looks good enough to meet all requirements as is, no need for XP if you can use the win 98 usb driver

The mobo is a solid choice, wish I could find one in good health!

gerry wrote on 2021-10-05, 07:55:

looks good enough to meet all requirements as is, no need for XP if you can use the win 98 usb driver

Seconded.

No need for XP at all unless you just want it, and that is fine if you do....but it won't run XP well at all.

Thank you all for your replies. As there is no voodoo card, how well do you think the above specs can handle glide wrappers? Any performance impact?

I believe it was generally recommended to use 1Ghz upwards as bare minimum, and 1.5Ghz plus for preference. In theory some will run with the most basic MMX and SSE support, maybe you'd be okay playing older stuff at lower res. Things that ran okay on half the CPU per se.

stealthjoe wrote on 2021-10-05, 02:29:

I am more interested in the MIDI the ISA cards (SB 16/Yamaha YMF series) provided with Win 9x games. To be specific, the MIDI music for games such as Road Rash, Fire Fight sounded much nicer on the 9X systems with ISA cards (different sound fonts perhaps? Could someone please throw some light on this?). I could not get the same MIDI effect with even SB Live on Win 98. Need your guidance if the above would be (close to) an ideal config for the above period and to achieve the expected MIDI synthesis. Thanks!

It's hard to know without knowing exactly what your particular listening experience was. The ISA cards you mention do not provide General MIDI without one of the following additions:

- A wavetable daughterboard
- An external MIDI module connected to the gameport
- Onboard wavetable ROM (some ISA cards have this, but an SB16 doesn't)

On the other hand, an SB Live in Windows does provide General MIDI with some help from software.

I wonder if the music you're used to is actually the OPL3 rendition, which those ISA cards will provide by default - and an SB Live will not. If that's the case and you want to replicate this experience on a PCI card, a Yamaha YMF7x4 is the way to go. An ESS Solo-1 would be the second choice.

Pierre32 wrote on 2021-10-06, 03:47:

It's hard to know without knowing exactly what your particular listening experience was. The ISA cards you mention do not provid […]
Show full quote

stealthjoe wrote on 2021-10-05, 02:29:

I am more interested in the MIDI the ISA cards (SB 16/Yamaha YMF series) provided with Win 9x games. To be specific, the MIDI music for games such as Road Rash, Fire Fight sounded much nicer on the 9X systems with ISA cards (different sound fonts perhaps? Could someone please throw some light on this?). I could not get the same MIDI effect with even SB Live on Win 98. Need your guidance if the above would be (close to) an ideal config for the above period and to achieve the expected MIDI synthesis. Thanks!

It's hard to know without knowing exactly what your particular listening experience was. The ISA cards you mention do not provide General MIDI without one of the following additions:

- A wavetable daughterboard
- An external MIDI module connected to the gameport
- Onboard wavetable ROM (some ISA cards have this, but an SB16 doesn't)

On the other hand, an SB Live in Windows does provide General MIDI with some help from software.

I wonder if the music you're used to is actually the OPL3 rendition, which those ISA cards will provide by default - and an SB Live will not. If that's the case and you want to replicate this experience on a PCI card, a Yamaha YMF7x4 is the way to go. An ESS Solo-1 would be the second choice.

Hello Pierre32! Yes!! I believe it is the OPL3 that I experienced with the ISA sound card many years ago. I had an OPL3-SAx Yamaha ISA card (YMF series. Not sure which specific model it was) with my first computer. Also I remember not having attached any wavetable daughterboard or an external MIDI module connected. It was a Pentium 200MMX, 32 MB RAM, Socket7 which was sold off several years ago (still regret the decision). Have attached 2 samples of the game music just to give an overview of what the listening experience was. The first clip is exactly how my experience was with the Yamaha sound card. It was actually recorded with the game running under Win 95 in Pcem (with SB 16 configured). The second one is how my experience is with a SB Live card (similar to a modern AC'97 card).

Let me know your thoughts on this! Thanks.

Yep, that's definitely glorious FM in the first sample, and General MIDI in the second one. A lot of us spend a lot of money chasing down different MIDI devices because you know, it's "better." But the best version is often the one our memories are attached to. And sometimes a good FM rendition actually wipes the floor with the MIDI version.

The good news is, the spec list you've outlined in the OP will deliver the sound you're after. If you ever find yourself working with a PCI-only system, you can refer to my previous post for card recommendations.

I've now been inspired to fire up my 98 box, sans MIDI 😁

Opening up your options some of the P2/P3 era Dell XPS Txx may be a good option.
They used Intel SE440BX3 motherboard, (OEM version SE440BX2) with Yamaha YMF chip onboard.
The plus side you'll actually get XG Midi, kind of like a inbuilt Midi card. The negative is it's on the PCI bus so not much use in pure dos, but within Win9x it's fine.
If your also installing a SB16 then you can use that for pure dos anyway.

Biggest drawback though is the ATX connector isn't standard, adapters are available or you its an easy fix if your handy with a soldering iron
A Permanent Solution to the Dell 'Fake ATX' Power Supply Problem?

chinny22 wrote on 2021-10-06, 10:58:

Opening up your options some of the P2/P3 era Dell XPS Txx may be a good option. They used Intel SE440BX3 motherboard, (OEM vers […]
Show full quote

Opening up your options some of the P2/P3 era Dell XPS Txx may be a good option.
They used Intel SE440BX3 motherboard, (OEM version SE440BX2) with Yamaha YMF chip onboard.
The plus side you'll actually get XG Midi, kind of like a inbuilt Midi card. The negative is it's on the PCI bus so not much use in pure dos, but within Win9x it's fine.
If your also installing a SB16 then you can use that for pure dos anyway.

Biggest drawback though is the ATX connector isn't standard, adapters are available or you its an easy fix if your handy with a soldering iron
A Permanent Solution to the Dell 'Fake ATX' Power Supply Problem?

Hello chinny22. Actually the seller first offered me one SE-443BX board. Thinking it was an OEM board, refused it. Thinking if it could be the same as the one you have mentioned above. Probably would have to recheck again on the onboard sound chip!

Pierre32 wrote on 2021-10-06, 06:58:

Yep, that's definitely glorious FM in the first sample, and General MIDI in the second one. A lot of us spend a lot of money chasing down different MIDI devices because you know, it's "better." But the best version is often the one our memories are attached to. And sometimes a good FM rendition actually wipes the floor with the MIDI version.

The good news is, the spec list you've outlined in the OP will deliver the sound you're after. If you ever find yourself working with a PCI-only system, you can refer to my previous post for card recommendations.

Thanks for letting me know. I am also interested in understanding how good would an ISA sound card be compatible with Daemon Tools. Currently I am able to get the SB Live card to work with DT. Does an ISA card require a physical CD/DVD drive and an analog audio cable to get CD music working?

I've now been inspired to fire up my 98 box, sans MIDI 😁

A good decision indeed!! 😀

stealthjoe wrote on 2021-10-08, 02:44:

Hello chinny22. Actually the seller first offered me one SE-443BX board. Thinking it was an OEM board, refused it. Thinking if it could be the same as the one you have mentioned above. Probably would have to recheck again on the onboard sound chip!

Not sure I'd want the board itself as the front panel connectors aren't standard either. I do have a link saved somewhere of how to mod a case for standard motherboard so it cant be that hard to go the other way round though?

Only other company I know that used OEM Intel BX boards was Gateway but they had the much less desirable Ensonic 1373/SB PCI64 chip so may have still been a good call.

Pierre32 wrote on 2021-10-06, 03:47:

If that's the case and you want to replicate this experience on a PCI card, a Yamaha YMF7x4 is the way to go. An ESS Solo-1 would be the second choice.

Hi! I recently got a YMF724 and tried using it in my current PC (in signature). However, I am getting a BSOD as given below when the system is installing Yamaha legacy drivers under 98:

Any idea on how to fix this issue?

did you remove the sblive? You should be able to use them both but just saying thats with WDM drivers. Or one with WDM and the other with VXDs, but not both VXDs together.

Yes. Removed SB live as well as its drivers prior to installing YMF724.

Could some one please let me know the difference/performance impact if a 550Mhz P3 is used instead of 450Mhz P3 for the above config and timeline? Basically don't want to go overboard in terms of speed so as to account for some CPU bound games. Please let me know your thoughts? Thanks!!

Going from a Katmai 450 to 550 you'll notice very little difference at all, slightly faster load times, etc but 100Mhz isn't much of an upgrade in real terms.
If the upgrade is free I'd do it but if you have to buy the CPU I'd be looking to get a 600Mhz to get more bang for you buck.

Now if your talking about upgrading to a Coppermine 550 and more importantly its faster L2 cache it may indeed be worth the upgrade.
but for your time frame I wouldn't call any Slot 1 P3 "overboard" never a bad thing for Windows/games to load that little bit quicker

Thanks chinny22. Had requested for the 500+ Mhz processor just in case. The seller was fine to do so with the same cost. Also getting one additional P2 233 Mhz for better DOS compatibility.