Hello and good evening

A question: what is the difference between ESS ES1688F AudioDrive and ESS ES1868F apart from that the first is with jumper and the second is PnP?

Currently I have ESS ES1868F AudioDrive Formosa SC1670 PnP and want to know whether there is some advantage to have also a non_PnP ESS1688F?

eliot_new wrote on 2026-08-07, 19:48:

Hello and good evening

A question: what is the difference between ESS ES1688F AudioDrive and ESS ES1868F apart from that the first is with jumper and the second is PnP?

Currently I have ESS ES1868F AudioDrive Formosa SC1670 PnP and want to know whether there is some advantage to have also a non_PnP ESS1688F?

The ES 1688 is compatible with the ES688 driver on some games (Warcraft II, for example). Neither the 1868 or 1869 are compatible (there may be a hack though), but The ES1869 is full duplex and I would consider it a substantial upgrade over both the 1688 and the 1868.

The 1868 is full duplex.
The 1869 adds 48kHz sampling rate support.

akimmet wrote on 2026-08-07, 21:41:

The 1868 is full duplex.
The 1869 adds 48kHz sampling rate support.

@ mockingbird: thx a lot for the good explanation!

@ akimet: afair "full duplex" meant back in the days that you could speak simultaneously with a Headset when you used a sound card for Internet calls via Skype but did it matter for games or I m wrong?

There are also PnP cards based on the ES1688F chip, when it's paired with the ES968F controller.
Having said that, my absolute favorite ESS ISA cards are the non-PnP ES1688F variants. No drivers required for DOS, most of them have rich, powerful sound with fairly low noise, and they are extremely compatible.

bloodem wrote on 2026-08-08, 17:39:

There are also PnP cards based on the ES1688F chip, when it's paired with the ES968F controller.
Having said that, my absolute favorite ESS ISA cards are the non-PnP ES1688F variants. No drivers required for DOS, most of them have rich, powerful sound with fairly low noise, and they are extremely compatible.

If you have a PnP BIOS then the ES1868F does not require any DOS drivers either (Plug and Play Operating System should be set to false in BIOS). You only need to use ESSVOL if you want to enable AuxB for an external synth or wavetable board.
But AFAIK in such a case using ESSVOL is also needed on ES1688F.

Falcosoft wrote on 2026-08-08, 17:51:

If you have a PnP BIOS then the ES1868F does not require any DOS drivers either (Plug and Play Operating System should be set to false in BIOS). You only need to use ESSVOL if you want to enable AuxB for an external synth or wavetable board.
But AFAIK in such a case using ESSVOL is also needed on ES1688F.

Interesting, I didn't know that, thank you! I was sure the ES1868 had to be initialized, but, in all honesty, I never tried it without drivers.
Still, I would say that ES1868 cards are more hit and miss in terms of quality, there are some cheap cards out there with a lot of noise and overall bad audio quality. Based on my experience, it's quite hard to find an actually bad ES1688 card.

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bloodem wrote on 2026-08-08, 18:34:

Falcosoft wrote on 2026-08-08, 17:51:

If you have a PnP BIOS then the ES1868F does not require any DOS drivers either (Plug and Play Operating System should be set to false in BIOS). You only need to use ESSVOL if you want to enable AuxB for an external synth or wavetable board.
But AFAIK in such a case using ESSVOL is also needed on ES1688F.

Interesting, I didn't know that, thank you! I was sure the ES1868 had to be initialized, but, in all honesty, I never tried it without drivers.
Still, I would say that ES1868 cards are more hit and miss in terms of quality, there are some cheap cards out there with a lot of noise and overall bad audio quality. Based on my experience, it's quite hard to find an actually bad ES1688 card.

If your PnP BIOS is properly set you should have something similar at boot time. Then there nothing more has to be 'initialized' related to the card. (it's an Abit KT7A):

Of course getting a proper ES1868 card is harder since there were much more variants released compared to ES1688. This is why it's still easier today to get some kind of ES1868 than ES1688 for a reasonable price.

So if I understand correctly, it basically sets IRQ5 by default. Not ideal, since I prefer to configure all cards to IRQ7 (more compatible with certain games, in my experience).

bloodem wrote on 2026-08-08, 19:00:

So if I understand correctly, it basically sets IRQ5 by default. Not ideal, since I prefer to configure all cards to IRQ7 (more compatible with certain games, in my experience).

No, you can change used IRQ and DMA by manually configuring required resources in the BIOS.
BTW, you have to reconfigure your BIOS settings if you want to change IRQ/DMA settings even on your non-PNP ES1688. Otherwise there will be resource conflicts. The only difference is that in case of ES1868 you do not have to change jumper settings on the card.

Falcosoft wrote on 2026-08-08, 19:18:

BTW, you have to reconfigure your BIOS settings if you want to change IRQ/DMA settings even on your non-PNP ES1688. Otherwise there will be resource conflicts. The only difference is that in case of ES1868 you do not have to change jumper settings on the card.

Not really, with the non-PnP cards it’s usually enough to configure the jumper settings.
On some motherboards you might need to reserve IRQ 7 in the BIOS, but that’s about it, other than that it will just work.

bloodem wrote on 2026-08-08, 20:35:

Falcosoft wrote on 2026-08-08, 19:18:

BTW, you have to reconfigure your BIOS settings if you want to change IRQ/DMA settings even on your non-PNP ES1688. Otherwise there will be resource conflicts. The only difference is that in case of ES1868 you do not have to change jumper settings on the card.

Not really, with the non-PnP cards it’s usually enough to configure the jumper settings.
On some motherboards you might need to reserve IRQ 7 in the BIOS, but that’s about it, other than that it will just work.

I mean you have to reconfigure the BIOS when you want to change IRQ5 to IRQ7 or vice versa. On my motherboard if IRQ7 is not reserved for the card then iRQ7 is picked by the ACPI Controller. In the hypothetical scenario that I would want to use a non-PnP ES1688 on IRQ7 it would not be enough to set the jumper on the card to IRQ7. I would also need to free the IRQ assignment in The BIOS. The same is true if I would like to change from IRQ7 to IRQ5.
Of course I could reserve both IRQ5 and IRQ7 but that would be a waste of one IRQ and increasing the possibility of problematic IRQ sharing for PCI devices.
I do not see how the process can be simpler by using the non-PnP card. At least in case of my motherboard the same steps are required to set in the BIOS + in case of the non-PnP card I also have to change the jumpers.

Falcosoft wrote on 2026-08-08, 19:18:

No, you can change used IRQ and DMA by manually configuring required resources in the BIOS. BTW, you have to reconfigure your BI […]
Show full quote

bloodem wrote on 2026-08-08, 19:00:

So if I understand correctly, it basically sets IRQ5 by default. Not ideal, since I prefer to configure all cards to IRQ7 (more compatible with certain games, in my experience).

No, you can change used IRQ and DMA by manually configuring required resources in the BIOS.
BTW, you have to reconfigure your BIOS settings if you want to change IRQ/DMA settings even on your non-PNP ES1688. Otherwise there will be resource conflicts. The only difference is that in case of ES1868 you do not have to change jumper settings on the card.

The attachment es1868isapnp2.jpg is no longer available

That will not always work (at least for me). If IRQ 5 is not taken by another device and it's set in the BIOS to ISA/PCI (PCI only is not always available) for that IRQ and you set IRQ 7 for ISA only the card can (and most of the times it will) take IRQ 5 if it's plug and play. At least that is my experience. 😀

Yoghoo wrote on 2026-08-08, 21:30:

Falcosoft wrote on 2026-08-08, 19:18:

No, you can change used IRQ and DMA by manually configuring required resources in the BIOS. BTW, you have to reconfigure your BI […]
Show full quote

bloodem wrote on 2026-08-08, 19:00:

So if I understand correctly, it basically sets IRQ5 by default. Not ideal, since I prefer to configure all cards to IRQ7 (more compatible with certain games, in my experience).

No, you can change used IRQ and DMA by manually configuring required resources in the BIOS.
BTW, you have to reconfigure your BIOS settings if you want to change IRQ/DMA settings even on your non-PNP ES1688. Otherwise there will be resource conflicts. The only difference is that in case of ES1868 you do not have to change jumper settings on the card.

The attachment es1868isapnp2.jpg is no longer available

That will not always work (at least for me). If IRQ 5 is not taken by another device and it's set in the BIOS to ISA/PCI (PCI only is not always available) for that IRQ and you set IRQ 7 for ISA only the card can (and most of the times it will) take IRQ 5 if it's plug and play. At least that is my experience. 😀

Then you do this the wrong way 😀
If you do not want that IRQ5 to be picked by your ISA PnP card then you either have to reserve IRQ5 to non-PNP Leagacy ISA or as you said you have to assign IRQ 5 to another device (e.g. LPT port). This always worked for me on different motherboards.

PNP cards have a ROM 0n them with multiple configuration possibilities in order of descending priority.
The ES1868 has as top priority a configuration, the "preferred" one, using IRQ 5.
Below that is "acceptable" priorities, including those where the IRQ is allowed to be 7.
Finally there are "functional" priorities where the card has to go without certain resources.
You can see these configurations using PNPDUMP from isapnptools. They correspond to the default configuration 0000, 0001, 0002, etc. in Windows 9X. This is why sometimes it will not allow you to customize any of the resource settings until you switch to one of those higher numbered configurations.
Speaking of Windows 9X, because it goes into the ESCD ROM and mucks with these settings also, getting picky about IRQ settings and such while having PNP cards, a PNP BIOS, and Windows 9X can get frustrating. When I had ISA cards (like ethernet cards and internal modems) that could be jumpered or soft configured to NOT be a PnP device, in period correct times, I always made them a non-PnP one. This forces Windows 9X to work around them, rather than insisting on stupid things like ethernet on IRQ 3 and sound on IRQ 10 when 9, 11, and 5 are free.

edit: on that topic, in Device Manager, double clicking Computer, Windows 9X has its own, completely separate system of marking IRQs, I/O ports, and DMA channels as reserved, separate from your machine's BIOS. You might find it necessary to flag IRQ 5 there as well if you want to force the system to bump the sound card to 7.

akimmet wrote on 2026-08-07, 21:41:

The 1868 is full duplex.
The 1869 adds 48kHz sampling rate support.

From the ES1868 datasheet:

"Full-duplex monophonic mode, half-duplex stereo mode"

From the ES1869 datasheet:

"The ES1869 supports stereo full-duplex DMA. In fullduplex (FD) mode, a second audio channel has been
added to the ES1869. The second audio channel is programmed through mixer registers. The CODEC is used
for recording and the Audio 2 DAC is used for playback."

@ akimet: afair "full duplex" meant back in the days that you could speak simultaneously with a Headset when you used a sound card for Internet calls via Skype but did it matter for games or I m wrong?

Yes, and in fact, in the late 1990s, I was seeking to replace my ES1868 with an ES1869 for that very reason (sound would cut off in internet audio conversations if we both spoke at the same time). For that reason alone I say I would consider it a "substantial" upgrade. Practically speaking, in a vintage PC, you probably don't need full duplex.

There is also this to consider.

mockingbird wrote on Yesterday, 13:48:

From the ES1868 datasheet: […]
Show full quote

akimmet wrote on 2026-08-07, 21:41:

The 1868 is full duplex.
The 1869 adds 48kHz sampling rate support.

From the ES1868 datasheet:

"Full-duplex monophonic mode, half-duplex stereo mode"

From the ES1869 datasheet:

"The ES1869 supports stereo full-duplex DMA. In fullduplex (FD) mode, a second audio channel has been
added to the ES1869. The second audio channel is programmed through mixer registers. The CODEC is used
for recording and the Audio 2 DAC is used for playback."

@ akimet: afair "full duplex" meant back in the days that you could speak simultaneously with a Headset when you used a sound card for Internet calls via Skype but did it matter for games or I m wrong?

Yes, and in fact, in the late 1990s, I was seeking to replace my ES1868 with an ES1869 for that very reason (sound would cut off in internet audio conversations if we both spoke at the same time). For that reason alone I say I would consider it a "substantial" upgrade. Practically speaking, in a vintage PC, you probably don't need full duplex.

There is also this to consider.

Actually ES1869 is pin-compatible with ES1868 to the point you can simply use ES1869 instead of ES1868 without making any change to the circuit. I used an ES1869 in my own assembly of ES1868_ISA8 card and it worked fine.

However, native ES1869 drivers will not function correctly (despite UNISOUND can correctly init it via /XEA). ES1868 drivers is still required for ES1869 operating in this "compatibility mode", so a better idea would be to use an external EEPROM to spoof the card as ES1868, which is not necessary in case the card already had an external EEPROM identifying itself as ES1868 to begin with.

If you swap an ES1868 with an ES1869, will it still gain full duplex in this compatibility mode?

Kahenraz wrote on Today, 03:24:

If you swap an ES1868 with an ES1869, will it still gain full duplex in this compatibility mode?

Based on what LS10999 is saying, if you put an ES1869 in place of an ES1868, it will still require ES1868 drivers. If ES1868 drivers are installed, the full duplex feature is not available.