smeezekitty wrote:

The Sims 2 definitely supports 1920x1080 but not through the official options. Looks great in widescreen.

My card has a 400MHz RAMDAC and VGA still looks noticeably inferior on 1280x1024, 1440x900 and 1920x1080

I did not say the Sims 2 does not support higher resolutions, I said it requires conf adjustments beyond in-game settings (in-game default caps to 1600x1200). You can edit the configurations to give you more options, force it to a single resolution, enable multi-monitor, etc. It is vert- without additional modification, and the cutscenes are fixed, but otherwise it can work well at above 1600x1200 depending on the monitor. See here for more: http://www.wsgf.org/dr/sims-2

On the VGA connection - as previously posted, it can depend on the monitor as well (cabling can also be a factor at very high resolutions).

Decided to go ahead and buy a PCMCIA gameport card for my Toshiba 486 laptop, now that I've found proper PCMCIA drivers. Of course, I won't get it (actually they - had to buy a lot of 3 for $20) until after the first of the year. At least, that's what eBay says.

Bought Hoontech DSP24 Media 7.1 & ADCDAC 3000. New but not in BOX. Totally cost almost $150. 😢

In fact I really don't like those AMP but sound card is most wanted.

The important part is this Dream "SAM9703" and MIDI ROM. But the sound is somewhat not suitable for DOS Gaming.

The MIDI Rom is not beautiful as I first see the sound card picture before, no GS logos.

This is with GS logo.

After taking this picture, I found the seller didn't send me manual & CD for ADCDAC 3000. 😵
But I bought them as a antique. The first buyer's blog tells Media 7.1 is better than 6 fire. I should try this one support nowaday systems.

In light of Cloudschatze pointing out that the CT2940 I picked up (that has the real Yamaha OPL3 chip) is missing the crystal oscillator, I went back to the store and found this laying about the sound cards. But can anyone tell me what the missing chip is, or what goes in there?

That socket's for a CT1748 ASP/CSP chip, though it's not really necessary.

ik777 wrote:

Bought Hoontech DSP24 Media 7.1 & ADCDAC 3000. New but not in BOX. Totally cost almost $150. 😢

That looks pretty cool!
What is it in general? A home studio sound card? How is the sample GS quality?

Stojke wrote:

That looks pretty cool!
What is it in general? A home studio sound card? How is the sample GS quality?

The DSP24 Media 7.1 is Awesome for $60. I'd thinking about buying one another for spare. (better than buying a midi D/B and seller still have this somemore.)
A dream chipset with licenced Roland Rom. The card just support until XP, thinking about MIDI input My main pc to out my retro DSP24 PC.
Sound is very familiar to koreans, because dream chipset was used by korea karaoke machine. (I once noticed here.)

ADCDAC 3000 is just a standalone DAC, thought it can plug with Media 7.1 (My mistake). It support ADAT fiber i/o that I didn't have any.
But I could sell it next month, or I still hold on this. It is impossible to buy this thing $90)

dave343 wrote:

In light of Cloudschatze pointing out that the CT2940 I picked up (that has the real Yamaha OPL3 chip) is missing the crystal os […]
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In light of Cloudschatze pointing out that the CT2940 I picked up (that has the real Yamaha OPL3 chip) is missing the crystal oscillator, I went back to the store and found this laying about the sound cards. But can anyone tell me what the missing chip is, or what goes in there?

If you know what type the missing crystal oscillator it was, you could easilly fix it, if you can solder.. What do you else expect from an old device whats mosly sold as` gold scrap`.. In these times, you cant be very picky.
So i would recommend to fix your old card instead, because its an easy fix, if you have some time left and take it easy to fix it.

ik777 wrote:

Bought Hoontech DSP24 Media 7.1 & ADCDAC 3000. New but not in BOX. Totally cost almost $150. 😢

That looks very similar to the Hercules Game Theater XP; is it? Or are there significant differences between them? 😊

obobskivich wrote:

ik777 wrote:

Bought Hoontech DSP24 Media 7.1 & ADCDAC 3000. New but not in BOX. Totally cost almost $150. 😢

That looks very similar to the Hercules Game Theater XP; is it? Or are there significant differences between them? 😊

The cable look suitable to ADCDAC3000 but it could never handle him.

Pin socket is complete different. the main chipset VT1712 is used also terratec 6 fire.(like rather this)
this via sound chip support windows 7 but both of them uses manufacturer's eeprom so cannot work in windows vista above until vendors don't make any drivers.
In my experience, only Audiotrak made eeprom writer of their envy24 cards return to plain via sound card. As they offer a plain stereo output, this could be.
But dsp24 and 6 fire should giveup using in 64bit 7 later or use beta version of drivers. Anyway if new drivers offered like Audiotrak, It is the death of external Rack.

-

To be fair, if he doesn't have a lot of experience with fixing hardware, a Sound Blaster 16 is the perfect piece of hardware to start, since their expendability makes screwing up not a big deal

PeterLI wrote:

There is no need to fix sB16s. They are a dime, a dozen. 🤣

If you have some luck to find one nowdays 😵 With all collectors, that pile is gone in no time.

PeterLI wrote:

There is no need to fix sB16s. They are a dime, a dozen. 🤣

I always have an issue with this sort of mindset. This is precisely why some of the hardware is so rare nowadays; people didn't see the point in keeping it going because it was common, or the exact inverse.

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PeterLI wrote:

Nonsense. Rare items were only sold in low numbers. Roland and other niche cards are perfect examples. SB16s and Trident ISA VGAs are perfect examples of common items. The former only appear for sale a few times a year: the latter all day long all year.

There is very little demand for retro equipment BTW. More than 99.9999% of electronic scrap annual tonnage is recycled / land filled because there is virtually no secondary market.

Thats why i said, they are hard to find nowdays.. 😊 So it really doesnt make a difference if it was a more common item or not..

Robin4 wrote:

PeterLI wrote:

Nonsense. Rare items were only sold in low numbers. Roland and other niche cards are perfect examples. SB16s and Trident ISA VGAs are perfect examples of common items. The former only appear for sale a few times a year: the latter all day long all year.

There is very little demand for retro equipment BTW. More than 99.9999% of electronic scrap annual tonnage is recycled / land filled because there is virtually no secondary market.

Thats why i said, they are hard to find nowdays.. 😊 So it really doesnt make a difference if it was a more common item or not..

+1

Rare:
(of a thing) not found in large numbers and consequently of interest or value.

Doesn't matter if 100 million are produced if only 1 still exists.

Quite a bit of the common stuff has been liquidated already and will get harder to find for new collectors. Just because I have stacks of SB cards of all types doesn't mean a new collector has the same easy time finding the stuff. Quite a few of my SB cards came from a recycler who sold them to be by the pound when I used to visit on Fridays and browse their bins. That resource of mine went away and his "stock"
was continually liquidated even when he was around. You have no idea how many scrappers are searching for our collectables because they need to make a living and how many collectors who had to move on short notice gave up their stuff to these people. It also seems that quite a few people are coming to this hobby lately making what is still around more expensive to buy.

I have a few old Mac power supplies that I replaced because they had issues and it was cheaper to replace then repair. One thing I did was save those supplies because I knew sooner or later I would need another one and repairing would eventually be cheaper then finding a working replacement. Same with video cards that need reballed or capacitors replaced, some day it will be cheaper then sourcing a working unit.

Again, SB16s and Trident ISA cards may be common now - but will that be the case in five years time? It's easy to draw a comparison with cars; look how few Ford Sierras are left on the road (forget the sporty models), because they were so common that very few of the rougher models were ever saved.

very true.

I don't use ebay myself (i like dealing locally and attend fleamarkets etc.) but i do look at ebay every once in a while.
When i see a lot of computer scrap for sale (in US) i allways think: I would buy that in a heartbeat if i lived there.... You could easily take out the parts you need and sell of the rest and make a profit too.
So many stuff goes to waste like that and we only focus on the single parts and pay premium prices while there will be nice gems in the scrap.

Just my 2 cents...