work? Alternatively, do you happen to know of any going on ebay atm? I had a look, and was concerned I'd buy the wrong item, haha! Thanks.

G8-l4ccIcELGChZBkLlhhCgKigvMT3537rokwY_1auxU24Oi_hoinr8HNwDL8EMvtRvVQzD79j07bJ_MWhaMuLvzd5j5-kMjAI-LIxbU8ii6mfOIxLUsCB56kYPAZAuUYJvOgMoaQw=w2400

That looks like 5V EDO DRAM. They are also 256K x 16, with what looks like the right pin-out. I think one of those should work, as long as you make sure to align the pin-1 notch on the IC with the matching notch on the SOJ socket on the board.

Reply 11 of 11, by retro games 100

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PS, would this work:

http://eshop-bg.com/PDFs/IC/KM416C254D_Samsung.pdf

Thanks for looking/checking.

Edit:
i notice that on the Max 1.8 board, there is a Lattice chip, but on the 2.1 board, there is not.
End Edit.