I'd say anything Crystal in PCI form is a poor choice for DOS gaming, and for Windows gaming as well. I had a Crystal card that randomly decided to freeze a SS7 system I have if I started its DOS drivers.

If you care for true OPL3 - get an YMF724-based PCI sound card. And please DO use VxD drivers - no card I know of exposes FM synthesis to DOS applications through WDM drivers.
If you do not care for OPL3 - get something like an SBLive or an Aureal Vortex2. If you don't really need/want EAX or A3D for Windows gaming, something simpler like a Creative/Ensoniq AudioPCI will do.

alexanrs wrote:

I'd say anything Crystal in PCI form is a poor choice for DOS gaming, and for Windows gaming as well. I had a Crystal card that randomly decided to freeze a SS7 system I have if I started its DOS drivers.

If you care for true OPL3 - get an YMF724-based PCI sound card. And please DO use VxD drivers - no card I know of exposes FM synthesis to DOS applications through WDM drivers.
If you do not care for OPL3 - get something like an SBLive or an Aureal Vortex2. If you don't really need/want EAX or A3D for Windows gaming, something simpler like a Creative/Ensoniq AudioPCI will do.

I disagree, certainly in the case of the CS4630. It's internal sample rate conversion is streets ahead of Creative and Ensoniq AudioPCI. Aureal is also better than Creative in this regard.

I dare guess that the CS4630 is a higher end part compared to the CS4281 due to the numbering. Anyway, I said it is a poor choice for gaming, not that it has bad sound quality. Its VxD drivers don't offer great DOS support (as stated by the OP) and the OPL3 clone is probably bad (as with every Crystal OPL clone I've seen), so not a great choice for DOS gaming. It also does not offer EAX or A3D support, so not the best choice for Windows.

alexanrs wrote:

I dare guess that the CS4630 is a higher end part compared to the CS4281 due to the numbering. Anyway, I said it is a poor choice for gaming, not that it has bad sound quality. Its VxD drivers don't offer great DOS support (as stated by the OP) and the OPL3 clone is probably bad (as with every Crystal OPL clone I've seen), so not a great choice for DOS gaming. It also does not offer EAX or A3D support, so not the best choice for Windows.

I'll agree with that. Certainly it's not built with DOS compatibility in mind (but then I don't think any PCI card truly is). As you said, it's fine for Windows as long as you do not require or care about EAX or A3D. I feel a Vortex 2 card will be the best option if you do.

Well, in that case i'll try to import a Vortex 2 (finding old harware of any kind here is getting really hard these days), thanks for the help.

Where are you from? At least in Brazil you can get Live! and Audigy cards pretty easily. Vortex2 cards are harder to find locally, though.

I'm from Chile, the problem here is finding anything made before 2002-2003 is a nightmare (at least in my area), and most people don't even know what they own when it comes to old computers (if they have one at all).

I have NO IDEA if this is cheap or horribly expensive (I have no idea how much Chile's currency is worth), but I had a look on MercadoLibre Chile and found these:
http://articulo.mercadolibre.cl/MLC-432213268 … ores-de-oro-_JM
http://articulo.mercadolibre.cl/MLC-433145688 … y-gamer-pci-_JM
Surprisingly, the cheaper card is the better one (Audigy > Live!)
Anyway, it was depressing looking for sound cards on MercadoLibre Chile... there is almost nothing there oO

That SB Live is horribly expensive for what it is (like 42 dollars aprox.), the Audigy seems to be at a more reasonable price (21 dollars), but still just a little bit overpriced.

How does the Audigy perform when it comes to DOS games? (W9X and Real DOS modes), is it any better than the Live or just about the same?

It is exactly the same as an SB live for DOS games (they even use the same DOS drivers in pure DOS). But one should be sure to install the VxD drivers to get SB16 compatibility and OPL emulation (not great, but its there). With WDM drivers one gets SBPro compatibility, but not OPL emulation at all.