VOGONS


First post, by magicmanred

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So I have a few old systems that I love for many reasons I'm sure most if not all of you are familiar with...

One of them is a Super Socket 7 system (AMD K6 3+ 450 APZ 1.7v chip @ 600mhz 120fsb 2.4v) on a Gigabyte GA-5AX rev 5.2.
Massive Aluminum Startech Socket A/370 cooler (slightly modded to fit to clear a cap) with a strong 60mm fan.
System Commander 8.2 is on it with multiple OS's on one hard drive partitioned. Dos 6.22 with Win 3.11 on FAT16 partition. Windows 98 SE Plus! on FAT32 partition. Lastly, Win 2k Pro on NTFS.
40gb UDMA 66 IDE HDD (couldn't help myself... I love hearing these old things seek).
I have a Voodoo 3500 TV card in there with an added fan. (Gotta love the 3dfx glide action! 🤣 )
1 x 256mb of CL2 133mhz Ram (less chips = more overclock on this system)
350w Seasonic PSU.
Good old floppy drives, zip drive, jaz drive, beige card reader and slim DVD / CDRW drive! (May get a dual floppy for it to free up a bay in case I ever find an old working Antec TrueControl 550w PSU with the front panel. I miss that thing. I have one with the front panel that needs a repair... I replaced all bulging caps, but it still acts up unfortunately 😒 )
It also has an S3 Virge GX 4mb PCI card (I use this for booting into the Dos/Win3.x OS). I just switch the bios display from AGP to PCI and have both cables connected to one monitor.
3Com PCI Ethernet
USR ISA 56k Modem (Gotta keep it vintage!)
and lastly... an ISA Sound Blaster 16 CT1770 with DSP chip and built-in 50-Pin SCSI Controller (AIC-6360).
After all said and done, it has one free PCI slot (well technically two, but the one under the AGP is rendered useless because of the fan on the Voodoo3 card).

So this sound card is amazing on so many useful levels.
Firstly, it runs my 2GB Jaz drive.
Second... it's super compatible with everything DOS and Windows 3.xx.

Now, I've been thinking of popping in an AWE32 or AWE64 as I have those sitting around.
I've also always wondered about Gravis Ultrasound... (never had one back in their prime. Always used Sound Blaster).
I want to stick to ISA for obvious reasons.
I feel like the SB16, although super compatible, is a bit old for this current setup. I feel as if it needs a sound card that is more on the tail end of when ISA sound cards were being phased out but yet still compatible in Windows 3.xx.

I wanted to hear some opinions and options that other people might want to try with a setup such as this.
Currently the computer is flawless and I love its ability to be so flexible in operating systems.
I'm open to anyone's ideas for this. My only request is that it be ISA and compatible in all of the OS's it has installed 😎

I want to take this brief opportunity to thank Phils Computer lab for inspiring me to build this specific computer. It was a very fun experience 😀

Here's a couple pics for the curious:
smallfront.png

smallrear.jpg

Reply 1 of 4, by mmx_91

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Really nice system, love it!! Perfect 90's look as well 😀

As for the sound card, I'd go for an AWE64. Very compatible and sounds really well. The only missing feature is OPL3 support, but I prefer to use MIDI synthesis when possible 😀, and don't play many DOS games.

Reply 2 of 4, by magicmanred

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Many thanks! Gotta keep it 90's beige! Haha!

I have at my disposal the CT4500 AWE64.
Is it worth looking into the gold, or should I try the CT4500 first?
Am I going to run into any issues getting it to work in Win 3.xx?
I wonder if it came with any Win3.x software suites like the SB16 did.

Reply 3 of 4, by badmojo

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+1 for the AWE64, and no need to hunt around for a Gold. They're overpriced and add nothing except RCA outs - the Value's 3.5 audio jack is more useful.

The Gold has more onboard RAM I admit but if you can get your hands on a simmconn then you can expand the Value to 28MB and have a great sound font experience too.

Life? Don't talk to me about life.

Reply 4 of 4, by brostenen

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That is.... That is a nice system. Good job.
Don''t sell the SB16, though get an AWE64 and see how it play's out.

Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....

My blog: http://to9xct.blogspot.dk
My YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/brostenen

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