Yamaha YMF7x4

Yamaha YMF7x4 Guide

https://www.philscomputerlab.com/yamaha-ymf74 … sound-card.html

This gets you real OPL3, and XG wavetable. The only downside is the wavetable not being available in pure DOS.

The ESS Solo-1 is another contender. Lacks integrated wavetable, so you should try to find one with a wavetable header to open up your options.

https://www.philscomputerlab.com/ess-es1938s-solo-1.html

I'm not planning on playing any DOS games on this machine so compatibility is not a issue. The only YMF card I see on eBay is the 724 right now.

The cards Pierre32 mentions are great cards if you intend to play dos games on your machine due to their great compatibility.

My 2 personal favorites are the Aureal Vortex 2 and Creative Audigy 2 ZS.
They have fantastic sound quality, the Vortex has the best surround sound available in Windows 98, but lacks EAX.
The Audigy has EAX support, is a lot cheaper than the vortex, but it's surround sound isn't as good as the vortex.
Dos compatibility is OK on both cards, but nowhere close to how good the cards that Pierre mentioned (especially if you want true OPL sound).

However, the demanding late 90's games (like unreal) where the Vortex and Creative cards really shine are probably not best to be played on a P3 450 but better on a faster system.

TSG wrote on 2021-09-17, 23:56:

I'm not planning on playing any DOS games on this machine so compatibility is not a issue. The only YMF card I see on eBay is the 724 right now.

Gotcha. Limpem's post is some good reading if A3D/EAX are a priority for you. The Yamaha sits in the mix as a great all-rounder.

Audigy 2 ZS it is then.

And about late-90s games on a P3 450. I'm playing thru Half-Life on a Pentium MMX 233 right now, so I'm sure I can tolerate it 🤣.

Audigy 2 ZS which is the cheap and really good option.

The even better option is the Audigy 4 Pro but those are usually pretty expensive.

I haven't actually set up an Audigy 4 in Windows 98. The official drivers don't support Windows 98 but the drivers for the Audigy 2 series should work just fine but the .inf file might need to be edited.

I am a bit curious what the Advantage of an Audigy 4 Pro would have over the Audigy 2 ZS in Windows 98.
To my understanding it brings EAX4 support (but I think there are no Windows 98 Games that support EAX4) and has slightly better sound quality.
But since the sound quality of the Audigy 2 ZS is already very good, I doubt you will notice the difference without very expensive equipment.
The combination of those points with the high price makes it hard to consider or recommend the Audigy 4 Pro over the Audigy 2 ZS.

Am I missing some other reason to consider the Audigy 4 Pro?

And TSG, big respect for playing half-life on a 233MMX, I am sure you will love the performance gain the P3 450 will bring! 😁
And a sidenote: if you go for the Audigy 2 ZS, make sure you install the VxD drivers and not the WDM drivers!

I am a bit curious what the Advantage of an Audigy 4 Pro would have over the Audigy 2 ZS in Windows 98.

No real advantage. Audigy 4 Pro is Audigy 2 ZS with better DAC. If you have Audigy 2 ZS with external IO module and use headphones jack, then the difference is ZERO. Modules between 4 Pro and 2 ZS are identical and use the same DAC (which is also used on Audigy 4 Pro for all channels).

To my understanding it brings EAX4 support

No. EAX4 is software upgrade to EAX Advanced HD (EAX3) which even vanilla Audigy can do.

Realistically, no games with EAX 4.0 support (F.E.A.R., Quake 4) are playabel in Win9x environment.

Vortex1/2 are really good to my ears.

Limpem wrote on 2021-09-18, 10:35:

And TSG, big respect for playing half-life on a 233MMX, I am sure you will love the performance gain the P3 450 will bring! 😁

It's "playable" on a 233mmx using a Voodoo2 to do some heavy lifting, but only just.

The first big performance wall I hit was the outside part of We've Got Hostiles, second was the monster part of Blast Pit.

How the hell is the "Minimum Requirement" a PENTIUM 166!? I get people were less picky about framerate and resolution, but REALLY Valve?

Yep, I recently played it on a P200 + Voodoo 1. It was fun to have it running on that setup, but I couldn't imagine a playthrough.