Interesting, yah just realised one of my TNT2s was a bit of a weird one, the PCB silkscreen says it's an ultra, but bios label says M64, then it's got an "aggressive" fan on for an M64 when they also come without even a heatsink, but counting up the RAM it's seems it's only 64bit wide of 16MB and empty pads on backside. So guess it's not surprising they get taken as either thing when they are confusing like that, because if you saw mine and knew it was an M64, then saw yours, without noting the diff of the backside chips then you'd think M64 maybe/

Thermalwrong wrote on 2024-08-21, 01:08:

cyclone3d wrote on 2024-08-20, 21:27:

The Antex Z1e does exist. After looking for one since 2017 I was beginning to think that none were ever sold or that all of them […]
Show full quote

The Antex Z1e does exist. After looking for one since 2017 I was beginning to think that none were ever sold or that all of them had been scrapped.

I am not sure if it will be usable for DOS games as the manual does not mention sound blaster support.

It does have OPL3 and a wave table header though and the Crystal 4236 ? gives me hope that it does.

Will post in my original Z1/Z1e thread once it arrives and I have done some testing.

I've never heard of this thing, interesting card design just stuffing more and more chips onto one ISA card instead of an ASIC, that QFP Yamaha IC is the MIDI controller?

Never heard of it either until now. A quick Google search gave me the exact eBay item cyclone3d just purchased. 😄 The included PC Mag page led me to Google Books:

PC Mag 28 Mar 1995 wrote:

This card is clearly designed for heavy-duty digital audio production. It's not Sound Blaster-Compatible, so you can forget about playing games requiring that standard.

Erm. 😅 Looks like it dedicated to hardware audio compression in the days when CPU was not fast enough to handle the task.

Warlord wrote on 2024-08-19, 02:00:

I bought this Auzentech prelude, because they dont pop up that often for sale anymore and not for the price I paid for it. I did notice the few bent pins.

Watch out for the bent pins on the header ..

cyclone3d wrote on 2024-08-20, 21:27:

The Antex Z1e does exist. After looking for one since 2017 I was beginning to think that none were ever sold or that all of them […]
Show full quote

The Antex Z1e does exist. After looking for one since 2017 I was beginning to think that none were ever sold or that all of them had been scrapped.

I am not sure if it will be usable for DOS games as the manual does not mention sound blaster support.

It does have OPL3 and a wave table header though and the Crystal 4236 ? gives me hope that it does.

Will post in my original Z1/Z1e thread once it arrives and I have done some testing.

Ah yes, I talked to the seller about that a while ago when he listed it. I wanted to buy it, but he originally had it listed for thousands of dollars. I talked to him about it and he was very reasonable, so he opened it up to offers, but said that $500 was the lowest he could go for now... that was over a month ago and it hadn't changed the last time I looked at it. He must have finally lowered the price though. You definitely got a decent deal since it is probably one of the rarest sound cards we've talked about here on VOGONS.

When I asked the seller about how he came to own this card he said he was the original owner and ordered it over the phone directly from Antex at some point in the late 90s "before one could make MP3s with just software" (his words).

Anyway, I'm so glad you got it, because I know you'll properly investigate and document it! I'm looking forward to seeing what you find out. I'm also curious to know what the deal is with that Yamaha chip near the OPL3. At first I thought it was an OPL4, but I can't quite read the markings on it and the numbers do not look like they match any that I can identify (definitely not YMF278B)... also it wouldn't really make sense to have both.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2024-08-21, 04:51:

Ah yes, I talked to the seller about that a while ago when he listed it. I wanted to buy it, but he originally had it listed for […]
Show full quote

cyclone3d wrote on 2024-08-20, 21:27:

The Antex Z1e does exist. After looking for one since 2017 I was beginning to think that none were ever sold or that all of them […]
Show full quote

The Antex Z1e does exist. After looking for one since 2017 I was beginning to think that none were ever sold or that all of them had been scrapped.

I am not sure if it will be usable for DOS games as the manual does not mention sound blaster support.

It does have OPL3 and a wave table header though and the Crystal 4236 ? gives me hope that it does.

Will post in my original Z1/Z1e thread once it arrives and I have done some testing.

Ah yes, I talked to the seller about that a while ago when he listed it. I wanted to buy it, but he originally had it listed for thousands of dollars. I talked to him about it and he was very reasonable, so he opened it up to offers, but said that $500 was the lowest he could go for now... that was over a month ago and it hadn't changed the last time I looked at it. He must have finally lowered the price though. You definitely got a decent deal since it is probably one of the rarest sound cards we've talked about here on VOGONS.

When I asked the seller about how he came to own this card he said he was the original owner and ordered it over the phone directly from Antex at some point in the late 90s "before one could make MP3s with just software" (his words).

Anyway, I'm so glad you got it, because I know you'll properly investigate and document it! I'm looking forward to seeing what you find out. I'm also curious to know what the deal is with that Yamaha chip near the OPL3. At first I thought it was an OPL4, but I can't quite read the markings on it and the numbers do not look like they match any that I can identify (definitely not YMF278B)... also it wouldn't really make sense to have both.

Nice... Yeah, he started it at $18,000 and then dropped it to $1,800 and then a few more drops and I got a notification when it hit 199.99, which was what I decided I would buy it for if it ever when that low.

The larger Yamaha chip is the MIDI controller from what I was reading earlier. It is a YM3802 if I remember correctly.

Trashbytes wrote on 2024-08-20, 08:43:

Got this nice bit of Athlon XP kit, A Epox EP-8RDA+ Pro, and Unlocked 3200+ and a Thermaltake Silent Boost cooler. The Barton is […]
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Got this nice bit of Athlon XP kit, A Epox EP-8RDA+ Pro, and Unlocked 3200+ and a Thermaltake Silent Boost cooler. The Barton is a 0317 model which if my digging is right is the 17th week of 03 which is well before they started superlocking them, still I wont know for certain till I get it and test it out.

The motherboard looks in good condition and none of the caps at a glance appear to be bad but itll get a good cleaning and inspection once its here. I do have one of these Epox boards but its caps have all gone bad and itll become a spares board for this new one that does need a little work on the PS2 connector. (Ill be using a USB keyboard and mouse so I doubt Ill mess with it much)

*snip*

Bit of an update on this, unfortunately the seller has been unable to find a good way of shipping it to me without it costing more than what the board is worth, eBay naturally undervalued the actual shipping cost by quite a bit so I cant blame the seller here.

So I told them to go ahead and refund the order, Im now looking at other suitable options and may go with the tried and true Abit NF7-S 2.0 which were also pretty solid boards.

Trashbytes wrote on 2024-08-21, 10:39:

So I told them to go ahead and refund the order, Im now looking at other suitable options and may go with the tried and true Abit NF7-S 2.0 which were also pretty solid boards.

Too bad.
But maybe an opportunity to get an Athlon XP-M instead and overclock it with the ddr500 😀

acl wrote on 2024-08-21, 12:20:

Trashbytes wrote on 2024-08-21, 10:39:

So I told them to go ahead and refund the order, Im now looking at other suitable options and may go with the tried and true Abit NF7-S 2.0 which were also pretty solid boards.

Too bad.
But maybe an opportunity to get an Athlon XP-M instead and overclock it with the ddr500 😀

Ok so this is going to sound pretty stupid but I do have a Athlon XP-M 3000, I had to go digging to find it amongst all my other CPUs since I did recall vaguely having one. Does anyone else experience this oddity of buying parts only to realise you already had one in the collection ?

So I guess I may as well throw it in a board and see if it clocks any better than the unlocked 3200+

I wonder if the XP-M will accept a 400 FSB since its essentially the same core the 3200 Barton uses.

Defo recommend the XP-M chips. I have a 2600 Mobile+ at standard 3200 speeds on a Soltek SL-75FRN2-RL and it's fun.

I'm waiting to pull the trigger on a SL-75KAV, to be back on topic. Hope I can score it since I wanna do an ceramic Athlon build and the K7VZA/Shuttle AK12A I have isn't the most stellar board.

PcBytes wrote on 2024-08-21, 13:17:

Defo recommend the XP-M chips. I have a 2600 Mobile+ at standard 3200 speeds on a Soltek SL-75FRN2-RL and it's fun.

I'm waiting to pull the trigger on a SL-75KAV, to be back on topic. Hope I can score it since I wanna do an ceramic Athlon build and the K7VZA/Shuttle AK12A I have isn't the most stellar board.

Ceramic ? I assume that the early Thunderbird 462 cpus ?

Trashbytes wrote on 2024-08-21, 12:51:

Ok so this is going to sound pretty stupid but I do have a Athlon XP-M 3000, I had to go digging to find it amongst all my other […]
Show full quote

acl wrote on 2024-08-21, 12:20:

Trashbytes wrote on 2024-08-21, 10:39:

So I told them to go ahead and refund the order, Im now looking at other suitable options and may go with the tried and true Abit NF7-S 2.0 which were also pretty solid boards.

Too bad.
But maybe an opportunity to get an Athlon XP-M instead and overclock it with the ddr500 😀

Ok so this is going to sound pretty stupid but I do have a Athlon XP-M 3000, I had to go digging to find it amongst all my other CPUs since I did recall vaguely having one. Does anyone else experience this oddity of buying parts only to realise you already had one in the collection ?

So I guess I may as well throw it in a board and see if it clocks any better than the unlocked 3200+

I wonder if the XP-M will accept a 400 FSB since its essentially the same core the 3200 Barton uses.

The XP-M chips are nice. I have a 2800+ XP-M in a KT7A and the speed I am pretty sure is limited by the board as it will only do about 2.3Ghz.

I haven't tried it in a newer board that can do higher fsb and has better power delivery. I have, I think, 2 or 3 more of the XP-M 2800+ chips as well as a 2500+ XP-M.

Trashbytes wrote on 2024-08-21, 13:23:

PcBytes wrote on 2024-08-21, 13:17:

Defo recommend the XP-M chips. I have a 2600 Mobile+ at standard 3200 speeds on a Soltek SL-75FRN2-RL and it's fun.

I'm waiting to pull the trigger on a SL-75KAV, to be back on topic. Hope I can score it since I wanna do an ceramic Athlon build and the K7VZA/Shuttle AK12A I have isn't the most stellar board.

Ceramic ? I assume that the early Thunderbird 462 cpus ?

Yup, T-Bird Athlon on 462. If not, a Duron works too 😀

PcBytes wrote on 2024-08-21, 14:22:

Trashbytes wrote on 2024-08-21, 13:23:

PcBytes wrote on 2024-08-21, 13:17:

Defo recommend the XP-M chips. I have a 2600 Mobile+ at standard 3200 speeds on a Soltek SL-75FRN2-RL and it's fun.

I'm waiting to pull the trigger on a SL-75KAV, to be back on topic. Hope I can score it since I wanna do an ceramic Athlon build and the K7VZA/Shuttle AK12A I have isn't the most stellar board.

Ceramic ? I assume that the early Thunderbird 462 cpus ?

Yup, T-Bird Athlon on 462. If not, a Duron works too 😀

I should have a dig through my CPU box ...see what other 462 CPUs I have forgotten about.

Edit - Found a A1400AMS3B in there in a really yellowed plastic CPU shell, not even sure where I got it from originally. (May have been one of the CPU junk lots I bought, but its in good condition no die chips or bent pins)

Yes the box is close to where my PC is, lives in a big yellow parts tub 😁

Yeah, so far the fastest ceramic I have is a Morgan 1100 (Duron) on a QDI KinetiZ 7B.
I would've based the build I want to do around the QDI... but KT133 (non A) can be buggy, AFAIK, hence why I chose the SL-75KAV. (and I love its PhoenixNET BIOS, especially with that peculiar "RSA protection" logo).

Oh, and ISA slot + KT133A has been on my list for some time. CT2770 on a Thunderbird/Morgan doesn't seem like a bad idea... does it?

PcBytes wrote on 2024-08-21, 16:21:

Yeah, so far the fastest ceramic I have is a Morgan 1100 (Duron) on a QDI KinetiZ 7B.
I would've based the build I want to do around the QDI... but KT133 (non A) can be buggy, AFAIK, hence why I chose the SL-75KAV. (and I love its PhoenixNET BIOS, especially with that peculiar "RSA protection" logo).

Oh, and ISA slot + KT133A has been on my list for some time. CT2770 on a Thunderbird/Morgan doesn't seem like a bad idea... does it?

Not at all, could even throw and SB LIve into it as a second sound card for some sweet EAX in Windows and keeping the OPL card for DOS based fun.

Hmm. Now you've got me there - I have a bunch of PCI cards to choose from actually:

- Yamaha YMF-724E
- Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo III 7.1
- Aureal Vortex II
- a whole lotta SB Lives
- Audigy LS
- Audigy 2 ZS that idk if it still works
- Audigy 1394

Finally, a pic of the seller's board. I sure have some work to do 😀
(caps must be replaced, IDE2 plastic, the missing tabs on 3rd DIMM slot)

cyclone3d wrote on 2024-08-21, 06:52:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2024-08-21, 04:51:

Ah yes, I talked to the seller about that a while ago when he listed it. I wanted to buy it, but he originally had it listed for […]
Show full quote

cyclone3d wrote on 2024-08-20, 21:27:

The Antex Z1e does exist. After looking for one since 2017 I was beginning to think that none were ever sold or that all of them […]
Show full quote

The Antex Z1e does exist. After looking for one since 2017 I was beginning to think that none were ever sold or that all of them had been scrapped.

I am not sure if it will be usable for DOS games as the manual does not mention sound blaster support.

It does have OPL3 and a wave table header though and the Crystal 4236 ? gives me hope that it does.

Will post in my original Z1/Z1e thread once it arrives and I have done some testing.

Ah yes, I talked to the seller about that a while ago when he listed it. I wanted to buy it, but he originally had it listed for thousands of dollars. I talked to him about it and he was very reasonable, so he opened it up to offers, but said that $500 was the lowest he could go for now... that was over a month ago and it hadn't changed the last time I looked at it. He must have finally lowered the price though. You definitely got a decent deal since it is probably one of the rarest sound cards we've talked about here on VOGONS.

When I asked the seller about how he came to own this card he said he was the original owner and ordered it over the phone directly from Antex at some point in the late 90s "before one could make MP3s with just software" (his words).

Anyway, I'm so glad you got it, because I know you'll properly investigate and document it! I'm looking forward to seeing what you find out. I'm also curious to know what the deal is with that Yamaha chip near the OPL3. At first I thought it was an OPL4, but I can't quite read the markings on it and the numbers do not look like they match any that I can identify (definitely not YMF278B)... also it wouldn't really make sense to have both.

Nice... Yeah, he started it at $18,000 and then dropped it to $1,800 and then a few more drops and I got a notification when it hit 199.99, which was what I decided I would buy it for if it ever when that low.

The larger Yamaha chip is the MIDI controller from what I was reading earlier. It is a YM3802 if I remember correctly.

🤣

The funny thing is, he told me he'd give me first dibs on an offer (back when it was still $18,000), and my last message on the subject was exactly this:

Anyway, I appreciate that you'd give me a crack at it, because it'd be a really unique item for my collection, but realistically my budget is probably half of what someone else might spend on it. I could maybe swing like $100, but for my family that's already quite a bit for what will basically just be a display piece... a really cool one of course. IoI

The fact that you ended up buying it as soon as it hit $199 just makes me smile. I wasn't lying to the guy to get it cheap... I just genuinely didn't have the budget to spend much on a sound card that only a few of us collectors even know to look for, and that probably has limited gaming utility... and for some reason I figured you or someone else on VOGONS would do around $200.

All that said, I will continue to keep my eyes out for another one. 😁

EDIT: Also, the picture of the card definitely looks like the Yamaha chip says YM3802. Here is the datasheet. I can't say that I understand what the MIDI controller does in the context of a card like this though.

A local tech recycling place posted that they had 4 Kaypros come in and I managed to get there in time to pick up the last one, a Kaypro 10. It's externally very dirty and it fails to boot even to an error of any kind, just sits with a blinking cursor and the floppy drive running full bore even with nothing in it and the lever open, no hard drive activity either or kaypro splash screen. But the screen seems to work, no bulging caps or anything like that amazingly. Finally have a white whale of mine, the rest I can hopefully figure out.

PcBytes wrote on 2024-08-21, 16:55:

Finally, a pic of the seller's board. I sure have some work to do 😀
(caps must be replaced, IDE2 plastic, the missing tabs on 3rd DIMM slot)

I bet thats a killer board. If it takes a mobile cpu than its an all rounder.

According to TRW, it indeed is a killer board as one of the "evaluation ROM" BIOSes supports the XP-M Bartons.
My Shuttle flashed ECS K7VZA has had its share of glory... but there isn't space for both of 'em 😀