SoundBlaster - OPL, no OPL? \ VOGONS

SoundBlaster - OPL, no OPL?

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First post, by Harlock

Posted on 2022-07-30, 09:39

Harlock Offline

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Hi there, as I'm on the noob"ish" side of this, how can I recognize if a SoundBlaster 16 has an OPL chip or not?
I'm looking at a ct2940, I got this picture from an old topic (Whats the best version of the Sound Blaster 16?), as I understand then, a ct2940 WITH those chips in the circle has an OLP/YMF289 chip, and that's ok.
If not, then it's a common CQM chip, is that right?

Reply 1 of 3, by keropi

Posted on 2022-07-30, 10:55

keropi Offline

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yep, you are correct:
if these 2 chips are present then the card has a real OPL3
if the spots are unpopulated then the card has CQM

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Reply 2 of 3, by Harlock

Posted on 2022-07-30, 13:05

Harlock Offline

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Joined: 2022-03-19, 06:01

keropi wrote on 2022-07-30, 10:55:

yep, you are correct:
if these 2 chips are present then the card has a real OPL3
if the spots are unpopulated then the card has CQM

Thanks, much appreciated! 😀

Reply 3 of 3, by bloodem

Posted on 2022-07-30, 18:18

bloodem Offline

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SB16 cards can also have the CT1747 bus interface, which has an integrated OPL3 chip (and it usually - but not always - has "OPL" silkscreened on it).
On those particular cards, you WON'T see a separate OPL3 chip, even though they do have an authentic OPL3 sound.

Older SB16 cards have the original YMF262 OPL3 chip (the YMF289 is the newer and lower-power version of the YMF262).

For more information see this spreadsheet.

1 x PLCC-68 / 2 x PGA132 / 5 x Skt 3 / 9 x Skt 7 / 12 x SS7 / 1 x Skt 8 / 14 x Slot 1 / 5 x Slot A
5 x Skt 370 / 8 x Skt A / 2 x Skt 478 / 2 x Skt 754 / 3 x Skt 939 / 7 x LGA775 / 1 x LGA1155
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