ux-3 wrote:

a resource hungry TSR for SB16 emulation. If it is a general problem of the PCI bus, then the story ends here. If it is the TSR of the SBLive, then I would have an idea for an alternative.

SBLive's emulation TSR is indeed hoggy, even a 500MHz computer gets heavy slowdowns with it and opl2 audio especially in Sierra games. DOS games are unbearable with it imo if not only just the inaccurate fm but the uneven timing thanks to it.

ux-3 wrote:

Another idea would be to use a KT133a board with an ISA slot. I have read through the pages of the KT133a thread, but I couldn't […]
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Another idea would be to use a KT133a board with an ISA slot. I have read through the pages of the KT133a thread, but I couldn't figure out, if such a board exists that can do what I need:
1xISA, AthlonXP support with voltage control for my XP-M (1,55V or lower),
Multi in Bios, FSB in Bios. L1 off, L2 off.
Does that board exist?

Re: L1 and L2 caches = Disabled. Check out this Abit KT7A BIOS tweak guide -

http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Motherboards/K … -Tweak-Guide/4/

Half way down on that webpage, it describes these two options. So, this board can do this OK. Also, check out this other webpage from that article -

http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Motherboards/K … -Tweak-Guide/1/

It shows you the Multi, FSB, and voltage options. The Abit KT7A PCB revision number 1.3 is a good board, if you require extra BIOS tweaking such as OC'ing and voltage adjustment. The caps on them are also better than the Epox and Soltek KT133A based boards. Also, I have discovered that the XP-M CPUs are "resilient" to extra volts being sent through them. I think I had a 1.45V 2400+ XP-M running OK at 1.7V once. I've also tried low voltage 1.35V 2200+ XP-M CPUs in KT133A boards, and they have also worked OK. The "default core voltage" selected by these boards appears to be around the 1.50-1.55V value, and they run OK.

Quick update:

I have swapped the SB Live for a ESS Solo1 and voila: SBPro works at all desired speeds!

BUT there is another problem: As soon as I use Throttle, the joystick starts to drift. So throttle is out for Joystick games it seems. (Need to cross check on ISA)

Another unexplained mystery remains:
A P3 800 without L1 cache runs a speedsys of about 8, while a XP at 500 MHz without cache still reaches 18. Is it the DDR vs SDR?

I have just confirmed that Throttle will cause joystick drift with ISA cards as well. 😢

A less depressing side observation: If one starts win98se, opens a dos window, runs throttle, then the game, the joystick does not drift. As a positive bonus, the game now runs even slower. 😉

Perhaps having to use PCI for sound might not be to much of a restraint then. Under pure Dos, one can have stereo SBpro with wavetable. Under Windows, SB Live! is available.

That would mean managing two line outs for your speakers, which could be annoying unless you had two pairs of well shielded, phasing speakers (i.e. a "retro" set and the OMG LIVE! SUPER ENVIRONMANT SOUNDS LIKE ITS REAL set)

Glad you have it working though. Sblive's tsr is so terrible, even the worse sounding VIA AC'97 "legacy" TSR is much faster. No that won't work with the 'live. 🙁

ux-3 wrote:

Perhaps having to use PCI for sound might not be to much of a restraint then. Under pure Dos, one can have stereo SBpro with wavetable. Under Windows, SB Live! is available.

I used an ISA soundcard next to a SB-Live for a while. I routed the ISA sound output through the SB-Live and then to the speakers. There is a little tool I found and adjusted to 'wake up' the mixer of the SB-Live in Dos. I can post it here if there is interest.

gerwin wrote:

I used an ISA soundcard next to a SB-Live for a while. I routed the ISA sound output through the SB-Live and then to the speakers.

Clever!