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Confuddled cacophony of PCI sound cards, what goes where, which to save for what?

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First post, by BitWrangler

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Hi folks,

I didn't seem to run many PCI soundcards "in era" as it were. Mostly had boards with "adequate" sound on board and didn't get all audiophiley about it. In fact, I don't even have many boards now that are purely PCI and don't have some audio capability. So I don't seem to have much "feel" for where various PCI soundcards belong.

What I know I've got, seen in last few months:

Turtle Beach Riviera CMI8738
Unknown CMI8738
ALS4000
ESS1370
AWE64 PCI CT4380 ?
SB128 PCI CT4810 ?
SB0410
SB0090
Live CT4780 x3

What I might have around "somewhere" only vague memories of them, or they might be hiding in a system or something: SB64 Value?? ES1968 Maestro-2, Another CMI8738, Another ALS4000, possible 2 or 3 more randoms hiding.

Basically then, I am unaware of their special niche talents, apart from the more obvious like the SB0090 is the only one with EAX right, so need that for mid XP stuff.

I am also not real up to date with which ones have been redeemed by better DOS setting programs or SBEMU using them for better SB compatibility. i.e. they used to be a PITA but now they are not.

So it seems unlikely that I'll be using them with CPUs that are slower than 500Mhz native, but may have some tuneable socket A mobile, or use throttle on P3/P4.

OS range, Late DOS, maybe some Glide DOS stuff, through win9x to XP.... not sure if I'm gonna need one or two that can get drivers for Vista or Win7 64bit.

Ideally, I'd like to identify the best for wide use, DOS thru XP and the ones that are best at directsound, for DX gaming.

Only vaguely got the builds in my head at the moment. For mid XP that might use the EAX at the moment, out of what I've got I'm thinking PentiumD with a GF7800GS and the SB0090 or something like that, might have some 98/XP stuff that's around 1.5ghz in socket A, XP only socket A thoroughbred on NForce2, and that kind of thing.

One of them might be wanted in a high speed K6-3+ setup along with an ISA card, in that instance might be looking for the low CPU load some are best at.

Anyhoo, if anyone can help me calibrate my gut about what most belongs where that would be great.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 1 of 3, by chinny22

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Guessing you did some homework first as all cards support dos/9x/XP but only the Audigy will work with Vista and later AFAIK
Short answer is the Audigy is a good card, rest are compromises.

CMI8738's
Don't know much about this one, seems like dos compatibility is a bit hit or miss
Cmedia CMI8738 - maybe its Biggest Secret
https://www.philscomputerlab.com/c-media-cmi8738.html

ALS4000
Good OPL (which the below cards don't have) but no hardware acceleration or EAX.
Basically, a special use card for a dos only PC that lacks ISA

AWE64 PCI CT4380
Interesting card that predates Creative takeover of Ensoniq and using their more advanced dos driver.
Don't know much about the card. Seems like it's a true AWE64 but on PCI, and relies on the SB-Link connector on the M/B for dos compatibility.

The below cards all use the same driver in dos so will act exactly the same.
Only difference is Live and Audigy emulate a SB16 vs SB Pro of the AudioPCI

CT4810 = SB128 PCI & ESS1370
Hardware acceleration but EAX 1 done in software, dos support
Part of the Infamous SoundBlaster/Ensoniq PCI range supports its own "sound font" format ECW although only 3 files exist.
Review here which matches my personal opinion as well Review: Sound Blaster PCI 128 (CT4810)

SB0410 = Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit
No Hardware acceleration or EAX2 (all done in software)
Actually, cut down version of the Audigy so maybe better snr rating? otherwise comparable to the CT4780

SB0090 = Audigy 1 Platinum EX
Hardware acceleration, EAX 3, supports dos mode and Win98-Win 7
Personal opinion: Good all round card

CT4780 = Dell SB Live! OEM
No Hardware acceleration or EAX 2 (all done in software) not sure if it supports dos mode, needs special drivers available here.
https://archive.org/details/sblive-1024
Personal opinion: not a terrible card if you have one lying around for use in a a overkill PC with fast CPU and loads of RAM and don't want to spend any money.

Reply 2 of 3, by BitWrangler

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Thanks very much yeah that helps me sort them out a bit. Guess the SB0090 might be for a fast dual core dual booting on the top end of OS spectrum. Maybe the AWE64 goes in a s370 board that's all PCI and puts the SB link to use, tualatin maybe, or at worst a PIII 800ish. Will probably have more intelligent thoughts about the others when I'm awake. Thanks again.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 3 of 3, by chinny22

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One of my S370 PC's has a SB128 PCI variant onboard and it's not terrible even in dos.

The thing people forget is many of us have multiple PC's for different era's and good chance a non ISA PC's main focus is windows with a bit of late dos gaming on the side and even late dos games were were moving to digital sound AND music meaning the poor OPL and Midi isn't as important as it was for earlier dos machines.

With all that said I would only use it on a secondary PC and just for something different. Chucking a Live/Audigy in every PC gets boring after a while.

One thing I never thought about till now was I guess you had both a Creative card AND the ALS4000 to cover the poor OPL would make for a pretty good setup.

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