Tali wrote on 2020-07-20, 11:35:

Since I'm no true audiophile (if there is such a thing), I'm not entirely sure I can explain in correct terms what I mean, but it sounds simply "dead" to me (as in opposite of "alive").

I think I sort of understand. Different people are able to discern different things when it comes to sound. I was never much of an audiophile myself, and I'm also using a simple pair of Logitech 2.1 speakers for DOS gaming, so it might not be that apparent to me.

On the other hand, I can immediately recognize the difference between 8-bit and 16-bit sound samples in late-era DOS games like Master of Orion 2. Maybe it's because I had a SB16 as a kid, but using SBPro in such games just doesn't sound right to me.

The KT7A boards can even run up to around 2.3Ghz or so with the 2800+ Barton mobile CPU with the modified BIOS and the socket wire mod to give you access to the higher multipliers. But then you lose the lower multipliers.

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-07-21, 00:25:

The KT7A boards can even run up to around 2.3Ghz or so with the 2800+ Barton mobile CPU with the modified BIOS and the socket wire mod to give you access to the higher multipliers.

Are you sure this applies to my revision 1.0 KT7A as well? It won't even POST when I set it to 11x133 through SoftMenu, even though that's the default multiplier for my 1700+ CPU.

But then you lose the lower multipliers.

Yeah, one of the reasons I'm weary of using a modified BIOS is because I would no longer be able to run the CPU at 5x100. Downclocking to that is handy for a bunch of stuff, including some Win9x speed sensitive games.

Here's an old classic thread: https://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthrea … g-at-2-3GHz-now!

I still had a couple of good, working KT7E motherboards in my stash ( at one time I used Xp2100s in them and had them set up as computers to look up parts at work), but they burned up along with everything else. When I catch myself wishing for some bit of hardware I got rid of as ewaste years ago, I remind myself that if I hadn't gotten rid of it then, the Camp Fire would have done it for me.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-07-21, 03:32:

Are you sure this applies to my revision 1.0 KT7A as well? It won't even POST when I set it to 11x133 through SoftMenu, even tho […]
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cyclone3d wrote on 2020-07-21, 00:25:

The KT7A boards can even run up to around 2.3Ghz or so with the 2800+ Barton mobile CPU with the modified BIOS and the socket wire mod to give you access to the higher multipliers.

Are you sure this applies to my revision 1.0 KT7A as well? It won't even POST when I set it to 11x133 through SoftMenu, even though that's the default multiplier for my 1700+ CPU.

But then you lose the lower multipliers.

Yeah, one of the reasons I'm weary of using a modified BIOS is because I would no longer be able to run the CPU at 5x100. Downclocking to that is handy for a bunch of stuff, including some Win9x speed sensitive games.

The board I have is version 1.1. Have you ever replaced the capacitors on your board? The one I had back when they were still sold in stores had an unfortunate accident when I tightened down a homemade waterblock too much and the board died.

The one I have now was NOS when I bought it a few years ago and the first time I powered it up, a few of the capacitors exploded. After replacing the capacitors it worked fine. You could have bad capacitors which would explain why it won't work at the default speed for your CPU.

What power supply are you using?

Repo Man11 wrote on 2020-07-21, 04:35:

Here's an old classic thread: https://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthrea … g-at-2-3GHz-now!

Thanks!

Lots of interesting experiences in that thread. I'll take a detailed look when I have more time.

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-07-21, 06:44:

Have you ever replaced the capacitors on your board?

Not yet, since I'm not skilled enough to do that myself. I do intend on doing it when I find a good service technician locally, since I want to recap a couple of sound cards as well.

For what it's worth, the board caps look normal visually (no bloating etc.) but who knows what's going on inside after almost 20 years.

What power supply are you using?

Right now, an AOpen 350W PSU from the early 2000s. It could very well be that it is on its last legs too, so I do intend to replace it. I'm not sure which modern PSUs can handle the 5V requirements of an AthlonXP though.

So that motherboard usd to be your daily driver form many years ago. Thats cool having hardware from your own past is nicer then simply a list of hardware purchased years later.
Most my 9x gaming is done in 2k now. Most games work, its much more stable OS and these fast systems more then make up for any the slight performance hit.
Usually have 98 installed as well for those few games that don't like 2k but more for the dos gaming side of things.

Good point on the Audigy cards as well, never thought about that.
Most my rigs have the ZS, some even with the hacked drivers enabling dos support, pretty much making the Audigy 1 cards pointless.
But yeh if resources are tight then that firewire port is nothing but a burden and if I'm honest I cant really tell the difference in sound quality.

chinny22 wrote on 2020-07-21, 09:23:

So that motherboard usd to be your daily driver form many years ago. Thats cool having hardware from your own past is nicer then simply a list of hardware purchased years later.

It really is! Just looking at that case brings back memories, even though almost everything inside has been upgraded. For reference, here are the original specs from when I initially bought this computer, sometime in 2001:

• Athlon Thunderbird 750 MHz
• Abit KT7A-RAID (revision 1.0)
• 256 MB RAM
• GeForce2 MX400 32 MB
• Sound Blaster 128 PCI CT4810
• Sony 3.5" floppy drive
• Maxtor 40 GB HDD
• Teac 32x CD-ROM
• Hansol 17" CRT monitor

This is all from memory, so I could be wrong on some of the details. I know for sure that I upgraded the CPU to this AthlonXP 1700+ in early 2003. That's also when I got a Leadtek GeForce 3 Ti200 (which I later sold, sadly), 512 MB RAM and a DVD drive. If I remember correctly, I kept using this rig in that form until mid 2005 when I finally bought a new Socket939 Athlon64 machine. I still have that one too, and I occasionally use it for early WinXP games.

Finally got a better PSU. It's an LC Power 550W from the early 2000s and claims to deliver 40A on the 5V rail. And sure enough, my AthlonXP 1700+ now effortlessly boots at its proper frequency of 1466 MHz (11x133).

The only minor issue with this PSU is that it only has one floppy power connector. This probably won't bother most people, but it matters to me because the SBLive front panel needs that connector as well. I've ordered one of those molex to floppy power adapters and hopefully that will do the trick.

Well, it looks like I found a use case for gaming under Windows 2000 on this rig. I just learned that Splinter Cell has issues on cards newer than a GeForce4.

Originally,I had planned to replay that game on my higher specced WinXP rig, but it looks like I might have to settle for slightly lower framerates and use this build instead. After all, proper shadow rendering is more important than high fps in the stealth genre.

I'm posting a picture of my CPU since it's apparently one of the unlocked Thoroughbred models. It might be useful as a reference for people who are looking for one of those.

Using the SoftMenu section of the BIOS of my Abit KT7A motherboard, I can freely adjust the CPU multiplier. Among other things, this allows me to downclock the CPU to 500 MHz. This is useful when dealing with speed sensitive games.

Somewhat unexpectedly, I got a set of NOS Cambridge SoundWorks Digital 2.1 speakers. They just randomly popped up on my local classifieds a few days ago, and since the price was fairly reasonable, I decided to go for it.

Contemporary reviews rate these speakers quite favorably, and I'm inclined to agree. The plan is to eventually use them with all of my DOS/Win9x rigs, but for the moment, they will remain hooked up to this system, mainly because I can connect my SBLive to them using a SPDIF cable. This produces nice, extremely clean sound.

One thing that I particularly like about these is that they use standard speaker cables for connecting the satellites to the subwoofer. As one reviewer put it, more companies need to follow suit, as it's so obviously beneficial. I love how this allows me to customize cable length according to my needs, and position the speakers exactly where I want them.

I had a friend growing up who had that speaker set and I always remember how nice that sounded even at louder volumes.

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2022-02-19, 23:18:

I had a friend growing up who had that speaker set and I always remember how nice that sounded even at louder volumes.

Overall, it's pretty clean. But I did notice some white noise if the volume wheel is turned above 50% when using analog inputs. It's very minor though.

On the other hand, when using the digital input (SPDIF RCA) there is zero noise, even at max volume levels. Here's a pic of the speakers showing all the inputs on the back of the subwoofer.

BTW, the power brick that these things use is freaking huge! Pencil included for scale.

It really is a nice setup a d yes that power brick is massive. I'm still trying to find a good set of speakers for my son's socket A system.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2022-02-20, 08:33:

BTW, the power brick that these things use is freaking huge! Pencil included for scale.

I have been rocking a Cambridge Soundworks 5.1 system since my AthlonXP days in 2001 and still use it as my main gaming PC speaker system. It has that same huge power brick.

I went and redid all of my benchmarks since the old ones were made when the system was still running at 12.5x100 due to the weakness of the original PSU. The new benchmarks were done at 11x133 which is the default setting for this AthlonXP 1700+ CPU.

Also, I've replaced the Quake 1 software rendering benchmark with Quake 2 software rendering. The latter doesn't depend on optional factors such as the use of FASTVID and/or disabling vid_wait in the .cfg files.

I recently read that it might be possible to get SPDIF Out from a SBLive through the orange jack using an RCA to 3.5 mm mono adapter (important: the adapter must be mono). So I got myself one of these (they are available on Amazon and other places) and decided to give it a try.

As shown in the screenshot below, you need to tick the "Digital output only" box in the speaker setup under Creative's AudioHQ. That seems to be necessary for this method to work.

With all that done, I was able to directly hook up the SBLive to my Cambridge SoundWorks Digital speakers using a coaxial SPDIF cable. This seems to be a nice alternative for people who don't have a LiveDrive but would still like to use SPDIF Out on their SBLive cards.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2022-02-27, 11:43:

I recently read that it might be possible to get SPDIF Out from a SBLive through the orange jack using an RCA to 3.5 mm mono ada […]
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I recently read that it might be possible to get SPDIF Out from a SBLive through the orange jack using an RCA to 3.5 mm mono adapter (important: the adapter must be mono). So I got myself one of these (they are available on Amazon and other places) and decided to give it a try.
Adapter.jpg

As shown in the screenshot below, you need to tick the "Digital output only" box in the speaker setup under Creative's AudioHQ. That seems to be necessary for this method to work.

AudioHQ_Speaker_Setup.jpg

With all that done, I was able to directly hook up the SBLive to my Cambridge SoundWorks Digital speakers using a coaxial SPDIF cable. This seems to be a nice alternative for people who don't have a LiveDrive but would still like to use SPDIF Out on their SBLive cards.

I just use minijack to three way splitter, one of them is guaranteed to work. On audigy2 but same idea.