Stretch wrote:

Tertz, have you figured out how to get digital TOSLINK output working on YMF7x4 in real MS-DOS?

I suspect this would need a DOS driver but no one made it. I have no toslink on YMF: one card has coaxial, the other has no digital out.

stamasd wrote:

But it has one problem (as all BX boards do): AGP is only 1x/2x (3.3V) and I want to use a AGP 4x card (1.5V)

Cards supported 3V up to GF5, and some Chinese GF6. With i815 and hence P3 to use higher model is doubtful and you may significantly ruin the compatibility. With P3 probably is better to use GF3 as max, as later cards have worse compatibility with DX7 and maybe earler games. To use Tualatin instead of P3 also has higher compatibility risks with DOS apps, as the min its dowclocking is P3 700 what is far from P2 level.
To discuss CPU/video for Win9x machine is better in other thread.

is there somewhere a list of all known motherboards with SB-link headers?

There is a short thread.

gdjacobs wrote:

j^aws wrote:

^^ Well, you haven't seen my forthcoming 440BX build!

I have Ensoniq, Turtle Beach and Gravis cards, however, this build is around the YMF724 taking centre stage. This leaves me with 3 ISA slots for other treats. And built around a VIA C3 Ezra-T, I get smooth scaling speeds from a 286 to a Pentium 2. Just this covers an enormous scope for DOS games.

Adding a CT3980 and a GUS PnP covers 2 ISA slots, and the last ISA slot will be taken by an ET4000 VGA card. Which leaves 2 PCI slots and an AGP slot free for something that can run demoscene stuff... So very flexible.

Have you documented your C3 build anywhere? I'm very interested bc of the deeper scaling than K6-2.

Well, I never seem to get the time to fully document anything. I could start a WIP for two C3 builds I have in mind. And BTW, a K6-3+ matched to the right board (Turbo-switched S7) scales just as smoothly, but starting from 8088 to Pentium 2 (slower top end than the C3 though, and no SB-Link).

Tertz wrote:

Cards supported 3V up to GF5, and some Chinese GF6. With i815 and hence P3 to use higher model is doubtful and you may significantly ruin the compatibility. With P3 probably is better to use GF3 as max, as later cards have worse compatibility with DX7 and maybe earler games.

I have a GF7800GS AGP in a 815-chipset motherboard with Win98, no significant compatibility issues. But I'd like to have a YMF744 in there as well, that's why I'm looking for a motherboard that has both SB-link and accepts AGP 1.5V cards.

stamasd wrote:

I have a GF7800GS AGP in a 815-chipset motherboard with Win98, no significant compatibility issues.

This depends of games you play. There were reports about issues in some games on GF6. UT99 needs patching (or non-standard settings which I did not try) to work correctly even on GF4. Generally, the earlier game is, the more chances to get issues on the later made card.

Hello all,
I have ordered the YMF724F-V card. I currently have a P4 system (specs in my signature). Ordered the card as I wanted to experience OPL3 on some Win9x games. Any idea as to how good is the compatibility/issues with this card on i845 chipset motherboards?

Commenting here as I just implemented the SB-Link feature on my Asus P3b-F v1.04 [with 2x ISA slots variant] and wanted to say that with this card I am really happy about the sound outputs, more clear than the CT AWE64 Value that I have now removed it completely from my rig.

Most of what the OP mentioned applies to my needs as well! [to run late DOS games and early Windows9x]

I am still experimenting with it and following on every YMF-724 posts here on Vogons 😀

I'm in the same boat. I read good things about the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz in this and other topics, however I prefer the total feature set of the YMF 724 and wish to keep this crossroad to a one-time purchase. It's not clearly stated and I know not everyone has both to compare, but can anyone verify whether I would be missing out on any Sensaura capability by sticking with the Yamaha chip over a Crystal? I know the hardware itself is pretty much equivalent which makes it just a matter of drivers, yet those from Yamaha are less mature by turn-of-the-millennium standards than Turtle Beach's.

If anyone doesn't know that's OK; I may have fun experimenting for myself but in that case I'd go for the Yamaha since it's what I want more even though I have the opportunity to acquire a Santa Cruz for cheaper.