AFAIK you should get true OPL3, good SBPro compatibility and MPU-401 UART. The only downside is the lack of a wavetable header. In Windows you get a competent enough SoftSynth. HighTreason has a video review of one if these in his YouTube channel, you can check that out.

Thanks... That pre-SB16 is a plus for my old machine.
Think it will be a better choice than the current SB16 CT2910 wich I have in that machine.
724 + Gus-Ace sounds like a better setup to me.

I have played around with that card and if your board fully supports it then it is pretty awesome for a time machine. In Windows / MS-DOS Box you get really nice hardware assisted MIDI, true OPL3, low noise and Sensaura (A3D 1.0, EAX 1/2, DS3D). In pure DOS you get real OPL3. I am looking for a super socket 7 board with the SB-Link header for myself.

Try locating an Epox MVP3-C as I have.
Agp (not shure if its an cribbeled ago)
Lots of PCI slot and ISA.
Both At and ATX power connector.
SB-Link/pc-PCI header.

I have it running a P-133.
CL-5446 PCI
16mb ram
2gb HDD
SB16 and GUS-ACE

If you're using a Socket 7 board with ISA slots, just get an ISA card. You can disable this card in Windows and use the PCI card. I always see PCI cards for DOS as last resort if you simply don't have any ISA slots.

philscomputerlab wrote:

If you're using a Socket 7 board with ISA slots, just get an ISA card. You can disable this card in Windows and use the PCI card. I always see PCI cards for DOS as last resort if you simply don't have any ISA slots.

I do have a SS7 board with ISA. So on this machine, it is only to have something slightly more retro in terms of SB-Pro.
You know... SB16 have not fully SB-Pro compatibility. Though the compatibility is ok to be used for my need's.
On the other hand, I have an Intel VC-820 board, wich is a P3 Slot1 and 820-chipset.
And I can get the card for cheap. The last thing wich really makes me want that card, is that people say it is a quiet card.

Perhaps it is better to have that card, paired with an GUS-ACE, or perhaps it is better in my VC-820 machine.
Only time will tell, as I was really not that impressed with my current A-Open pci soundcard, that has SB-Link.
For time being. My VC-820 machine are running a SB-Live. Wich is better than that A-Open with a Crystal-SoundChip.
Only feature that makes that card stand out in my collection, is that it has a SB-Link header.

squareguy wrote:

I am looking for a super socket 7 board with the SB-Link header for myself.

Up until now I found these Super Socket 7 boards with PC/PCI , SB-Link.

Trigem / eMachines Delhi-III

Epox EP-MVP3C
Epox EP-MVP3C2
Epox EP-MVP3G-M
Epox EP-MVP3G2
Epox EP-MVP3G5

NMC-5VM5e
NMC-5VX-2
NMC-5VMX

The NMC ones are mostly Epox boards with an NMC sticker.
But since I have 4 ISA slots, I will abuse that (Yamaha YMF-718). 😀

IIRC, there are suble differences between DSDMA and SB-LINK/ PC-PCI between chipsets found on Epox boards (MVP3) and chipsets on 440BX boards - both in pure DOS and windowed DOS.

Also my tests, currently on a 440BX setup and VIA C3 CPU, confirm a YMF724 using SB-Link to be as compatible as a Sound Balster Pro 2. It even passes the SB Pro 2 test utility, TEST-SBP.EXE, by playing both 2-OP/ 4-OP FM music (2-OP is speed sensitive and the CPU needs slowing down). Besides this, it also runs SBFMDRV.COM games.

So, instead of a PCI sound card being a second choice, it's now one of my favourite SB clone cards. It's more compatible than its ISA cousin, YMF71x. And just as compatible as a SB Pro 2 in my tests, with more features and sounding cleaner. I also prefer using its Speaker Out, rather than Line Out (simple jumper change) - just sounds better with my headphones.

It's main downside is figuring out which games need DSDMA (e.g. Doom 2, Magic Carpet) and switching with appropriate batch files (to run DSDMA.EXE), but you only need to set this up once. Even stubborn games such as Ultima 7 and demoscene stuff work on this thing; the C3 CPU is very flexible for speed sensistive apps...

Intriguing indeed. Hmmm.
How about wavetable/midi in pure MS-Dos-6.22?

brostenen wrote:

Intriguing indeed. Hmmm.
How about wavetable/midi in pure MS-Dos-6.22?

I'm running MS-DOS 6.22 on this setup and mainly use external MIDI synths, but don't have any connected up right now. I've tested my synths before with DOS 7.1, so they should work fine. I'll get around to testing them at some point.

External yes. Those Roland modules and such.
I had more the XG-wavetable-midi-something on my mind.
You know... Choosing General Midi in Doom setup.
Sorry if I confuse. This is really not my primary field of retro.

brostenen wrote:

External yes. Those Roland modules and such. I had more the XG-wavetable-midi-something on my mind. You know... Choosing General […]
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External yes. Those Roland modules and such.
I had more the XG-wavetable-midi-something on my mind.
You know... Choosing General Midi in Doom setup.
Sorry if I confuse. This is really not my primary field of retro.

Doom setup is just looking for a MIDI port, whether external or internal. If you're referring to its on-board XG synth, you'd need to run Win9x and your games from a windowed DOS session. If you want to just use MSDOS 6.22, you can use an external XG synth (or GM/ GS synth) at port 330h or whatever via the UART MIDI port on the YMF724; or if using multiple sound cards, the relevant port for the MIDI daughter board - Doom doesn't care.

Its like the YMF71x, to get SoftSynth you need Windows.

Also, the other thing to consider with this card is the way it handles IRQs in its setup: ISA, S-IRQ and INTA. The S-IRQ option seems to be the most compatible when using the PC-PCI (SB-Link) option - negating the need to use DSDMA for the aforementioned games.

Bought that damn thing. 15 US Dollars including shipping first priority.
How was it again, with that SB-Link header?

Is it pin 1 on the card to pin 1 on the motherboard. Pin2 on the card to pin2 on the motherboard and so forth?

brostenen wrote:

Bought that damn thing. 15 US Dollars including shipping first priority.
How was it again, with that SB-Link header?

Is it pin 1 on the card to pin 1 on the motherboard. Pin2 on the card to pin2 on the motherboard and so forth?

The connector has a pin missing at both ends, so it's easy to figure out which goes where. There are several sellers on ebay selling compatible cables for $4 a pair, or you can roll your own.

Yeah. Know that there are sellers. I asked about pin to pin a couple of months ago.
I had the correct answer. I just can't seem to find the post again.
I remember it as just pin1-pin1, pin2-pin2, pin3-pin3, pin4-pin4 and pin5-pin5.
I am just not 110% sure if I remember correct. I have these 20+ bags of cd audio cables.
For the pin missing... Not sure exactly what piece of hardware that I have that has all 6 pins on it.
It's either my Epox MVP3-C, the Intel VC820 or my A-Open Crystal based PCI soundcard.
Another reason for me to doubt what I remember being correct regarding SB-Link pin's.

I didn't even know any Socket 7 motherboard with SBLink. A list of boards with this header would be nice.

carlostex wrote:

I didn't even know any Socket 7 motherboard with SBLink. A list of boards with this header would be nice.

You'll find SB-Link headers mostly on 440BX boards using Slot 1, but also on 440LX. They're less common on Socket 370 (440BX and MVP3) and Super Socket 7 (MVP3 - mainly on EPOX boards named earlier in this thread).