ruthan wrote:I finally tested GA-P75-D3P and with Yamaha 724 its working so B75 chipset and with high probability all its derivatives (X7X) a […]
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I finally tested GA-P75-D3P and with Yamaha 724 its working so B75 chipset and with high probability all its derivatives (X7X) are Dos sound capable.. same as X6X which already made Rayer working - difference is that he has some addition PCI chip for because his chipset has not native intel PCI and B75 has native intel PCI, i dunno so far if it better or now.. but i a bit hoped that it would..
Here is table, which 1155 chipset has native PCI and which doesnt - PCI column:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_c … ipsets#LGA_1155
I once again had issues with that cheap Yamaha 744 Aopen Cobra, it not worked in DOS, in Windows / Linux it was fine, but i dos i god DSDMA freeze and problem with IRQ utility.. With 722 its working fine, i guess that with my Labtec 744 it would be fine too. I dunno if its something but with this card design or its simply half broken - i tired multiple slots, i now really cared about very good slots contact, but its not working in Dos. I have other some Aureal V1 for testing on the way, because i had it only in other location and transport it its annoying, i want to use it in other machines.
Good is that MBs with it as X79, have usually UEFI, it means again that UEFI is not problem, i dont have now time for that but maybe these MBs could be a bit more compatible for DOS (for PCI slots are nice too, there is LPT, COM Realtek NIC and HD sound with digital audio..) than X58 (2,3 PCI slots) and X79 (only 1 PCI) and in my case 1 PS/2 (other not gigabyte vendors maybe have 2 x PS/2, but not primary pci-e gpu slot selection, so no go for me).
Other advantage is native USB3 ports for Win7+, disadavantage is not primary PCI-E slots selection, if you have fiddle with dual gpu stunt.. what is annoying but i made it working in Windows and XP/7.. so i have have some other PCI-E gpu for Win98.. and if want to i could have PCI one for DOS.. Slots design is nice too, i can have 2 full - 2 slots PCI-E gpus with blocking only 1 pci slot and there is still free 1x PCI-E slot for.. for NIC or Sata controller (on board has only 1x Sata 6Gb/s + 1x Msata, rest of ports are 3 Gb/s)
Not sure how much free upper memory area you'd have with this setup. AHCI or bootable external hard disk controllers (or internal ones not directly provided by the southbridge) are known to take up a good amount of precious upper memory blocks for its BIOS/option ROM to function. Some modern video cards with larger BIOS images might also reduce usable upper memory but not as significant compared to the former (depending on the card itself).
Having less usable upper memory area mean you can only load fewer TSRs and, if you don't have a contiguous area large enough for the page frame, can even prevent you from using EMS altogether.
Aside from audio (which is the main topic here), how much usable upper memory area is also an important aspect which I'm struggling to make a compromise, and this is increasingly becoming a problem with modern gaming-class motherboards which integrate a lot of 3rd-party controllers to enrich the functionalities beyond what the chipset itself could offer. If you don't really utilize the external controllers' option ROMs (such as booting from a disk attached to an onboard/offboard SATA port not provided by the chipset), you might be able to disable them in BIOS. This prevents them from being seen under DOS, but other operating systems (Windows, Linux, etc.) that have drivers for them may still utilize the controllers there, provided that you did not disable the controller entirely.
As for PS/2 ports... recent boards either provide one, or none. For those with 1 PS/2, it's often advised to use it for keyboard (which permits NKRO if your keyboard supports such). PS/2 port splitters exist, but these motherboards are unlikely to support them properly. USB legacy mode usually still works, but modern keyboards and mice are very likely to break support against it in order to enable more capabilities.
By the way, vanilla Win7 install medium doesn't always have native USB3 support. In the past I often find myself having to plug the installation medium to a USB2 port in order to proceed installing Win7, and install USB3-related drivers later on.