DOS cards with Voodoo 5 is a waste of potential. Go for Vortex 2 or Live.

Aureal Vortex 2 for sure, supporting A3D 2.0 which provides a nice "3D sound" experience. The alternative would be the SBLive! 5.1 SB0100 but its support for DOS is mediocre.

The AWE64 can be optionally added as a secondary sound card for better DOS compatibility.

But how come, some (all listed are fully working) cards were just 'skipped' by motherboard? PCI slot giving not enough power? And I think I'll stay with AV2 but isn't CT4760 better even if I'd have to fight with drivers or even reinstalling Win98SE? Does this SoundBlaster have EAX? I got it 'damaged' for free and turned on card looks like new and fully working.

Both SBLive! sound cards support EAX 2.0 but the SB0100 variant allows you to use a 5.1 surround speaker system.

You put a 500 Euro graphics card in a computer and dont want to get another known working 15 euro audigy / x-fi card (even platinum models with the cool frontpanel are "just" like 60 euros) ?
That is an interesting choice to even concider a Aztech or ess card instead of something you really want in a computer with such an iconic graphics card.

Aureal Vortex 2 based cards are my favorite for Windows 98 for their 3D sound support.

If you are playing games that support A3D, this is the card I would use.

Ok but as I mentioned, I have SB0100 and CT4760, just I wonder if to replace AV2 as it works? A3D and EAX are cool (I am only aware it works in Half Life) and I know no ISA card support these and I have two Audigy 2 ZSes just in different builds, I wanted to use what I have instead of buying new one but if it's 'da wae' then I'll consider getting one, and hassle with VXD DOS drivers again. 😁

for me it's a no brainer to sb0100 - 2000 card for a 2000 system and a lot of the '3dfx' titles at this time also sported EAX support. You'd lose some dos support and duke3d/sw/blood would crash in some areas, but that wasn't a concern for the time of Y2K 😀

Honestly I never had that much of a need for 'year accuracy' parts. 😉 However, SB0100 was common but not a beast of sound card, right? Also I have SB0200 but this one hates drivers sadly (OEM thing I guess). But I guess it's, now, AV2 vs CT4760 as A3D VS EAX 'with' DOS support or I'll get mad (and frick WDM drivers with CDDA emulation) and I'll buy another Audigy 2 ZS but which one if I will? 😀

haker120 wrote on 2023-11-15, 16:29:

Ok but as I mentioned, I have SB0100 and CT4760, just I wonder if to replace AV2 as it works? A3D and EAX are cool (I am only aware it works in Half Life) and I know no ISA card support these and I have two Audigy 2 ZSes just in different builds, I wanted to use what I have instead of buying new one but if it's 'da wae' then I'll consider getting one, and hassle with VXD DOS drivers again. 😁

Yet another reason to just use native DOS instead of messing around with Windows DOS windows.

In fact, just keep builds separate. Make this a no compromise Voodoo5 Win98SE system with positional 3D audio (A3D and/or EAX - you can do both Aureal2 and SBLive and use whatever works best in $game). You have a different topic about a DOS build with Aztech card. That's a great pairing too and your problems there are also because you don't do (trouble-free) native DOS but insist on doing stuff in Windows.

i'd avoid vortex hardware for the DX7+-related driver horror stories i've heard. If I wanted to scratch an A3D itch, there's those sensaura'd onboard on ~2002 mobos and laptops shortly after.

Also the SBLive!'s app disc has a lot of bloaty gimmick apps (you don't really need) to ring in the new millennium with. This is a very unintentional period build you're making 😀

Probably the vortex just for fun. I had an a3d card when they were still around and never really cared for it that much at the time but it’s cool just because it’s different. It’s a fun interesting thing to add to a system like that, even if it has flaws. It spices things up a little.

I mess with those because I have some great DOS machines with hassle free ISA cards and stuff, these I have problems with are, for me, too fast for pure DOS so I mess with Win98 plus DOS mode. 😀 Aaaand Audigy 2 ZS SB0350 on the way. Or maybe X-Fi card? 🤣

Don't worry much about the statement that running DOS games within Windows 9x isn't good, most of them runs ok and there are some advantages that one can't get with pure DOS. Creating PIF shortcuts with different memory settings helps.

As for PIII-800 being too fast for DOS, the ASUS P2B rev 1.12 has the ICS9248DF-39 clock generator which unofficially works with RayerR's SMB to switch the FSB on the fly. I have a cheat sheet that will help you. I also suggest finding utilities to deal with the "Runtime Error 200" message caused by executables compiled with Borland Pascal.

@Gmlb256 I have patched BIOS, otherwise Slocket1 with P3 inside wouldn't work and for some reason BIOS doesn't start without keyboard in ps/2 slot. I guess official one loads because with P2 500Mhz everything is ok, with or without keyboard present. And for games I use this build I had no issues, mostly Glide titles and more friendly DOS games like Duke 3D or DOOM1/2. 😀 And I'll get Audigy 2 ZS but I guess I'll stay with AV2 as I have no build with A3D and somehow it doesn't have a problem with EAX (or I'm wrong xD).

Gmlb256 wrote on 2023-11-16, 17:13:

Don't worry much about the statement that running DOS games within Windows 9x isn't good, most of them runs ok and there are some advantages that one can't get with pure DOS. Creating PIF shortcuts with different memory settings helps.

Not saying it isn't good, but am saying it's a load of (unnecessary) hassle around VXD vs WDM in some cases, which OP is running into here.

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2023-11-15, 13:11:

DOS cards with Voodoo 5 is a waste of potential. Go for Vortex 2 or Live.

Vortex 2 and Live?