chinny22 wrote on 2023-01-20, 11:01:

The CT4810 is based off the Ensonic ES137x chip it does support its own type of soundfonts (ecw files) but only 3 files exist. 2, 4, 8MB patches, Dos drivers are exactly the same as the Live accept they emulate a SBPro rather then SB16

That depends on which drivers are used.

Ensoniq's drivers indeed only emulate a SBPro (and maybe Ensoniq Soundscape too?). But Creative's drivers have proper SB16 emulation, in addition to SBPro. Some (newer) variants of this card may be limited to Creative drivers only.

chinny22 wrote on 2023-01-20, 11:01:

Nothing to really add, agree one of the Live! cards is your best pick here. Although if only using 2.0 speaker or headphones it […]
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Nothing to really add, agree one of the Live! cards is your best pick here. Although if only using 2.0 speaker or headphones it doesn't really matter which card if you want the extra bling of the gold connectors. (I also doubt you'll notice any difference in sound)

You have an interesting collection of cards though as far as dos is concerned anyway
The Yamaha YMF cards are a popular choice for PCI only systems due to true OPL and great sounding midi thanks to the XG MIDI chip which is comparable to a external unit like the Yamaha MU10 Midi module.

Aureal Vortex 1 card has better dos drivers and OPL emulation compared to Creative cards.

The ALS4000 also has true OPL chip and native dos support.
The ALS4000 PCI Sound Card - PCI SB Compatibility in Newer Systems

The CT4810 is based off the Ensonic ES137x chip it does support its own type of soundfonts (ecw files) but only 3 files exist. 2, 4, 8MB patches, Dos drivers are exactly the same as the Live accept they emulate a SBPro rather then SB16
The Diamond card I don't really know but think it's based on the FM801 chip and seems to have good dos performance.
ForteMedia FM801 FM Synthesis

So you don't have any real trash cards which is always nice to know, but even if you did want dos support I'd still keep things easy and just use the Live! These cards are more if you wanted to build anther PC on the cheap.

Oh and this page is good at telling you if it supports EAX, A3D and what versions.
https://members.optusnet.com.au/kirben/3dsoftware.html

Thanks for the compliment on my audio collection 😀 the little XG one is adorable, but can the XG synth be used under a true dos6 build if it were used in conjunction with an ISA soundcard such as the CT2800, like a DB60/50XG alternative?
I think that is most of the PCI ones i have, though i do have another creative one somewhere inside my sun microsystems e250 because of alleged compatibility, and there should be another CT4810 knocking around somewhere...

zyga64 wrote on 2023-01-20, 11:26:

Meatball wrote on 2023-01-19, 23:54:

Vic Zarratt wrote on 2023-01-19, 23:48:

Also while i'm still here - if i can't get my 128bit pci-e nVidia 6200le working, should i fallback on a 64bit pci matrox g450 dual-head or a 64bit pci nVidia geforce 2mx400?

We'll need someone else with more expertise on the Matrox to chime in. You might get better results opening a new thread. In any case, enjoy!

I think P4 with PCIe deserves something better than PCI GF2MX. Something like Radeon X550 PCIe (it is really Radeon 9550 for PCIe)

Thanks for the input on that, I must agree that a fast P4 does need to be treated right, though I don't really want to buy any more hardware, which is why i'm hoping the fanless 6200le would work, since series 6 nVidia chips are among the last to work under win98 using the official nVidia drivers, but I'm yet to find out if it's going to work beyond theory since 98 is geared towards AGP/PCI and not so much PCIe, which appeared late around 2years before MS canned OS support for win98 in 2006.

I do happen to have an nVidia 8400 (I think an 8400GS) of some description for the legacy PCI, but these early tesla chips are not supported under win98 as far as my research tells me.

Vic Zarratt wrote on 2023-01-20, 12:31:

Thanks for the compliment on my audio collection 😀 the little XG one is adorable, but can the XG synth be used under a true dos6 build if it were used in conjunction with an ISA soundcard such as the CT2800, like a DB60/50XG alternative?

The Yamaha YMF cards can only use the XG synth under Windows. Of course, if you play DOS games from within Windows, they can access it as well. But in pure DOS, it's not possible.

...since 98 is geared towards AGP/PCI and not so much PCIe, which appeared late around 2years before MS canned OS support for win98 in 2006.

It is possible (but somewhat tricky) to get certain PCIe graphics cards to work under Win98. Phil demonstrates that in this video with an ATi Radeon X850.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-01-20, 12:58:

The Yamaha YMF cards can only use the XG synth under Windows. Of course, if you play DOS games from within Windows, they can acc […]
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Vic Zarratt wrote on 2023-01-20, 12:31:

Thanks for the compliment on my audio collection 😀 the little XG one is adorable, but can the XG synth be used under a true dos6 build if it were used in conjunction with an ISA soundcard such as the CT2800, like a DB60/50XG alternative?

The Yamaha YMF cards can only use the XG synth under Windows. Of course, if you play DOS games from within Windows, they can access it as well. But in pure DOS, it's not possible.

...since 98 is geared towards AGP/PCI and not so much PCIe, which appeared late around 2years before MS canned OS support for win98 in 2006.

It is possible (but somewhat tricky) to get certain PCIe graphics cards to work under Win98. Phil demonstrates that in this video with an ATi Radeon X850.

Thanks for the video link, I will watch that later since I'm already subscribed to Phil's excellent channel, shame about the XG being like that though.

zyga64 wrote on 2023-01-20, 11:26:

Meatball wrote on 2023-01-19, 23:54:

Vic Zarratt wrote on 2023-01-19, 23:48:

Also while i'm still here - if i can't get my 128bit pci-e nVidia 6200le working, should i fallback on a 64bit pci matrox g450 dual-head or a 64bit pci nVidia geforce 2mx400?

We'll need someone else with more expertise on the Matrox to chime in. You might get better results opening a new thread. In any case, enjoy!

I think P4 with PCIe deserves something better than PCI GF2MX. Something like Radeon X550 PCIe (it is really Radeon 9550 for PCIe)

All three of the cards are underpowered for a Socket 775 Pentium IV@3.2GHz, but those were the only options available for the scenario presented.

Vic Zarratt wrote on 2023-01-19, 23:48:

Meatball wrote on 2023-01-19, 23:41:

Vic Zarratt wrote on 2023-01-19, 23:37:

Yeah those gold connectors sure are sweet looking, is the quality of the sound output any better between these two?

This is me, but I'd bet I could not tell the difference (not withstanding directional 4.1 versus 5.1) as far as audio quality. I'd pick the newer card made in 2001, versus 199(8 or 9?), though. Placebo, of course.

Well then, whittling 7 cards down to 2 to choose from is a good deal of help from all you who inputted, so thanks again!
Also while i'm still here - if i can't get my 128bit pci-e nVidia 6200le working, should i fallback on a 64bit pci matrox g450 dual-head or a 64bit pci nVidia geforce 2mx400?

Hi

both the geforce and or matrox cards are great for older titles, but if you are playing games past the year 2000; you may expirence slow performance due to bottlenecking a fast pentium4 with a slow video card on the PCI bus. if you absolutely need a geforce video card in PCIe form, avoid all geforce video cards with the NV44 chipset for PCIe as those won't properly work in windows 98. they're ususally very slow turbocache variants anyway.

the rest of the PCIe geforce 6 or 7 line gfx cards that aren't turbocache should work in win9x.

an alternative to team green for PCIe are the Radeon x300-x600 & x700-x850 series gfx chipsets as these also work very well in windows 98.

although you can disregard the above info if you have AGP slot as you have many options to pick from that slot.