Re: Sound cards? Do they make that much of a difference?

Posted on 2015-05-20, 11:42

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I agree. A very broad subject. If you are just referring to Sound Blaster, then you basically have: Sound Blaster original - 8-bit mono up to 22.5 KHz (version 2 could mix up to 44.1 KHz) Sound Blaster Pro & Pro 2 - 8-bit stereo up to 22.5 KHz (backwards compatible with original Sound Blaster) Sound …

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Re: Buying a Pentium 2 233MHZ PC.

Posted on 2015-05-20, 11:11

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

You can run a CPU identification utility to give you an idea which Celeron CPU you have. Alternatively, your can unplug the CPU from the motherboard and look up the serial number directly from the CPU. However, the first option is much easier and less risky.

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Re: Clone 386 upgraded today to a DLC - With questions inside!

Posted on 2015-05-19, 07:00

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

I'm looking around for a spare 386 or 386/486 combo motherboard but, one that is still operational. Unfortunately, some of the prices on eBay are ludicrous. Has to have the PGA sockets for the CPU and math co-processor so that I can just drop in my CPU (as I have a spare AMD 386DX-40 CPU lying …

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Re: Soldering a 386 PGA socket onto a motherboard

Posted on 2015-05-19, 06:44

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

if you are thinking of having a 386 with VLB slots, it won't work. I hate to rain on that parade, but the 386 just doesn't have the interconnects for it. Are you stating for this board or in general? As I have one 386/486 combo VLB board with OPTi chipset and VLB cards work normally. I recall that, …

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Re: Soldering a 386 PGA socket onto a motherboard

Posted on 2015-05-18, 21:32

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

if you are thinking of having a 386 with VLB slots, it won't work. I hate to rain on that parade, but the 386 just doesn't have the interconnects for it. That said, soldering braid wick is what you are looking for. its relatively cheap and easy to use. Not actually interested in the Vesa Local Bus …

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Soldering a 386 PGA socket onto a motherboard

Posted on 2015-05-18, 19:32

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I'm looking for some advice as I'm very new to the world of soldering and de-soldering. Attached is a picture of a 386/486 combo motherboard. As can be seen from the picture, although there is a place for the 386 CPU, it's missing the 386 PGA socket. Suppose I do have an old 386 (non functional) …

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Re: AMD 486 DX4-100 (WT), Intel 486 DX4-100 (WT) & Intel Pentium Overdrive 83 MHz (WT) performance comparisons

Posted on 2015-05-18, 11:19

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Some interesting findings I've made with my AMD 5x86-133 (in write back mode) on an ASUS PVI-486SP3 motherboard with a PCI graphics card. In its "standard" (turbo switch on) mode, it performs as expected, based on benchmark tests performed with Norton Sysinfo 8.0, Landmark v2.0, and NSSI 0.60. As …

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LED display jumper settings for PC cases

Posted on 2015-05-17, 12:31

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I recently acquired an Asus PVI-486SP3 motherboard and inside the box I also found a folded piece of paper. Upon unfolding it, I discoverd that it contained the jumper settings for the LED display of a PC case. I've scanned it in and attached the file. For those of you that are still fortunate …

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Re: Wolf3d vs 286-10Mhz running slow

Posted on 2015-05-14, 19:10

by

by jesolo

in DOS

in DOS

Although the minimum system requirements for Wolfenstein 3D is a 286 CPU, I would recommend a 386 SX-25 or faster for optimum gamplay. I can think of so many examples of minimum system requirements being quoted for software but, when you try to run it on those minimum specifications, you soon …

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Re: How to prevent ISA pnp s.card automatically disables onboard sound card

Posted on 2015-05-11, 12:17

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Try setting, in your BIOS, the Plug 'n Play aware OS setting to NO or Disabled. If that doesn't work, write protect your BIOS. This will depend on your hardware setup as sometimes you can do this via jumper settings on your motherboard or, in the BIOS itself.

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Re: Aztech Sound Galaxy NX 16 PRO manual

Posted on 2015-05-10, 19:54

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Jesolo: How is the Soundblaster compatibility on this card? My card has the FCC ID I38-MMSN803 as you said. I also tested SoftMPU with the card. It works with the SB MIDI switch :) I think your card has the volume control thumb wheel at the back, whereas my card has a full software based volume …

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Re: Aztech Sound Galaxy NX 16 PRO manual

Posted on 2015-05-10, 09:03

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I've always wondered what the difference between the NXPro 16 and Basic 16/Pro 16 was. From what i can see, they share the same hardware components. Might be a matter of the software that were bundled with the cards. Slightly off topic, but why were the sound cards, that utilized the AZT1605 chipset …

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Re: Aztech Sound Galaxy NX 16 PRO manual

Posted on 2015-05-09, 20:49

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have the Sound Galaxy Basic 16 sound card (FCC ID: I38-MMSN810) which I bought back in late 1994 (it was my first sound card and I still have the original box, disks & manuals). It is currently performing it's duties again in my retro Cyrix 486DLC machine after many years in storage. My card is …

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Re: 486 motherboard cache upgrade where to buy for 512k and 1024k

Posted on 2015-05-06, 22:09

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Just as a matter of interest. How much of an improvement does one gain by upgrading your L2 cache from 128kb to 256kb or 512kb? Where does this benefit come in mostly (which applications)?

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Re: AMD 486 DX4-100 (WT), Intel 486 DX4-100 (WT) & Intel Pentium Overdrive 83 MHz (WT) performance comparisons

Posted on 2015-05-06, 07:02

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

Yes, I must admit that overclocking some CPU's shouldn't cause any harm. A good example (based on some posts I've read) is your AMD 5x86-133, with later models actually being quite capable of running at 40 Mhz x 4 = 160 MHz (apparently, they were unoffiicially rated to run at those speeds). The …

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Re: AMD 486 DX4-100 (WT), Intel 486 DX4-100 (WT) & Intel Pentium Overdrive 83 MHz (WT) performance comparisons

Posted on 2015-05-05, 18:58

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

These days, I'm actually wary in overclocking my retro hardware. Since these retro parts are becoming more scarce by the day, I would like to keep my hardware in working condition for as long as possible. Overclocking my CPU and other components just tells me that it could reduce the life span of my …

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Re: Should I keep my Presario 2256?

Posted on 2015-05-03, 13:52

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

What legacy CD games are you looking at selling?

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AMD 486 DX4-100 (WT), Intel 486 DX4-100 (WT) & Intel Pentium Overdrive 83 MHz (WT) performance comparisons

Posted on 2015-05-03, 12:34

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I currently own an AMD 486 DX4-100 (write through) CPU (I also have an AMD 5x86-133 but, for purposes of this discussion, I'm only looking at Intel CPU's). I was wondering that, if I wanted to upgrade the AMD CPU to an Intel 486 DX4-100 (also the write through model) or an Intel Pentium Overdrive 83 …

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Re: What sound card is this and does any one have the drivers for Win 98 and Dos/Win3.11?? Uses crystal cs4231-kl chipset

Posted on 2015-05-01, 08:15

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

It would probably depend which Aztech model you have. There were a number of Aztech generation sound cards, utilizing different chipsets. My favourites are: the first generation (has support for Disney Sound Source/Covox Speech Thing as well) but doesn't have an MPU-401 interface (UART) and is also …

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Re: Does the CT4390 (AWE64 Gold) have the hanging notes bug?

Posted on 2015-04-29, 19:41

by

by jesolo

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

No, none of the AWE64 cards have this bug since they all utilise DSP version 4.16, which is MIDI hanging note bug free.

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