I don't see the need to get that motherboard. What's better about it compared to yours? While there are differences, I think you've got a fine system. But maybe the "I have to change something" bug has gotten you 🤣

Remember that only the older revisions of the p5a run well with a k6-2+ or k6-3+ (if you want to run a + cpu on it). 1.05 and 1.06 will run them slow. No problems with the normal k6-3.

Can your fic board cache 256mb? Otherwise 128mb will be a better choice for max. performance (same on the p5a, but no issue when using k6-3) . Your board has ''one of them agp slots'' but a banshee should be fine. V3 will be to much.

For oldest dos glide games i would stick a voodoo1 in your dos system. It can have troubles with fast p3 systems but it will work fine on even the fastest k6.

My P5A board has revision G of the Ali Aladin V chipset. According to some site's, I can cache a lot of memory.
Some sites say 4096mb, other say 1024mb. Well... I doubt about the 4096mb limit for cacheable memory.
It is also one of the late revision of the board, wich makes me able to run + versons, if I update the bios to latest beta.

Back to the FIC machine, I am asking about.
All in all. I actually think I just need to remove some of the memory in order to run more Dos games.
Perhaps a single stick of 16mb is good enough for this system, when it is running pure MS-Dos-6.22

Nope, late revisions can indeed cache more ram but do not run well with the + cpu's.

I see. Thanks. But 4096mb? Still seem nuts to use that much on a SS7 system. 😳
256mb max/tops, should be quite enough for everyone, running software from that timeperiode.

philscomputerlab wrote:

I don't see the need to get that motherboard. What's better about it compared to yours? While there are differences, I think you've got a fine system. But maybe the "I have to change something" bug has gotten you 🤣

I actually want to test out, what the differences are between P5A and GA-5AX.
What I remember about the GA-5AX, is that it ran like a champ.
Slow, yes, compared to P3 systems at that time.
On the other hand, this board was the best I have ever had. When used as a primaery machine.
And it was a board that I had a lot of fun with, back in the days.

It's a mix between a lot of factors, that makes me want one again. 😀

GM would be nice in case any games from that period still supported it or surround sound (no idea whether the AWE64 supports that: my SB Live did with Unreal Tournament as I recall).

The Gold should have some sort of 3D sound, as far as I can remember. I am just not 100% shure on this.
The rest of the AWE64 cards should not have it though. It does not really matter and all that.
As I am not going for Win98SE on this one at all. Only MS-Dos will be on the harddrive.

Midi could be a nice improvement on this machine, as games as late as those Duke/Doom fps's support it.
Possible even dos games up until 98/99 if any good Dos game, exists at all, from those last years in the 90's.

For 3D sound you should really check out Aureal Vortex 2 cards. The AWE64 does have 3D Stereo Enhancement, gut it's more an effect than anything.

Well... For the Dos machine and my future Win98SE SS7 machine's.
I am sticking with AWE64-Gold cards. I have them allready. 😀

Else, I have:
First edition of the SB-Live-Value card.
The Ensoniq Audio-PCI card.
A-Open AW-320 card.

These are PCI cards, and for a Win-Box running Win-Only games, they are good enough.
Dos on the other hand, requires a bit more specific hardware.

Yeh, for DOS I rekon AWE64 is in the Top 3 all time best cards. (Lack of OPL is all that stops it being #1)
Windows they are a bit basic for my liking but do the job

chinny22 wrote:

Yeh, for DOS I rekon AWE64 is in the Top 3 all time best cards. (Lack of OPL is all that stops it being #1)
Windows they are a bit basic for my liking but do the job

Funny. I have the allmost exact same opinion about the AWE64-Gold. The thing that's missing in my book are OPL and GUS.
If the Creative have had the gut's to implement real OPL and GUS (on license), it may perfectly have been the top of all time.
So. When it all comes down again, there are simply no ultimate/best single soundcard out there.