If you are using the Pc for playing games you don't really need a industrial CF. Just a regular one will work just fine. Consider a 8gb CF if you're planning to use it in a Pentium class PC, most of the BIOS of that era support 8GB drives.

I don't worry about whether cards are labelled industrial or not. I simply focus on which brands/models work versus those that don't.

I've had good success with genuine Sandisk and Verbatim brand cards. The latter used to be available new from Amazon up until a couple years ago. It may be possible to get NOS ones on Ebay still.

Though since you're going with Windows 98 SE, I would recommend a 128GB SSD drive and SATA-to-IDE adapter instead of a CF card.

Shponglefan wrote on 2025-12-02, 13:40:

<snip>

Though since you're going with Windows 98 SE, I would recommend a 128GB SSD drive and SATA-to-IDE adapter instead of a CF card.

I can go with either - both methods seem similarly priced 😊

May I ask your reasoning?

If you are using an ISA IDE controller, it probably doesn't matter. All CF's support PIO. They can all manage speeds greater than 2MB/s.

If you are using a VLB controller with PIO, it's still going to be about the same for all 4GB CFs with firmware > 2005. CFs < 2006 tend to be on the slow side so avoid those old WD SiliconDrive CF's. Most devices designed in the last 20 years can manage 8MB/s. The CF's labeled "Industrial" usually have slightly lower latency. You can measure with a benchmark but it's all so much faster than spinning disk that it's not something you'd notice in normal use.

If you are using a MWDMA controller, ( common for Socket 7 motherboards, early PCI controllers, and the PDC20630 VLB controller) , I've gotten the best performance & compatibility from the blue "MemoryPartner.com" CFs that have slightly older firmware ~2010 that seems to support MWDMA better than newer industrial CFs. Avoid consumer grade CF's when trying to do MWDMA. The MWDMA support seems to get scarce in the firmware newer than 2015.

If you are using UDMA 33, most 4GB CF's made in the last 20 years will perform about the same. They can all manage to do hit the 12-25MB/s range. Avoid the Innodisk iCF 4000. Great stats on paper. High price. Soft performance. Barely clears 12MB/s on reads, about 1/3 that speed on writes. I tested several.

If you are using a UDMA 66 controller or faster, the devices with faster flash & flash controllers start to pull ahead. The fastest 4GB device I've tested is the 4GB Transcend CF220i. Reads close to 80MB/s Writes almost 1/2 that speed. If you are using UDMA 66 or faster, consider larger CF's (16GB). They often perform better at these speeds because they are ore likely to work multiple flash chips at the same time.

edit: All in all, it's tough to recommend a specific CF model number because it's not uncommon for the same brand & model to have different internals from year to year, even when the CF is a legit product and not a cheap knockoff, and many CF's were produced for many years.

Shponglefan wrote on 2025-12-02, 13:40:

Though since you're going with Windows 98 SE, I would recommend a 128GB SSD drive and SATA-to-IDE adapter instead of a CF card.

I would avoid the SATA-to-IDE adapters if you have an IDE controller that can only do MWDMA, not UDMA. Finding a Sata device that supports MWDMA through a SATA-to-IDE bridge is really hard. MWDMA controllers existed in very late 486 PCI period through very early Slot 1.

But if you are doing older PIO or newer UDMA, the SATA-to-IDE adapter with an SSD can be the fastest solution.

KIng Mustard wrote on 2025-12-02, 13:13:

I believe I need an 'industrial' card but I know some manufacturers use the term incorrectly in their product names.

Nah, a consumer card does work, too. I'm using one in a thin client..
The only downside are short "hangs" while the CF card is busy.
Enabling "DMA" helps, but also requires fully wired CF card adapters with DMA lines.
Re: How to install DX7 but there is limited space?

That being said, industrial cards have some advantages.
- they might be configured to have their media bit set to "fixed" (fixed disk) by default (DOS and Win9x don't care, but NT/2k/XP do)
- they might contain higher quality cells (SLC or MLC, rather than TLC etc)
- they might be more IDE compatible, have some small cache

I intend to use a StarTech.com 3.5in drive bay IDE to single CF adapter card reader (35BAYCF2IDE).

I have such a model, too. It's okay, as far as I can tell.

KIng Mustard wrote on 2025-12-02, 14:11:

Shponglefan wrote on 2025-12-02, 13:40:

<snip>

Though since you're going with Windows 98 SE, I would recommend a 128GB SSD drive and SATA-to-IDE adapter instead of a CF card.

I can go with either - both methods seem similarly priced 😊

May I ask your reasoning?

I would favor SSD for the storage capacity (since Windows 98SE era drives tended to be larger than 4GB) and speed (e.g. UDMA).

Out of curiosity, is this going to be for the Pentium MMX 166 system you mentioned in that other thread? If so, then 4GB CF is probably fine. The main advantage of CF cards is being able to easily swap them. For example, you could have a couple CF cards, one with a Windows install and the other with a dedicated DOS install if you wanted to.

Shponglefan wrote on 2025-12-02, 19:59:

I would favor SSD for the storage capacity (since Windows 98SE era drives tended to be larger than 4GB) and speed (e.g. UDMA).

Out of curiosity, is this going to be for the Pentium MMX 166 system you mentioned in that other thread? If so, then 4GB CF is probably fine. The main advantage of CF cards is being able to easily swap them. For example, you could have a couple CF cards, one with a Windows install and the other with a dedicated DOS install if you wanted to.

I suspect that he's got a PIIX IDE controller than only does MWDMA, not UDMA. If he has (or gets) a UDMA or Sata controller, then SSD would be the best performing solution.

If he only has a MWDMA controller and wants to stick with it, a CF or a Sintechi SD IDE bridge would probably be an easier solution for most people, because finding a Sata device that supports MWDMA through a PATA SATA bridge is a tall order.

Is there any risk involved for original poster to buy a bigger card and format it for a smaller size if needed?