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SB Audigy RX ms-dos compatability?

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First post, by Stretch

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Does the SB Audigy RX work with the original SB Audigy MS-DOS drivers?

I know sound fx won't work, but the music might.

http://us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound- … aster-audigy-rx

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Reply 1 of 29, by PhilsComputerLab

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🤣 No way. It's a brand-new modern sound card like the Sound Blaster Z. They just decided to use the same name.

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Reply 2 of 29, by obobskivich

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philscomputerlab wrote:

🤣 No way. It's a brand-new modern sound card like the Sound Blaster Z. They just decided to use the same name.

Actually not entirely true. The Rx doesn't use the SoundCore processor like the Recon3D or SBZ - it uses CA10300 which is derived from CA0108 (EMU10k2.5), and has similar capabilities/features/etc to Audigy 4 and Audigy 2 Value. HOWEVER, it also has a PLX bridge chip on there to work on PCIe, and my guess is that will cause problems with DOS (I don't know if the PLX chip will be "transparent" - based on a few bridged graphics cards I've had over the years, it will not be). I would probably try to find a PCI Audigy, unless you already own the Rx (in which case, try it and tell us if it works 🤣).

Reply 3 of 29, by PhilsComputerLab

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Well, still, no way this card will work in DOS in any way shape or form. If does I would be shocked.

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Reply 4 of 29, by obobskivich

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philscomputerlab wrote:

Well, still, no way this card will work in DOS in any way shape or form. If does I would be shocked.

Yeah I'm guessing the PLX chip will pretty much assure that, but if the Audigy 2 Value or Audigy 4 work with the Audigy DOS driver, and the PLX chip doesn't cause issues, it may actually work. See this thread about the DOS driver: audigy dos drivers

Reply 6 of 29, by obobskivich

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philscomputerlab wrote:

Nah I'm not buying it 😀

Oh I agree - I would not go out and buy the Rx assuming it will work in DOS. But it probably has a better chance of working than anything else that's current/modern. 🤣

Reply 9 of 29, by NJRoadfan

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This card in a weird way, is better than the Recon 3D and Z series cards in that it still has a hardware MIDI synth! Its weird how the EMU 10k refuses to die, yet the poor EMU20k gets killed off. I'm also surprised they are using a PCIe-to-PCI bridge as Creative's cards tended to have trouble with them (and hence the need to develop the PCIe native EMU 20k2 chip).

Its doubtful those old DOS drivers will work. The card has a different PCI ID, plus Creative's drivers relied upon motherboard features that are no longer provided like NMI.

Reply 10 of 29, by PhilsComputerLab

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I am wondering if anyone has purchased the AUDIGY RX?

I'm now interested in this card, not because of MS-DOS, but because it seems to be the latest and greatest Creative card that still supports XP as well as all the new Windows versions. I'm assuming it has full EAX support under XP and through ALchemy under Vista+

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Reply 11 of 29, by Duffman

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I've just purchased one of these on ebay, so I'd like to see if I can get it to work on XP

I wouldn't mind trying it out in proper DOS too, if only just to see if it works
which XP and DOS drivers do you think should I use?

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Reply 12 of 29, by ynari

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PCI-e is simply seen as a faster PCI by unaware OS, so if it behaves in the same way it should work.

I'm surprised it's supported in DOS, though. I can't imagine the soundblaster emulation will be up to much, and by the stage the Audigy was released, DOS games were no longer a thing as far as I'm aware.

Reply 13 of 29, by keenmaster486

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I have one of these cards, and I can attest to its sound quality leaving much to be desired. It works fine for most uses, but for studio recording and playback (especially recording), it sucks.

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 14 of 29, by Jo22

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ynari wrote:

PCI-e is simply seen as a faster PCI by unaware OS, so if it behaves in the same way it should work.

I'm surprised it's supported in DOS, though. I can't imagine the soundblaster emulation will be up to much, and by the stage the Audigy was released, DOS games were no longer a thing as far as I'm aware.

I think the same. But do you know wheter the PCI-PCIe bridge has to be supported/initalized by BIOS then ?
I mean, sometimes devices in Win9x didn't work properly, when I had got a yellow mark for an ISA/PCI bridge (missing driver / INF for the bridge).
Just asking, the whole PnP detection/enumeration thing is a bit of a mystery to me (does a PCIe/PCI bridge work in a 486 ?).

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In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

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Reply 15 of 29, by ynari

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You've got it the wrong way round - it's a PCI to PCI-e bridge chip, so the card is effectively PCI internally, but a bridge chip has been added to make it work in PCI-e systems. The physical card is PCI-e. 486s are too old to use PCI-e.

So, if Windows 9x was installed on a system with a PCI-e equivalent of a PCI card it already supported, it should 'just work'. This is the case in various old operating systems.

Reply 16 of 29, by Jo22

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I know, but sometimes there's a PCIe bridge on PCI cards. To "backport" newer devices to older systems.
I think I've seen such a thing on an USB 3.0 card some time ago, but can't find it right now..

Here's another example, an adapter card from Startech:

PCI to PCI Express Adapter Card
https://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapters/Slot- … r-Card~PCI1PEX1

Would such a thing work in a 486 or early Pentium ?
I'm just asking. Perhaps we will need something like this in the near future..

ynari wrote:

So, if Windows 9x was installed on a system with a PCI-e equivalent of a PCI card it already supported, it should 'just work'. This is the case in various old operating systems.

I though the same. But I've seen a lot of strange stuff already. For example, USB Legacy Support for keyboards and mice. It works fine in DOS.
And it works fine in Win9x until it loads drivers for the USB Host Controller. After this, legacy support is gone,
but Win9x hasn't installed USB mouse/keyboards drivers yet. At this point you have reached a dead end. Windows shows you
a "click continue to install driver" window and you can't progress. You need a PS/2 or serial mouse to click the button and to
install the mouse driver..

That's why I asked. Can such a thing happen to the ISA/PCI bridge or PCI/PCIe bridge, as well ?
So that the bridge doesn't work, because it is "under control" by Win9x (non-working control,btw.) ?

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

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Reply 17 of 29, by ynari

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Oh, I see, yes I suppose that might happen. It'd be fairly useless as PCI is far too slow to run USB3, but I suppose there's some specialist applications.

I'm speculating but I imagine that, yes, it would work in a 486. The problem would be driver support, and CPU features, especially if they depend on SSE etc. The easiest way would be either to find a PCIe network card with legacy (Windows 2000) drivers - it'd be horrendously slow, or perhaps better NetBSD with the same, to see if it worked.

The USB Legacy Support is working as designed, it's just a problem that by default 9x didn't copy all its driver files locally.

Reply 18 of 29, by chinny22

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Cool, I thought the X-Fi was the last creative card to support XP!
Another toy for the wish list