VOGONS


First post, by Brawndo

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I have a CTX socket 7 system I'm in the process of cleaning all the components, and now getting ready to put it back together, and I'm stuck debating on video and sound options. My goal for this system is later DOS games and Win95/98 games which can run on this processor without issue. Here are the system specs:

Biostar M5ATA motherboard (ALI chipset)
AMD K6 233 MHz
64 MB SDRAM

I have quite a few video options, but leaning towards a Voodoo1 or Voodoo2 in conjunction with the ATI Rage Pro Turbo card it came with. Since DOS games are a priority, most likely I'll use the Voodoo1 card for the DOS 3dfx games which aren't compatible with Voodoo2. Can all of those games run well enough on a 233 MHz processor?

As far as sound cards, I'm even more torn. I was planning to use my original SB Live! for the Windows games, and possibly a Sound Blaster 16 CT2940 with real OPL as a secondary card for the DOS games, and run a line out/line in cable between the two. I also have a CT2940 non OPL, an AWE64 Gold, a Turtle Beach Montego Aureal 1.0, a Diamond Monster MX300 Aureal 2.0, and others but I don't think they are a fit for my goals for this system. I do not yet have an ESS 1868F card but plan to get one soon as the DOS FM sound clips I've heard are amazing. However I would like to use a Dreamblaster wavetable card for the DOS games and the SB16 has a header for that. Any other Sound Blaster or other model I should consider for the DOS games? So many options!

Reply 2 of 4, by Gmlb256

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Since DOS compatibility is prioritized, check Gona's list to see which video card actually fits your needs (aside from Commander Keen): https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS/

About ISA sound cards, avoid the SB16 CT2940 as that model has the MPU-401 hanging note bug. Consider looking a SB16 or AWE32 model that has the CT1747 bus chip (having real OPL3 integrated into it) which aren't prone to that bug.

Alternatively, the MK8330 card mentioned in the above post is a very good choice having SBPro, SB16 and WSS compatibility in just one sound card. keropi also sells the Orpheus card.

VIA C3 Nehemiah 1.2A @ 1.46 GHz | ASUS P2-99 | 256 MB PC133 SDRAM | GeForce3 Ti 200 64 MB | Voodoo2 12 MB | SBLive! | AWE64 | SBPro2 | GUS

Reply 3 of 4, by Brawndo

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I'm definitely planning to pick up a MK8330 card in the near future. I didn't know about that one so thanks for the tip.

Also I currently have a CT2940 with the OPL chip which I was thinking about using in this system, probably in conjunction with the Live! I know about the hanging note bug, so are there any issues I should be aware of using the SB16 for FM and effects, and the Live! for midi in DOS? It seems if you use a separate card for midi the hanging note bug is not an issue.

Reply 4 of 4, by Gmlb256

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Using a separate ISA sound card for MPU-401 duties helps to get around the hanging note bug. Another way to get around this is with FixMPU if you are eager to install the DreamBlaster on the SB16 CT2940.

VIA C3 Nehemiah 1.2A @ 1.46 GHz | ASUS P2-99 | 256 MB PC133 SDRAM | GeForce3 Ti 200 64 MB | Voodoo2 12 MB | SBLive! | AWE64 | SBPro2 | GUS