The AZT2320 is a PnP card, so if I were to use it with a 286 processor, I would choose Unisound as the “driver.”

Your wavetable card will probably (99,9%) only play in MIDI mode. This is due to how it is connected to the main sound chip on the card (waveblaster connector). FM mode (Adlib) will be handled by the OPL3 located in the Aztech chip.

Will the MIDI track sound better than on the AWE32/64? Well, that's rather a subjective feeling.

The EGA card is backward compatible with CGA, so everything CGA should just work.

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-03, 08:46:

I have this wonderful sound card.

1. i read that crystal cs9233-cq chip on the midi daughther board can do the FM in games. But i dont want to do this because a lot of people says it sounds bad and strange in FM games. But the aztech card has a real yamaha opl3 on it. How can i use the opl3 for fm instead of the cs-9233 midi card ?

The wavetable board only does MIDI-in and audio out, so no way for it to do FM. Any FM is handled by the AZT2320 and as it contains a licensed OPL3, it does it well.

2. I want to use the midi daughther board for general midi game like doom and duke3d, i suppose its better than FM, right ? it uses cs4112 set and it should be a roland set instrument, so even if the ram is 1mb only it should be better , right ?

"Better" is a matter of taste, but if game music is GM, the output of the daugtherboard will almost certainly be more faithful to the original than OPL trying to synth it.

3. Does this card in general midi games sounds better than awe64 ct4500 at 512k ram ? for example in doom, duke nukem...

That's really a matter of taste, they will probably be close in objective quality. AWE is decent but not great, the Crystal/Dream synths have a good reputation, but quality depends a lot on the sample set used. It's not going to be comparable to a 4MB GM/GS (i.e. 1:1 SC-55 clone) set. I'd suggest trying it out and seeing which you like more.

4. I read that you can set it like a mt-32 until reboot, it should be interesting for monkey island. but not sure its faithfull enough to a real mt-32, but how i can do that ? i dont get it.

MT-32 differs from later GM synths in two ways:
- different instrument set/layout
- use of subtractive (LA) synthesis as well as samples

A purely ROM sample-based synth can load an instrument map that corresponds to the MT-32 instrument set, but it can't emulate the LA synthesis. If a game that supports MT-32 only uses samples, it will sound pretty close, but if the game does a lot of LA stuff, it won't sound at all like it.

It sounds like you have some good documentation on this Aztech card though, I've never come across this sort of detail about their settings. Could you share it perhaps?

5. i cant find the driver for this exact card, if nobody know where i can find it, i will use the better fit on aztech download section at dosdays.

Under DOS?

It doesn't need any drivers under DOS; all you need is to PnP initialize the AZT2320. It has hardware compatibility with SBPro 2.0, WSS and UART MPU-401. In Windows 98SE there are drivers for the AZT2320 built in so no additional software needed there either.

I second the suggestion to use Unisound for that.

If you really want the Aztech software, you need to identify the card unambiguously, which is hell given Aztech's inconsistent naming. The one unique identifier is the FCC-ID. This card looks like an MMSN855. You can check that on the PCB, it's just under the wavetable header, on your photo you can see where it starts "FCC"... Now, if it's an MMSN855 Aztech software might be a challenge as that's a Packard Bell specific OEM card, referred to as the "Rocky 2.5" internally at Packard Bell. I don't think there is any software for that on Aztech's site. However, tools from any other AZT2320-based card should work, so you could try stuff from say the Sound Galaxy Pro16 III-3D PnP (basically the same card minus the onboard modem). But I personally just use Unisound - I have this card in my late DOS system next to an AWE64 Gold and a Gravis Ultrasound. I use it for its real OPL3, bug-free UART MPU-401 and good clean SBPro 2.0 support.

6. with this card and daughter board can i use GM in pure dos ? ( for doom and duke nukem... )

Yes. It's really 'dumb', no config or init needed or indeed possible: just set the MPU-401 address for the AZT2320 (using Unisound) and tell software to use that. When it does, General MIDI will play.

7. can i remive the daughter midi card and put in on one of my sound blaster 16 ? ( i know about bug note sound )

If the Sound Blaster 16 has a wavetable header: yes. But I'd recommend against it - this Aztech card is bug-free, has low self-noise and a real OPL3. If you really want SB16, I'd put both cards in the system and run the wavetable on the SB16. You could even put an AWE64 next to it like I have done. All you need to do is select different MPU addresses and use those different addresses to point software to the one you want to use.

8. by curiosity, is it expensive card with a lot of value ? is it a card that collector want ? ( i just saw the midi board at 250$ canadian in ebay )

Aztech cards are pretty unloved, mainly because they were used by OEMs and people assume - incorrectly - that they would be worse than retail cards. The base MMSN855 card is common as muck and one I frequently recommend to people on a tight budget looking for a good bug-free DOS ISA sound card. The wavetable module is slightly less common but still nothing special. Remember that eBay prices that stay up longer than a few hours are precisely the ones no one wanted to pay. With patience and alertness you should be able to find one like this for less than half that price. Or put another way: this thing is probably broadly comparable to the Serdaco Dreamblaster S2, which sells new for EUR 35, or a bit less than CAD 60.

9. Can my NEC monitor works as a CGA, seems to work only in ega mode ? ( with oak 0ti037c )

EGA is (broadly speaking) a superset of CGA on TTL monitors like this. If it works as EGA, just tell your software to use CGA and you should get CGA output. If software autodetects EGA because of the card's capabilities, that's not the monitor's fault. Replace the card with a 'real' CGA card to fix that.

dionb wrote on 2025-10-03, 11:00:

The wavetable board only does MIDI-in and audio out, so no way for it to do FM. Any FM is handled by the AZT2320 and as it conta […]
Show full quote

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-03, 08:46:

I have this wonderful sound card.

1. i read that crystal cs9233-cq chip on the midi daughther board can do the FM in games. But i dont want to do this because a lot of people says it sounds bad and strange in FM games. But the aztech card has a real yamaha opl3 on it. How can i use the opl3 for fm instead of the cs-9233 midi card ?

The wavetable board only does MIDI-in and audio out, so no way for it to do FM. Any FM is handled by the AZT2320 and as it contains a licensed OPL3, it does it well.

2. I want to use the midi daughther board for general midi game like doom and duke3d, i suppose its better than FM, right ? it uses cs4112 set and it should be a roland set instrument, so even if the ram is 1mb only it should be better , right ?

"Better" is a matter of taste, but if game music is GM, the output of the daugtherboard will almost certainly be more faithful to the original than OPL trying to synth it.

3. Does this card in general midi games sounds better than awe64 ct4500 at 512k ram ? for example in doom, duke nukem...

That's really a matter of taste, they will probably be close in objective quality. AWE is decent but not great, the Crystal/Dream synths have a good reputation, but quality depends a lot on the sample set used. It's not going to be comparable to a 4MB GM/GS (i.e. 1:1 SC-55 clone) set. I'd suggest trying it out and seeing which you like more.

4. I read that you can set it like a mt-32 until reboot, it should be interesting for monkey island. but not sure its faithfull enough to a real mt-32, but how i can do that ? i dont get it.

MT-32 differs from later GM synths in two ways:
- different instrument set/layout
- use of subtractive (LA) synthesis as well as samples

A purely ROM sample-based synth can load an instrument map that corresponds to the MT-32 instrument set, but it can't emulate the LA synthesis. If a game that supports MT-32 only uses samples, it will sound pretty close, but if the game does a lot of LA stuff, it won't sound at all like it.

It sounds like you have some good documentation on this Aztech card though, I've never come across this sort of detail about their settings. Could you share it perhaps?

5. i cant find the driver for this exact card, if nobody know where i can find it, i will use the better fit on aztech download section at dosdays.

Under DOS?

It doesn't need any drivers under DOS; all you need is to PnP initialize the AZT2320. It has hardware compatibility with SBPro 2.0, WSS and UART MPU-401. In Windows 98SE there are drivers for the AZT2320 built in so no additional software needed there either.

I second the suggestion to use Unisound for that.

If you really want the Aztech software, you need to identify the card unambiguously, which is hell given Aztech's inconsistent naming. The one unique identifier is the FCC-ID. This card looks like an MMSN855. You can check that on the PCB, it's just under the wavetable header, on your photo you can see where it starts "FCC"... Now, if it's an MMSN855 Aztech software might be a challenge as that's a Packard Bell specific OEM card, referred to as the "Rocky 2.5" internally at Packard Bell. I don't think there is any software for that on Aztech's site. However, tools from any other AZT2320-based card should work, so you could try stuff from say the Sound Galaxy Pro16 III-3D PnP (basically the same card minus the onboard modem). But I personally just use Unisound - I have this card in my late DOS system next to an AWE64 Gold and a Gravis Ultrasound. I use it for its real OPL3, bug-free UART MPU-401 and good clean SBPro 2.0 support.

6. with this card and daughter board can i use GM in pure dos ? ( for doom and duke nukem... )

Yes. It's really 'dumb', no config or init needed or indeed possible: just set the MPU-401 address for the AZT2320 (using Unisound) and tell software to use that. When it does, General MIDI will play.

7. can i remive the daughter midi card and put in on one of my sound blaster 16 ? ( i know about bug note sound )

If the Sound Blaster 16 has a wavetable header: yes. But I'd recommend against it - this Aztech card is bug-free, has low self-noise and a real OPL3. If you really want SB16, I'd put both cards in the system and run the wavetable on the SB16. You could even put an AWE64 next to it like I have done. All you need to do is select different MPU addresses and use those different addresses to point software to the one you want to use.

8. by curiosity, is it expensive card with a lot of value ? is it a card that collector want ? ( i just saw the midi board at 250$ canadian in ebay )

Aztech cards are pretty unloved, mainly because they were used by OEMs and people assume - incorrectly - that they would be worse than retail cards. The base MMSN855 card is common as muck and one I frequently recommend to people on a tight budget looking for a good bug-free DOS ISA sound card. The wavetable module is slightly less common but still nothing special. Remember that eBay prices that stay up longer than a few hours are precisely the ones no one wanted to pay. With patience and alertness you should be able to find one like this for less than half that price. Or put another way: this thing is probably broadly comparable to the Serdaco Dreamblaster S2, which sells new for EUR 35, or a bit less than CAD 60.

9. Can my NEC monitor works as a CGA, seems to work only in ega mode ? ( with oak 0ti037c )

EGA is (broadly speaking) a superset of CGA on TTL monitors like this. If it works as EGA, just tell your software to use CGA and you should get CGA output. If software autodetects EGA because of the card's capabilities, that's not the monitor's fault. Replace the card with a 'real' CGA card to fix that.

Wow! You know so much things, i'm always impress by your answers. Thanks so much. I will check again where i found this info about mt-32 compatibility and let you know.

I tried a ati small wonder cga isa card and the nec multi sync plus, show me a screen that is gamble, when like a use a ega card on my cga monitor. But the nec multi sync plus have some switch setting at back i will play with them. i checked in the nec manual and it says that monitor sync to 21kz to 85hz. cga sync at 15khz, but i dont know if its important that the nec monitor dont sync at 15khz

i just add a few pictures of rares cards i just got. look at the strange R.O.C sound card, that use a vibra16s and a real yamaha opl3 and no mention of creative or sound blaster anywhere. i will try a sound blazter 15 driver, if it doesnt work i will use any sound. the 3 others cards are dual cards with db15+db9 this should be both vga+ega compatible card. the tseng card looks nice

Looks the pictures, they are nice

Which is the more powerful video card ? i suppose its the tseng

zyga64 wrote on 2025-10-03, 09:08:

The AZT2320 is a PnP card, so if I were to use it with a 286 processor, I would choose Unisound as the “driver.” […]
Show full quote

The AZT2320 is a PnP card, so if I were to use it with a 286 processor, I would choose Unisound as the “driver.”

Your wavetable card will probably (99,9%) only play in MIDI mode. This is due to how it is connected to the main sound chip on the card (waveblaster connector). FM mode (Adlib) will be handled by the OPL3 located in the Aztech chip.

Will the MIDI track sound better than on the AWE32/64? Well, that's rather a subjective feeling.

The EGA card is backward compatible with CGA, so everything CGA should just work.

thanks for the answers. Check my last post its interesting

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-05, 01:47:

[...]

Wow! You know so much things, i'm always impress by your answers. Thanks so much. I will check again where i found this info about mt-32 compatibility and let you know.

I tried a ati small wonder cga isa card and the nec multi sync plus, show me a screen that is gamble, when like a use a ega card on my cga monitor. But the nec multi sync plus have some switch setting at back i will play with them. i checked in the nec manual and it says that monitor sync to 21kz to 85hz. cga sync at 15khz, but i dont know if its important that the nec monitor dont sync at 15khz

21-85kHz? That would be unusual for an EGA monitor, as 21.85kHz is EGA hi-res mode, but a lot of software uses low-res mode at 15.7kHz (same as CGA) so would not display on a monitor unable to support it. Do you have the exact model number (NEC made a lot of "Multisync Plus" branded monitors) or a pic of the back of it?

i just add a few pictures of rares cards i just got. look at the strange R.O.C sound card, that use a vibra16s and a real yamaha opl3 and no mention of creative or sound blaster anywhere. i will try a sound blazter 15 driver, if it doesnt work i will use any sound.

Creative sold Vibra chips to basically anyone who wanted them. This looks like a very basic implementation of one. It says it's "Magic S32", which is an Acer card.

As with the Aztech card, this is a PnP card but otherwise a full hardware Sound Blaster. It does not need any drivers under DOS, it just needs PnP initialization. Unisound would work for this one too, otherwise the usual (irritating) Creative PnP tools. If you're running an OS that does use drivers, specify which.

the 3 others cards are dual cards with db15+db9 this should be both vga+ega compatible card. the tseng card looks nice

Looks the pictures, they are nice

Which is the more powerful video card ? i suppose its the tseng

These are very old VGA cards, none will be particularly powerful. They are all good matches for 286 or early 386 systems.

They differ in three characteristics:
- how old they are
- how much RAM they have (and potentially what you could upgrade them to)
- the actual VGA controller chip.

The Tseng ET3000AX is the oldest of the three, dating to mid 1989 (look at production dates on the chips, the youngest is 8926, so week 26 of 1989). It currently has 256kB of RAM on it, but can clearly be upgraded to 512kB - but no more, as the higher density chips would require bigger sockets. The RAM is capable of being run slightly faster than on the other two (70ns vs 80ns), but I don't know if the ET3000AX could/would take advantage of that.

The ATi VGA Wonder is a bit over a year younger, dating to at least week 31 of 1990. It uses higher density 1Mb RAM chips and has been upgraded to 512kB total. No room for any more though.

Finally the Oak card (the FCC ID starting with "IDW" shows Oak made this one themselves) is from early 1991, has an OTI067 controller, uses 1Mb RAM chips with 256kB currently installed and space for another 256kB.

In general, Oak chips are considered slow, but most of that reputation is due to the older OTI037 controller. The OTI067 is actually quite decent for an ISA VGA chip and definitely the most modern of this lot. I'd expect this card to be fastest, but as always, if you have the hardware, test it yourself with your own software to be sure in your situation. To get SVGA out of it you'd need to upgrade it to 512kB. The obvious source for that would be the ATi VGA Wonder, as it uses the same RAM chips.

dionb wrote on 2025-10-05, 11:08:

21-85kHz? That would be unusual for an EGA monitor, as 21.85kHz is EGA hi-res mode, but a lot of software uses low-res mode at 1 […]
Show full quote

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-05, 01:47:

[...]

Wow! You know so much things, i'm always impress by your answers. Thanks so much. I will check again where i found this info about mt-32 compatibility and let you know.

I tried a ati small wonder cga isa card and the nec multi sync plus, show me a screen that is gamble, when like a use a ega card on my cga monitor. But the nec multi sync plus have some switch setting at back i will play with them. i checked in the nec manual and it says that monitor sync to 21kz to 85hz. cga sync at 15khz, but i dont know if its important that the nec monitor dont sync at 15khz

21-85kHz? That would be unusual for an EGA monitor, as 21.85kHz is EGA hi-res mode, but a lot of software uses low-res mode at 15.7kHz (same as CGA) so would not display on a monitor unable to support it. Do you have the exact model number (NEC made a lot of "Multisync Plus" branded monitors) or a pic of the back of it?

i just add a few pictures of rares cards i just got. look at the strange R.O.C sound card, that use a vibra16s and a real yamaha opl3 and no mention of creative or sound blaster anywhere. i will try a sound blazter 15 driver, if it doesnt work i will use any sound.

Creative sold Vibra chips to basically anyone who wanted them. This looks like a very basic implementation of one. It says it's "Magic S32", which is an Acer card.

As with the Aztech card, this is a PnP card but otherwise a full hardware Sound Blaster. It does not need any drivers under DOS, it just needs PnP initialization. Unisound would work for this one too, otherwise the usual (irritating) Creative PnP tools. If you're running an OS that does use drivers, specify which.

the 3 others cards are dual cards with db15+db9 this should be both vga+ega compatible card. the tseng card looks nice

Looks the pictures, they are nice

Which is the more powerful video card ? i suppose its the tseng

These are very old VGA cards, none will be particularly powerful. They are all good matches for 286 or early 386 systems.

They differ in three characteristics:
- how old they are
- how much RAM they have (and potentially what you could upgrade them to)
- the actual VGA controller chip.

The Tseng ET3000AX is the oldest of the three, dating to mid 1989 (look at production dates on the chips, the youngest is 8926, so week 26 of 1989). It currently has 256kB of RAM on it, but can clearly be upgraded to 512kB - but no more, as the higher density chips would require bigger sockets. The RAM is capable of being run slightly faster than on the other two (70ns vs 80ns), but I don't know if the ET3000AX could/would take advantage of that.

The ATi VGA Wonder is a bit over a year younger, dating to at least week 31 of 1990. It uses higher density 1Mb RAM chips and has been upgraded to 512kB total. No room for any more though.

Finally the Oak card (the FCC ID starting with "IDW" shows Oak made this one themselves) is from early 1991, has an OTI067 controller, uses 1Mb RAM chips with 256kB currently installed and space for another 256kB.

In general, Oak chips are considered slow, but most of that reputation is due to the older OTI037 controller. The OTI067 is actually quite decent for an ISA VGA chip and definitely the most modern of this lot. I'd expect this card to be fastest, but as always, if you have the hardware, test it yourself with your own software to be sure in your situation. To get SVGA out of it you'd need to upgrade it to 512kB. The obvious source for that would be the ATi VGA Wonder, as it uses the same RAM chips.

About the nec JC-1501VMoctober 1987
i posted the picture. i have the manual.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1593686/Nec … vma.html#manual

Let me know what you think.. if the monitor will do ega correctly and still do cga. the monitor has a 64 colors switch, i was not sure, so i put the switch in 16 colors position.

I will all vga in the next few hours. i will benchmark a little. I love oak oti067, i have it in other system and even a oti077 that i found powerful. So i will probably keep the oti067 vga+ega card in the system.
I'm curious this oti067 has a switch option for ega emulated or PURE ega. i will try it at pure ega. but im not sure about the difference. in the oti067 manual it said its better to put the switch correctly set with your nec monitor model, but my model is not shown, but i see Nec model ( generic one )

see the manual if you are curious:

http://www.funkygoods.com/schwarzschild/2014_ … vg_7000_man.pdf

or

Wanted BIOS for VG-7000 OTIVGA OTI067 card

see the picture of the 10 chips i bought on aliexpress, it supposed to work in all isa, pci video card fir upgrade ram. i will try them later. sorry the picture is hard to read for the chip number even with my own eye. but i got screeshot of the aliexpress page i bought them

About i will test them with unisound they don't work, some cards of the lot don't, i got a lot of cards, but many common cards

as always thanks a lot for your help and answers, its always appreciated

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-06, 04:15:

[...] […]
Show full quote

[...]

About the nec JC-1501VMoctober 1987
i posted the picture. i have the manual.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1593686/Nec … vma.html#manual

Let me know what you think.. if the monitor will do ega correctly and still do cga. the monitor has a 64 colors switch, i was not sure, so i put the switch in 16 colors position.

Impressive monitor - but you're right: 21.8kHz minimum. So no hardware CGA input. If using TTL input (as you are), you need an EGA card (or in this case: VGA card with EGA output) with switches set to hi-res.

The standard EGA switch settings for hi-res are Off-On-On-Off.

That will make defauit output 21.8kHz - but what happens when you run low-res software depends on the card. If it outputs at 21.8kHz CGA modes will work fine, if it outputs low-res at 15.7kHz it won't on this monitor. It might be worth checking all three cards for behaviour in this case.

The switches on the monitor won't change this. Be sure to have the TTL/Analog switch set to TTL and apart from that set Manual to off. Then the other ones don't matter.

I will all vga in the next few hours. i will benchmark a little. I love oak oti067, i have it in other system and even a oti077 […]
Show full quote

I will all vga in the next few hours. i will benchmark a little. I love oak oti067, i have it in other system and even a oti077 that i found powerful. So i will probably keep the oti067 vga+ega card in the system.
I'm curious this oti067 has a switch option for ega emulated or PURE ega. i will try it at pure ega. but im not sure about the difference. in the oti067 manual it said its better to put the switch correctly set with your nec monitor model, but my model is not shown, but i see Nec model ( generic one )

see the manual if you are curious:

http://www.funkygoods.com/schwarzschild/2014_ … vg_7000_man.pdf

or

Wanted BIOS for VG-7000 OTIVGA OTI067 card

see the picture of the 10 chips i bought on aliexpress, it supposed to work in all isa, pci video card fir upgrade ram. i will try them later. sorry the picture is hard to read for the chip number even with my own eye. but i got screeshot of the aliexpress page i bought them

That is 40p SOJ memory. Your cards have DIP16 and DIP18 sockets. It will not physically fit. Also, those chips are EDO and your cards only support Fast Page.

Or at least: that's what the inscription says, but this photograph shows a chip that has clearly been re-labeled (memory like this was NOT still being made in week 18 of 2002) so what it actually is and what its specs are are anyone's guess. If it does what the inscription claims, it would be fine for 1995-era cards that need upgrading from 1MB to 2MB or 4MB. But it won't fit these older cards physically or work electrically.

For upgrading the memory on the Oak card you need 2 DIP18 chips with 256k x 4 FP DRAM capable of at least 80ns. For the ET3000AX you'd need 8 DIP16 chips with 64k x 4 ("464") DRAM, capable of 70ns if you want to match what's in there now.

dionb wrote on 2025-10-06, 06:37:

Impressive monitor - but you're right: 21.8kHz minimum. So no hardware CGA input. If using TTL input (as you are), you need an E […]
Show full quote

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-06, 04:15:

[...] […]
Show full quote

[...]

About the nec JC-1501VMoctober 1987
i posted the picture. i have the manual.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1593686/Nec … vma.html#manual

Let me know what you think.. if the monitor will do ega correctly and still do cga. the monitor has a 64 colors switch, i was not sure, so i put the switch in 16 colors position.

Impressive monitor - but you're right: 21.8kHz minimum. So no hardware CGA input. If using TTL input (as you are), you need an EGA card (or in this case: VGA card with EGA output) with switches set to hi-res.

The standard EGA switch settings for hi-res are Off-On-On-Off.

That will make defauit output 21.8kHz - but what happens when you run low-res software depends on the card. If it outputs at 21.8kHz CGA modes will work fine, if it outputs low-res at 15.7kHz it won't on this monitor. It might be worth checking all three cards for behaviour in this case.

The switches on the monitor won't change this. Be sure to have the TTL/Analog switch set to TTL and apart from that set Manual to off. Then the other ones don't matter.

I will all vga in the next few hours. i will benchmark a little. I love oak oti067, i have it in other system and even a oti077 […]
Show full quote

I will all vga in the next few hours. i will benchmark a little. I love oak oti067, i have it in other system and even a oti077 that i found powerful. So i will probably keep the oti067 vga+ega card in the system.
I'm curious this oti067 has a switch option for ega emulated or PURE ega. i will try it at pure ega. but im not sure about the difference. in the oti067 manual it said its better to put the switch correctly set with your nec monitor model, but my model is not shown, but i see Nec model ( generic one )

see the manual if you are curious:

http://www.funkygoods.com/schwarzschild/2014_ … vg_7000_man.pdf

or

Wanted BIOS for VG-7000 OTIVGA OTI067 card

see the picture of the 10 chips i bought on aliexpress, it supposed to work in all isa, pci video card fir upgrade ram. i will try them later. sorry the picture is hard to read for the chip number even with my own eye. but i got screeshot of the aliexpress page i bought them

That is 40p SOJ memory. Your cards have DIP16 and DIP18 sockets. It will not physically fit. Also, those chips are EDO and your cards only support Fast Page.

Or at least: that's what the inscription says, but this photograph shows a chip that has clearly been re-labeled (memory like this was NOT still being made in week 18 of 2002) so what it actually is and what its specs are are anyone's guess. If it does what the inscription claims, it would be fine for 1995-era cards that need upgrading from 1MB to 2MB or 4MB. But it won't fit these older cards physically or work electrically.

For upgrading the memory on the Oak card you need 2 DIP18 chips with 256k x 4 FP DRAM capable of at least 80ns. For the ET3000AX you'd need 8 DIP16 chips with 64k x 4 ("464") DRAM, capable of 70ns if you want to match what's in there now.

Thanks a lot for these info. within 24h i should post again and tell you the result of the different cards with ega. i will buy the good ram chip dip18 and dip16 too.

dionb wrote on 2025-10-06, 06:37:

Impressive monitor - but you're right: 21.8kHz minimum. So no hardware CGA input. If using TTL input (as you are), you need an E […]
Show full quote

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-06, 04:15:

[...] […]
Show full quote

[...]

About the nec JC-1501VMoctober 1987
i posted the picture. i have the manual.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1593686/Nec … vma.html#manual

Let me know what you think.. if the monitor will do ega correctly and still do cga. the monitor has a 64 colors switch, i was not sure, so i put the switch in 16 colors position.

Impressive monitor - but you're right: 21.8kHz minimum. So no hardware CGA input. If using TTL input (as you are), you need an EGA card (or in this case: VGA card with EGA output) with switches set to hi-res.

The standard EGA switch settings for hi-res are Off-On-On-Off.

That will make defauit output 21.8kHz - but what happens when you run low-res software depends on the card. If it outputs at 21.8kHz CGA modes will work fine, if it outputs low-res at 15.7kHz it won't on this monitor. It might be worth checking all three cards for behaviour in this case.

The switches on the monitor won't change this. Be sure to have the TTL/Analog switch set to TTL and apart from that set Manual to off. Then the other ones don't matter.

I will all vga in the next few hours. i will benchmark a little. I love oak oti067, i have it in other system and even a oti077 […]
Show full quote

I will all vga in the next few hours. i will benchmark a little. I love oak oti067, i have it in other system and even a oti077 that i found powerful. So i will probably keep the oti067 vga+ega card in the system.
I'm curious this oti067 has a switch option for ega emulated or PURE ega. i will try it at pure ega. but im not sure about the difference. in the oti067 manual it said its better to put the switch correctly set with your nec monitor model, but my model is not shown, but i see Nec model ( generic one )

see the manual if you are curious:

http://www.funkygoods.com/schwarzschild/2014_ … vg_7000_man.pdf

or

Wanted BIOS for VG-7000 OTIVGA OTI067 card

see the picture of the 10 chips i bought on aliexpress, it supposed to work in all isa, pci video card fir upgrade ram. i will try them later. sorry the picture is hard to read for the chip number even with my own eye. but i got screeshot of the aliexpress page i bought them

That is 40p SOJ memory. Your cards have DIP16 and DIP18 sockets. It will not physically fit. Also, those chips are EDO and your cards only support Fast Page.

Or at least: that's what the inscription says, but this photograph shows a chip that has clearly been re-labeled (memory like this was NOT still being made in week 18 of 2002) so what it actually is and what its specs are are anyone's guess. If it does what the inscription claims, it would be fine for 1995-era cards that need upgrading from 1MB to 2MB or 4MB. But it won't fit these older cards physically or work electrically.

For upgrading the memory on the Oak card you need 2 DIP18 chips with 256k x 4 FP DRAM capable of at least 80ns. For the ET3000AX you'd need 8 DIP16 chips with 64k x 4 ("464") DRAM, capable of 70ns if you want to match what's in there now.

Hi! i was busy with my daughters since 2 days...

What a weird monitor is that, i don't like it much if no solution exist, it has a new mode VGA COLOR GAMBLED, 🤣, probably it was made on another planet... but it has the best image quality i have seen in my life for a crt in TTL digital, it is wow ! but
Let me explain all the problem. I tried the 3 videocard, none of them was acceptable to me, the problem is the monitor.
Most test were done with Arkanoid, bubble, faceoff and wolfeinstein 3d.

tseng et3000 vga db15 + ega/cga db9:

That's the worst. It can't even give me a correct screen in ega not even in cga, the screen resolution and sync is completely off and gambled, all switch settings possibility was tried. i have the official manual in pdf.
in nec mode or ega mode switch, the screen always gambled. In SYSINFO it detect a ega monitor and/or video card
I suppose it never sync in low resolution because it can't do 15khz.

Oak oti037c and oak oti067, both does the same thing, but oti067 offer more screen mode switch possibilities that are useless. If you put it in REAL EGA or emulated EGA mode it does the same problem than tseng et3000. no more to explain it.

The fun begin here 🤣. If you put it in NEC or NEC multisync plus mode, SYSINFO detect a vga monitor and/or video card. even connected in TTL digital db9. ??? That cause serious problem in some games. In arkanoid i choose ega and the screen looks good and normal, i really dont know in which khz mode it runs. In cga mode it works good, even it look strange to me because i have real cga monitor, colors are different much more pop but it looks strange.
BUT IN BUBBLE BOBBLE WAHHHH!!!!! you have to choose the option ega/vga, no seperate option . But likes sysinfo bubble bobble thinks the monitor and video card is vga, SO COLORS ARE SUPER STRANGE AND UNPLAYABLE. Horrible, check the pictures. 🤣. So this monitor cant fo 15khz so all ega games run in a strange emulation mode in TTL that detect vga in all games, horrible. you have to force ega in each game you play. But bubble bobble dont seem to have a option to force ega, so it runs in vga with stranges colors in ttl modes, how much stupid is this ??? it even more strange that you can run all vga games in stranges colors, i succeed to run wolfeinstein 3d, the colors are horrible and looks terrible. its very weird

I will exchange this monitor for a real EGA only monitor, a real one that do 15khz too not only 21khz . This monitor is useless to me, i dont want to find a way to force each game to start in ega mode indtead of vga automatically. its nothing like a native ega monitor.

I'M VERY DISSAPOINTED. a multisync monitor that cant do low res 16 colors !!! no cga too
I tried all setting at the back of the monitor it changes nothing, nothing important to care about. manual on or off it changes not much. I even prefer play with my cga monitor in ega mode, its more normal and authentic and no strange colors in bubble bobble that detect a ega monitor.

It nobody can figure how to let games and sysinfo to detect ega and works correctly in all games in ega and like a normal one, i dont want it, i will exchange it gor a real ega monitor. even that it looks wonderful, bestcimage quality i have seen in a crt, ttl digital always beat analogic connection.

Thanks for help if possible. I will try soundcards another day.

more pictures

Hi, did you try the mode utility that came with your VGA card?
It allowed locking VGA cards into Hercules, CGA or EGA mode.
They also enabled register level compatibility.

If you don't have an utility, have a look at this: Re: Realtek realtalk, is it the best VGA for CGA? What is?
Though I'm not sure if I have included an ET3000 compatible version of the Tseng utility.
If not please have a look on the internet.

Edited.

more pictures when i can choose ega without vga.

Jo22 wrote on 2025-10-09, 10:01:

Hi, did you try the mode utility that came with your VGA card? It allowed locking VGA cards into Hercules, CGA or EGA mode. They […]
Show full quote

Hi, did you try the mode utility that came with your VGA card?
It allowed locking VGA cards into Hercules, CGA or EGA mode.
They also enabled register level compatibility.

If you don't have an utility, have a look at this: Re: Realtek realtalk, is it the best VGA for CGA? What is?
Though I'm not sure if I have included an ET3000 compatible version of the Tseng utility.
If not please have a look on the internet.

Edited.

i will try it. I use it eith my ibm 5150 for the oak oti037c.

But i don't think it will work because if it sunc at ega low resolution my monitor cant do 15khz.
But i will try it, nothing to lose thanks

Jo22 wrote on 2025-10-09, 10:01:

Hi, did you try the mode utility that came with your VGA card? It allowed locking VGA cards into Hercules, CGA or EGA mode. They […]
Show full quote

Hi, did you try the mode utility that came with your VGA card?
It allowed locking VGA cards into Hercules, CGA or EGA mode.
They also enabled register level compatibility.

If you don't have an utility, have a look at this: Re: Realtek realtalk, is it the best VGA for CGA? What is?
Though I'm not sure if I have included an ET3000 compatible version of the Tseng utility.
If not please have a look on the internet.

Edited.

with oak oti037c i use vgamode.exe that come with oti037c. i choose ega, the resolution change. i lock it. try arkanoid that works normally and it works. But when i tried BUBBLE BOBBLE in ega/vga it does the same problem. ( i erased bubble.cfg before to be sure ) see the picture same result.

edit: faceoff dont like ega mode with vgamode.exe 🤣 and both games become very slow, i heard the music

edit2: faceoff without vga mode 🤣. ( but i can force faceoff in ega mode because you just write: faceoff ega
that way it works. but its not all game that i can force ega, last picture with faceoff forced in ega mode with the game parameter, it looks good)

i'm discouraged

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-09, 09:50:

What a weird monitor is that, i don't like it much if no solution exist, it has a new mode VGA COLOR GAMBLED

That's expected to happen if you configure the VGA card in a way it expects an analog monitor to be connected to the D-Sub 15 port, but you connect a digital monitor to the D-Sub 9 port instead.

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-09, 09:50:

in nec mode or ega mode switch, the screen always gambled.

That's actually surprising. I would expect these cards to boot up in 350-line high-res text mode if configured to use an EGA monitor, which your monitor is supposed to support.

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-09, 09:50:

In SYSINFO it detect a ega monitor and/or video card

That's how stuff is supposed to work.

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-09, 09:50:

The fun begin here 🤣. If you put it in NEC or NEC multisync plus mode, SYSINFO detect a vga monitor and/or video card. even connected in TTL digital db9. ???

The card doesn't know whether you connect a monitor to DB9 or DB15. The card can generate digital color numbers between 0 and 255, and the low 6 bits of that (0..63) are connected to the TTL port. If the card is configured for a CGA monitor, it will only use color numbers 0..7 and 16..23, which will map to CGA colors 0..15 if a CGA monitor is connected (or an EGA monitor that emulates a CGA monitor in low-res mode). If the card is configured for an MDA monitor, it will use colors numbers 0, 32 and 48, which will map to black, low intensity and high intensity on an MDA monitor. If the card is configured to use an EGA monitor, it will use all color numbers between 0 and 63 in 350-line modes. But if the card is configured for an analog monitor (like VGA, NEC, multisync), it will use the same color numbers as EGA by default, so a TTL monitor configured to 64-color mode should pick up correct colors, until some software changes the translation table between the color numbers and analog colors (the VGA RAMDAC). As every VGA card is supposed to be connected to an analog VGA monitor, it is fair that software uses the possiblity of re-programming the analog color translation table as soon as it detects a VGA card.

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-09, 09:50:

That cause serious problem in some games. In arkanoid i choose ega and the screen looks good and normal, i really dont know in which khz mode it runs.

I'm quite confident the card runs the monitor at 31.5kHz VGA frequencies in that case, as it expects a 31.5kHz VGA monitor (or a VGA-compatible analog multisync monitor) to be connected. This is line-doubled 200-line mode scanned as 400 lines.

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-09, 09:50:

all ega games run in a strange emulation mode in TTL that detect vga in all games, horrible.

No, not emulation at all. These games run in native VGA mode, which your monitor is able to synchronize even if you connect it to the TTL port.

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-09, 09:50:

It nobody can figure how to let games and sysinfo to detect ega and works correctly in all games in ega and like a normal one, i dont want it, i will exchange it gor a real ega monitor. even that it looks wonderful, bestcimage quality i have seen in a crt, ttl digital always beat analogic connection.

Well, whether TTL digital beats analog clearly depends on the use case. Wolfenstein 3D for example operates in 256-color mode. TTL is unable to handle that many colors, so analog is clearly the better way to play a game like Wolfenstein 3D.

So, to get your monitor to work properly, you need to configure the OAK card in a way that it expects an (analog) VGA monitor. This will make the card work as VGA card, which invites games to use the programmable color mapping of the VGA card, which you can not use if you prefer to connect the monitor to the TTL port. So you need to prevent games from detecting a VGA card. There is a standard way to detect VGA cards, which is calling INT 10 with AH=1A. There also is software that intercepts this call and prevents the VGA BIOS to respond in the way a VGA BIOS is supposed to respond. This will solve the issue that games detect a VGA card, and they should fall back to EGA and refrain from trying to use custom colors without manual set-up in the games. Too bad I am currently unable to find a download link for a tool like that, but I am confident I've seen at least one tool like this in DOS freeware collections in the mid 90's. Perhaps some other VOGONS user has a reference?

mkarcher wrote on 2025-10-09, 18:17:

That's expected to happen if you configure the VGA card in a way it expects an analog monitor to be connected to the D-Sub 15 po […]
Show full quote

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-09, 09:50:

What a weird monitor is that, i don't like it much if no solution exist, it has a new mode VGA COLOR GAMBLED

That's expected to happen if you configure the VGA card in a way it expects an analog monitor to be connected to the D-Sub 15 port, but you connect a digital monitor to the D-Sub 9 port instead.

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-09, 09:50:

in nec mode or ega mode switch, the screen always gambled.

That's actually surprising. I would expect these cards to boot up in 350-line high-res text mode if configured to use an EGA monitor, which your monitor is supposed to support.

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-09, 09:50:

In SYSINFO it detect a ega monitor and/or video card

That's how stuff is supposed to work.

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-09, 09:50:

The fun begin here 🤣. If you put it in NEC or NEC multisync plus mode, SYSINFO detect a vga monitor and/or video card. even connected in TTL digital db9. ???

The card doesn't know whether you connect a monitor to DB9 or DB15. The card can generate digital color numbers between 0 and 255, and the low 6 bits of that (0..63) are connected to the TTL port. If the card is configured for a CGA monitor, it will only use color numbers 0..7 and 16..23, which will map to CGA colors 0..15 if a CGA monitor is connected (or an EGA monitor that emulates a CGA monitor in low-res mode). If the card is configured for an MDA monitor, it will use colors numbers 0, 32 and 48, which will map to black, low intensity and high intensity on an MDA monitor. If the card is configured to use an EGA monitor, it will use all color numbers between 0 and 63 in 350-line modes. But if the card is configured for an analog monitor (like VGA, NEC, multisync), it will use the same color numbers as EGA by default, so a TTL monitor configured to 64-color mode should pick up correct colors, until some software changes the translation table between the color numbers and analog colors (the VGA RAMDAC). As every VGA card is supposed to be connected to an analog VGA monitor, it is fair that software uses the possiblity of re-programming the analog color translation table as soon as it detects a VGA card.

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-09, 09:50:

That cause serious problem in some games. In arkanoid i choose ega and the screen looks good and normal, i really dont know in which khz mode it runs.

I'm quite confident the card runs the monitor at 31.5kHz VGA frequencies in that case, as it expects a 31.5kHz VGA monitor (or a VGA-compatible analog multisync monitor) to be connected. This is line-doubled 200-line mode scanned as 400 lines.

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-09, 09:50:

all ega games run in a strange emulation mode in TTL that detect vga in all games, horrible.

No, not emulation at all. These games run in native VGA mode, which your monitor is able to synchronize even if you connect it to the TTL port.

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-09, 09:50:

It nobody can figure how to let games and sysinfo to detect ega and works correctly in all games in ega and like a normal one, i dont want it, i will exchange it gor a real ega monitor. even that it looks wonderful, bestcimage quality i have seen in a crt, ttl digital always beat analogic connection.

Well, whether TTL digital beats analog clearly depends on the use case. Wolfenstein 3D for example operates in 256-color mode. TTL is unable to handle that many colors, so analog is clearly the better way to play a game like Wolfenstein 3D.

So, to get your monitor to work properly, you need to configure the OAK card in a way that it expects an (analog) VGA monitor. This will make the card work as VGA card, which invites games to use the programmable color mapping of the VGA card, which you can not use if you prefer to connect the monitor to the TTL port. So you need to prevent games from detecting a VGA card. There is a standard way to detect VGA cards, which is calling INT 10 with AH=1A. There also is software that intercepts this call and prevents the VGA BIOS to respond in the way a VGA BIOS is supposed to respond. This will solve the issue that games detect a VGA card, and they should fall back to EGA and refrain from trying to use custom colors without manual set-up in the games. Too bad I am currently unable to find a download link for a tool like that, but I am confident I've seen at least one tool like this in DOS freeware collections in the mid 90's. Perhaps some other VOGONS user has a reference?

Thanks a lot for this great answer, i would like the screen to run all games at 350 lines when the monitor is configured in ega mode, this way nothing would be scramble. ( i cant understand it doesnt support 15khz. ) ( i could build a pcb to the monitor to accept 15khz but i dont know if i can find this info, someone made a pcb for the ibm 5154 to accept 21khz and it works )

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-09, 21:03:

Thanks a lot for this great answer, i would like the screen to run all games at 350 lines when the monitor is configured in ega mode, this way nothing would be scramble.

You can't easily make 350 lines from 200 lines. You can easily make 400 lines from 200 lines. The monitor can synchronize 400 lines at VGA frequency. So what you would need is a setup that runs the Oak card in EGA compatibility mode, but line-doubles all 200-line modes into 400-line modes. This mode of operation is not supported by the Oak BIOS. That's mostly a software limitation, and could be fixed by a different BIOS.

renejr902 wrote on 2025-10-09, 21:03:

( i cant understand it doesnt support 15khz. )

This also seems confusing to me. The manual for that monitor mentions both EGA and PGA (the "professional graphics adapter"), and according to the specifications, the monitor indeed is able to synchronize to the high-resolution mode of both of these cards (EGA at 21.8kHz, PGA at 30.5kHz), while I still wonder whether it really syncs to 21.8kHz (see footnote 1). On the other hand, both the EGA and the PGA card require a dual-sync monitor that not only supports the native high-res mode, but also supports the 15.6kHz CGA timing. I don't understand what use case the 21.8kHz support of this monitor is meant for - maybe special-purpose appliances that never run the EGA card in CGA-compatible low-res modes?

Footnotes:

1: You wrote that you get garbled video if you select "EGA", but you get a good image if you select "NEC" (which likely implies an analog VGA-capable NEC monitor). This would indicate to me that the monitor does not correctly pick up the 21.8kHz EGA text mode.