CT5803 is not SB16))) It’s Creative Sondblaster 128 PCI with Ensoniq legacy chip ES1373 (?) more close to Ensoniq AudioPCI

Babasha wrote on 2022-05-01, 09:04:

CT5803 is not SB16))) It’s Creative Sondblaster 128 PCI with Ensoniq legacy chip ES1373 (?) more close to Ensoniq AudioPCI

if thats the case, that could be a lot of the issue there 🤣. When I googled the model number, I got SB16 as a result

Yep, unfortunately Babasha is right, what you got is a rebranded Ensoniq AudioPCI after Creative purchased them 🙁

https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/Ensoniq#AudioPCI
Ensoniq / Creative AudioPCI

The bad news is, there's no dedicated FM chip, it's emulated and it sounds like crap. If your goal is DOS gaming, you should really see other options. Your mainboard is way beyond DOS days so you'll be stuck with PCI. That's something I don't do myself as I have dedicated computers for DOS so someone else can probably recommend some options, but my understanding is that they'll be "decent" at best, never "good".

Babasha wrote on 2022-05-01, 09:04:

if thats the case, that could be a lot of the issue there 🤣. When I googled the model number, I got SB16 as a result

One very simple giveaway: your card is PCI and there are no PCI SB16.

EDIT: oh, so these morons did call it the Sound Blaster 16 PCI...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster_1 … _Blaster_16_PCI

That is extremely misleading.

This should be in different section of the forum. There is different section for the sound stuff.

Baoran wrote on 2022-05-01, 09:20:

This should be in different section of the forum. There is different section for the sound stuff.

i seen that after making the post. i just wasnt paying attention, admittedly. And the pc I currently have the card in is Win98SE for games. I know little about dedicated sound cards, as most of what ive built has been new systems, mostly AMD's AM4 platform.

Alistar1776 wrote on 2022-05-01, 19:58:

Baoran wrote on 2022-05-01, 09:20:

This should be in different section of the forum. There is different section for the sound stuff.

i seen that after making the post. i just wasnt paying attention, admittedly. And the pc I currently have the card in is Win98SE for games. I know little about dedicated sound cards, as most of what ive built has been new systems, mostly AMD's AM4 platform.

For Win98SE it will work fine, as Windows games don't use FM synthesis. It's still a low-end card (no A3D/EAX positional audio), but will produce sound. But... that motherboard already has onboard audio that can do exactly that. What are you trying to acheive by using the discrete card? There's a use case in high-end positional stuff, but this doesn't add anything I can see vs the onboard AC'97.

dionb wrote on 2022-05-02, 06:08:

Alistar1776 wrote on 2022-05-01, 19:58:

Baoran wrote on 2022-05-01, 09:20:

This should be in different section of the forum. There is different section for the sound stuff.

i seen that after making the post. i just wasnt paying attention, admittedly. And the pc I currently have the card in is Win98SE for games. I know little about dedicated sound cards, as most of what ive built has been new systems, mostly AMD's AM4 platform.

For Win98SE it will work fine, as Windows games don't use FM synthesis. It's still a low-end card (no A3D/EAX positional audio), but will produce sound. But... that motherboard already has onboard audio that can do exactly that. What are you trying to acheive by using the discrete card? There's a use case in high-end positional stuff, but this doesn't add anything I can see vs the onboard AC'97.

I just had a card sitting around and thought id use it in something, really 🤣

Boohyaka wrote on 2022-05-01, 09:15:

One very simple giveaway: your card is PCI and there are no PCI SB16. […]
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Babasha wrote on 2022-05-01, 09:04:

if thats the case, that could be a lot of the issue there 🤣. When I googled the model number, I got SB16 as a result

One very simple giveaway: your card is PCI and there are no PCI SB16.

EDIT: oh, so these morons did call it the Sound Blaster 16 PCI...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster_1 … _Blaster_16_PCI

That is extremely misleading.

I think I have one of the model numbers mentioned on the wiki as a SB 16 PCI, but back then everybody (including CT itself and the store that put this sound card into my first ever PC back then) called it a Soundblaster PCI 128 🙂

Not sure what the deal is with this info being on the wiki. It seems to be kinda misleading at the least?

I'd need to check the model number of my card, just to be sure.

Yep that's how I remember them as well, going for the source on wiki they link this page:

https://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?sid=10846

Where the CT4740 is indeed labelled "Sound Blaster 16 PCI", but that's the only one. At least the name was used and the wiki article is not *completely* wrong.

Bullshit marketing at it again...

Tetrium wrote on 2022-05-02, 10:40:

[...] I think I have one of the model numbers mentioned on the wiki as a SB 16 PCI, but back then everybody (including CT itself […]
Show full quote

[...]
I think I have one of the model numbers mentioned on the wiki as a SB 16 PCI, but back then everybody (including CT itself and the store that put this sound card into my first ever PC back then) called it a Soundblaster PCI 128 🙂

Not sure what the deal is with this info being on the wiki. It seems to be kinda misleading at the least?

I'd need to check the model number of my card, just to be sure.

Iirc Creative used the PCI SB16, 64 and 128 marketing names completely interchangeably for a pile of ES1373 and derivative cards, regardless of exact CTxxxx model number. So entirely possible the Wiki is correct, just not complete.

dionb wrote on 2022-05-02, 13:00:

Tetrium wrote on 2022-05-02, 10:40:

[...] I think I have one of the model numbers mentioned on the wiki as a SB 16 PCI, but back then everybody (including CT itself […]
Show full quote

[...]
I think I have one of the model numbers mentioned on the wiki as a SB 16 PCI, but back then everybody (including CT itself and the store that put this sound card into my first ever PC back then) called it a Soundblaster PCI 128 🙂

Not sure what the deal is with this info being on the wiki. It seems to be kinda misleading at the least?

I'd need to check the model number of my card, just to be sure.

Iirc Creative used the PCI SB16, 64 and 128 marketing names completely interchangeably for a pile of ES1373 and derivative cards, regardless of exact CTxxxx model number. So entirely possible the Wiki is correct, just not complete.

Sounds like that, if this is indeed the case, it is correct and somewhat misleading at the same time 😜

I did check a couple of my old advert thingies from back then, but it doesn't specify what sound card they meant (I still have a small stack of paper advert booklets from MyCom from back in the day, Slot 1 era).