Torn on which sound card to use (Turtle Beach vs SB) \ VOGONS

Torn on which sound card to use (Turtle Beach vs SB)

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First post, by RetroAddict

Posted on 2020-07-23, 01:59

RetroAddict Offline

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Joined: 2020-01-25, 16:19

Hey all,

I've been going through my retro bits and pieces, and I'm pondering swapping the current soundcard in my P3-450 machine. Currently it has an ISA Turtle Beach Fiji card, which has a Yamaha DB50XG fitted to it. I believe from the amazing response I had to my first thread on here that it isn't remotely good for DOS games, which leads me to wonder how cpu heavy it might be for windows games?

I tried UT99 on this system (Geforce 2 GTS, 256mb ram) and it ran way worse than I ever remember it running when we used to have similar specification machines way back when. As an alternative I have far too many SB 128s and I also have an audigy 2 ls which I could use. Which would you opt for if you were focussing on windows games with this machine?

Thanks 😀

Reply 1 of 3, by kolderman

Posted on 2020-07-23, 02:33

kolderman Offline

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Apart from utt99 what games do you want to play? You should really stick with an ISA card for DOS games.

Reply 2 of 3, by darry

Posted on 2020-07-23, 02:56

darry Offline

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It is not a sin to have more than one sound card . I use three in my main retro rig .

The Audigy 2 will probably be your best bet for Windows . SB128 has no hardware mixing or effects engine (it's all done on the CPU) .
As for DOS, the suggestions for ISA cards are in the other thread .

If you like the Fiji's MIDI synth too, you could keep it as well, if you have enough ISA slots .

Reply 3 of 3, by RetroAddict

Posted on 2020-07-25, 04:10

RetroAddict Offline

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Posts: 14
Joined: 2020-01-25, 16:19

I'm going to try and play some of the older w98 games from my younger years - Battlezone 2, Diablo 2, Red Alert 2 and any other suggestions really! 😀 I'd quite like to play through half-life on period correct hardware and a few others! I'm going to shamefully say I don't have many DOS games anymore, but still have a few that I've repurchased through GOG.

I love the midi quality from the DB50, and would like to retain that! 😀

Thank you for both replies 😀

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