Now that is an unpleasant surprise.
A 512 PCI... it looks like a Ensoniq AudioPCI circuit board except for the square EMU10K1 chip.

If you want a vortex 2 card, some are sold by these obscure names: Dell 5931D Turtle Beach TB400-3356 PCI Sound Card.

Ouch, that hurts! 😳
Any chances to return the card? 10 € isn't much, but considering you got a SB 512 PCI, it's a big disappointment.

I've been looking for Vortex2 cards myself, and was reluctant to buy any of the clone cards. The MX300 seems to be hard to find in Europe.

5u3 wrote:

I've been looking for Vortex2 cards myself, and was reluctant to buy any of the clone cards

These Dell / Turtle beach cards are just as much a clone as the Monster Sound. I have one Retail Turtle Beach Vortex 2 card (Montego II), and one Dell card. The hardware of these two is exactly the same. And the chipset is the same as the Monster Sound. The only thing to look out for is the Turtle Beach Vortex 1 card because it looks quite similar to their Vortex 2 card: Just a few capacitors that are placed differently.

I don't think MX300 is anything really exceptional. I wouldn't hesitate to look at other cards, especially from Turtle Beach. I have a Turtle Beach A3DXStream Vortex1 from Dell that's nice.

That SB PCI 512 might actually be a nice card. It has better MIDI than a Vortex, that's for sure. And its DOS driver is probably better. Windows capabilities are good too, but it lacks that amazing Vortex A3D 2-speaker 3D of course.

I like my Creative SB PCI ES1373 CT5803. Like this one -

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Creative-Labs-CT5803-PC … 3A1%7C294%3A100

swaaye wrote:

I don't think MX300 is anything really exceptional. I wouldn't hesitate to look at other cards, especially from Turtle Beach. I have a Turtle Beach A3DXStream Vortex1 from Dell that's nice.

That SB PCI 512 might actually be a nice card. It has better MIDI than a Vortex, that's for sure. And its DOS driver is probably better. Windows capabilities are good too, but it lacks that amazing Vortex A3D 2-speaker 3D of course.

Wasn't there some joystick port problem with the vortex 1? Anyways I think the vortex 2 made its predecessor obsolete. I never used A3D much, but even without the need for A3D the vortex 2 is a very useful chipset in DOS and Windows 9X (but less so in windows XP);
- Good sound quality / SnR.
- (in windows:) A Midi Synthesizer using DLS-soundbanks.
- Among the best in PCI-card Soundblaster emulation.
- Midi device selector for the windows 9X dosbox.
- Waveblaster header which is functional in pure Dos.

I purchased a budget version of a SB-Live! years ago, and no matter what I tried: windows dosbox SB16 emulation would not install. It seemed like the driver-package detected it was a value edition and refused to give me the extra's. I returned it... I do own two Live! cards without that issue now.

Yeah obviously Vortex 2 is better than Vortex 1. What I meant was that Diamond is not an exceptional brand and MX300 is not necessarily the best Vortex 2 card.

I have a super quad 2500 vortex 2 with the A2 revision of the chip. I would love to own a card with the B revision of the 8830 chip. Here is a link to an auction with the dell card. It doesn't seem to have the wavetable header which is to bad.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-5931D-Turtle-Beach-T … p3286.m20.l1116

Isn't the wavetable header near the bottom of that card?

Wow.... OOps..... that is what I get for posting right after I wake up 🙄

Ebay search "Dell tb400 -3355" gives some more options.
Here is an illustration showing the similarity of the Turtle Beach Vortex boards, tricky ain't it?:

Here's a scan of my Dell-OEM TB Montego A3Dxstream Vortex 1 card. It's a slim little thing. Works great with a DB and sounds good. It came with a Dell Dimension P2-400 in january '99.

Considering how few A3D 2.0 games there are, I don't think you lose much by having Vortex1. It's definitely still got that Aureal 3D quality. I never realized Jedi Knight had A3D support until the other day. 😀

Vortex 1 isn't even the first gen of A3D audio you know. Earlier Aureal 3D sound can be heard from cards like the older Diamond Monster Sounds (MX100, M80, MX200). They used a DSP to do the effects instead of an Aureal ASIC.

There are even some cool chips from ESS that have excellent 3D spatialization, better than Creative and not far off of Aureal. I got a old notebook recently with a ESS Maestro 2 that sounds really amazing actually.

I really hate scams like this 😠 . That SB PCI soundcard worth 1.5 Euros at best.

I have just bought one MX300 from USA though which were priced $3 or 4 without shipping cost (card only). It costs me a total of US$14, so if it came fully working then it's a bargain to me. 🤑 (originally the seller rejected me as i had 0 feedback, but then no one bid for it so...)

Keep the box, please, don't unleash your anger upon it. I would pay like a couple dollars for boxes that i want to get, and this is one of them. Call me silly, but they are quite nice graphic representations of mostly boring electronic pieces we deal with...

Recently i also found a USA-based eBay seller who has 3 boxed, supposedly factory-sealed MX300 for $29.9 each (try to ask for lower), anyone care to try? I wanted to get one but shipping a full-size box from USA to my country will be too expensive.