thanks for testing guys, maybe my card is not that good after all... meh

badmojo wrote:

Good question! I'm guessing yes but will have to dig it out - where possible I always use Line out or disable the onboard amp, a […]
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tpowell.ca wrote:

I don't have that problem, but mine had a real line-out. I did get loud pops on power-up with the real SB Pro due to its amplified output.
Was your card equipped with a line-out? Were there any jumpers for selecting line/amp out?

Good question! I'm guessing yes but will have to dig it out - where possible I always use Line out or disable the onboard amp, and nasty pops are still pretty common. My ES1688 cards have been pretty good, but my ES1868 does it. Creative cards are generally good with regards to startup pops, PAS16's hiss but that goes away when the appropriately set up mixer kicks in. I also have a few cards that emit a nasty pop or screach on power down - a couple of the OPLSAx cards I've tried have done that.

I settled for a Crystal based card in my P166 and it's lovely in that regard - in most regards actually.

I'm very sensitive to these unwanted sounds!

I agree. Having hissing, pops or worse, computer noise is just terrible.
I must admit that after having tried the alternatives with CQM and Crystal FM and even ESS FM, there is really no equal to the Yamaha OPL2/3. Sure, some games sound fine, but many just sound wrong or harsh.
Thats why I really fell in love with the ES688. It really checks all the boxes. Its quiet, compatible and sounds great.

The early Sound Blaster 16 (CT1740) was plagued with the DMA popping noise and lag in Duke Nukem 3D with the high sample rates and the wavetable MIDI daughterboard according to PhilsComputerLab. I have a CT1740 DSP 4.11 (hanging note bug across the board, similar to PhilsComputerLab's (DSP 4.05)) and CT2740 DSP 4.11 CT1747 bus chip (level 2 hanging note bug, hardly noticeable).

The worst card I have is the CT4170 (CQM synth sounds like crap), and the better cards are the ESS AudioDrive ES1688F (non-PnP, wavetable header, jumpers everywhere, and ATAPI CD-ROM drive header) and ES1869F (wavetable header).

I have found that setting the ESS688 card to use IRQ7 helped, I was able to complete level1 and play level2 without freezes. Maybe that's the secret 😀

Glad you got that sorted, eh?

keropi wrote:

My card is this one: […]
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My card is this one:

What's that serpent/paint plash logo btw? I have a similar (maybe the same?) card in my 286/20 but I have no idea who the maker could be. I like the external OPL3 chip though. This is the reason I use this very card.

It's an Acer brand card. I have the ES1688F chipset on it that was manufactured by Acer and it sounds real good. I even have an internal PC speaker hooked up to it as well.

So I am going to use this just as a DOS game box.

What CPU should I use
Intel 486dx-50 ?
AMD 486dx-50 ?
AMD K6-3 550mhz.
Intel Pentium 233mhz.

And how much ram ?

And what graphics card ? I can use ISA or PCI

keropi wrote:

http://i.imgur.com/D84ia7Vl.jpg […]
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Question: how does one simply solder on a YMF262-M chip on there? I know I need some capacitors, resistors, and other IC chips for that. Would it be possible? I have the ES1688F that has spots open, but, I've never soldered on an SMD chip before (I fixed a motherboard that has the fan connection that uses SMD and that worked out nicely).

Intel486dx33 wrote:

So I am going to use this just as a DOS game box.

What CPU should I use

It really depends on what period of DOS games you want to play on your system. If you will be satisfied with anything pre '95, then a 486DX/50 is more than sufficient. If however you plan to play any last true DOS era games at all (around '96-'98) like Quake, Tomb Raider, Fallout etc. then the better choice for CPU is AMD K6 or Intel 233Mhz. Those faster CPUs also offer you flexibility since you can always slow them down through either software or disabling cache from motherboards BIOS and thus getting the same performance as a 486 (or even slower). But the majority of older DOS games will be just fine on either of your 486 CPUs.

So it's simplicity vs. flexibility. No wrong answer there only matter of taste.

And how much ram ?

4-8Mb is more than enough for DOS. If you plan to use one of the 200+ MHz CPUs and Win95/98 then 16-32Mb would be justified. But older DOS games don't ever really need that much.

And what graphics card ? I can use ISA or PCI

2D DOS games are generally not very GPU heavy so with a 486 almost any graphic card (PCI or ISA) ranging from 512kb to 2mb (or more) RAM memory will do. However if your motherboard has PCI slots it's wise to use a PCI card there since they are slightly faster than ISA cards.

Personally, I'd build a 486 system using that UMC mobo of yours, with S3 Trio 64 PCI and 8mb of RAM. And of course the sound card of your choice.

Ariakos wrote:

It really depends on what period of DOS games you want to play on your system. If you will be satisfied with anything pre '95, t […]
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Intel486dx33 wrote:

So I am going to use this just as a DOS game box.

What CPU should I use

It really depends on what period of DOS games you want to play on your system. If you will be satisfied with anything pre '95, then a 486DX/50 is more than sufficient. If however you plan to play any last true DOS era games at all (around '96-'98) like Quake, Tomb Raider, Fallout etc. then the better choice for CPU is AMD K6 or Intel 233Mhz. Those faster CPUs also offer you flexibility since you can always slow them down through either software or disabling cache from motherboards BIOS and thus getting the same performance as a 486 (or even slower). But the majority of older DOS games will be just fine on either of your 486 CPUs.

So it's simplicity vs. flexibility. No wrong answer there only matter of taste.

And how much ram ?

4-8Mb is more than enough for DOS. If you plan to use one of the 200+ MHz CPUs and Win95/98 then 16-32Mb would be justified. But older DOS games don't ever really need that much.

And what graphics card ? I can use ISA or PCI

2D DOS games are generally not very GPU heavy so with a 486 almost any graphic card (PCI or ISA) ranging from 512kb to 2mb (or more) RAM memory will do. However if your motherboard has PCI slots it's wise to use a PCI card there since they are slightly faster than ISA cards.

Personally, I'd build a 486 system using that UMC mobo of yours, with S3 Trio 64 PCI and 8mb of RAM. And of course the sound card of your choice.

I also have some Intel chipset based Socket 7 motherboards for an AMD k6 or Pentium 233 if these faster processors will allow me to play more games with better performance.

bjwil1991 wrote:

keropi wrote:

http://i.imgur.com/D84ia7Vl.jpg […]
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Question: how does one simply solder on a YMF262-M chip on there? I know I need some capacitors, resistors, and other IC chips for that. Would it be possible? I have the ES1688F that has spots open, but, I've never soldered on an SMD chip before (I fixed a motherboard that has the fan connection that uses SMD and that worked out nicely).

I don't believe the ES1688 chip has output pins to drive an OPL3 chip.

gdjacobs wrote:

I don't believe the ES1688 chip has output pins to drive an OPL3 chip.

I've never seen that chipset paired with one.

moved to Sound forum