I think there's a thousand "best creative" threads there that still won't answer your question already. Usually people get hung up on true OPL3 or the hanging note bug.

Since you're heading for the "overkill" early-to-mid-2000s area with great disregard for all the legacy stuff Win98 could otherwise run with older hardware, Audigy2 ZS probably.

leileilol wrote:

I think there's a thousand "best creative" threads there that still won't answer your question already. Usually people get hung up on true OPL3 or the hanging note bug.

Since you're heading for the "overkill" early-to-mid-2000s area with great disregard for all the legacy stuff Win98 could otherwise run with older hardware, Audigy2 ZS probably.

Thanks i will look into it.

For Win 98SE games
1995~1997 I would say a AWE 64 Gold
1998+ SB Live

I never had good luck with a Audigy 2 on win 98 and some games.

RogueTrip2012 wrote:

For Win 98SE games 1995~1997 I would say a AWE 64 Gold 1998+ SB Live […]
Show full quote

For Win 98SE games
1995~1997 I would say a AWE 64 Gold
1998+ SB Live

I never had good luck with a Audigy 2 on win 98 and some games.

i currently have a live its pretty decent, i was thinking the Audigy will be better. Do you know if it works with MS-DOS

Live and audigy 1/2 both have drivers for DOS.

I think you will have to track down the ones for the Audigy though but probably hosted on vogons file archive.

RogueTrip2012 wrote:

Live and audigy 1/2 both have drivers for DOS.

I think you will have to track down the ones for the Audigy though but probably hosted on vogons file archive.

thanks man i will look into it.

Audigy 4 was the last card to support Win98 but don't offer much more IMHO then the more common Audigy 2 ZS and can confirm it works fine once you switch from the default WDM to VDX, I use it in all my 98 PC's

Did get the 2 ZS working in DOS as well once using modded Audigy Dos drivers I found somewhere.

chinny22 wrote:

Audigy 4 was the last card to support Win98 but don't offer much more IMHO then the more common Audigy 2 ZS and can confirm it works fine once you switch from the default WDM to VDX, I use it in all my 98 PC's

Did get the 2 ZS working in DOS as well once using modded Audigy Dos drivers I found somewhere.

what do u mean switch from the default WDM to VDX,

If you want best perfomance in games don't choose WDM driver in general. Only VXD! Audigy2 is 6.1, Audigy2 ZS is 7.1, Audigy2 Value is similar to ZS but has reference frequency 44,1 kHz for hearing 'CD-quality' music without distortions.
"Overkill" means to have most popular standards. And I think that is necessary to plug second A3D card on AU8830 chip. To avoid conflict you should to disable Sound Blaster emulation on AU8830.
Audigy2 has unofficial pathc audigy12.exe which lets to work in DOS. It's working perfectly, I've checked! But only if your motherboard supports DMA.
And last: the Sound Blaster Live 5.1 is a very good choice too! I don't thing it's much worse than Audigy.

JaKSLaP wrote:

Do you know if it works with MS-DOS

This is why it is pointless to look for the "best card". What if the "best card" is one that doesn't support MS-DOS? Or what if it supports MS-DOS but has crappy MIDI?

As noted above, whether or not the DOS drivers for PCI Sound Blaster cards will work depends on your motherboard; there is no reliable test for determining whether it will work or not.

You have 3 choices, when looking at what people here on Vogons are using the most.
And what is recommended by the most.

1: AWE64 Gold.
2: Vortex2.
3: YMF-724.

What's the ultimate Win98 card for one person, might not be the best for another person.
It all depends on what you need, and what you don't need.

I think author means top hardware. In most cases it forces to reject ISA at all. The top chipsets with 9X support are Intel 865, VIA KT880, VIA PT880, SiS 755FX, nForce2 Ultra400, nForce3, VIA K8T800. And maybe some similar. Only a few i865 boards have ISA. I would like to choose SB Live 5.1 and Vortex2, together. Both can work in pure DOS if motherboard lets DMA.

JaKSLaP wrote:

what do u mean switch from the default WDM to VDX,

Once you install the drivers there will be a shortcut in start menu to change drivers, I cant tell you exactly what its called as my 9x PC is on strike it seems

RogueTrip2012 wrote:

I never had good luck with a Audigy 2 on win 98 and some games.

May you say concrete compatibility issues with Win98 OS and Win9x games on Audigy2 compared to Live ? It's interesting to check. Which better Live model CT**, SB** was it?

I had issues with audio on Quake 2 among others with a Audigy 2 (non ZX). It has been a couple of years since I had that card in my computer since I had so many issues with it.

For windows games I like the CT4760 SB Live! Most of my Dos games are Doom/Duke Nukem 3D/Shadow Warrior/Blood/Carmageddon and those have no issues with sound.

RogueTrip2012 wrote:

I had issues with audio on Quake 2 among others with a Audigy 2 (non ZX). It has been a couple of years since I had that card in my computer since I had so many issues with it.

It's interesting to hear several games with issues specific to Audigy 2 in Win9x.

For windows games I like the CT4760 SB Live!

Not a common model. If you also tried other Live models to compare, would be good to know the details.

Seems one of versions of Quake 2 was the only singificant game with problems on Audigy 2 in Win9x, as no other concrete issues was told.