DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-10-20, 12:41:

There's also another system that I'm very interested in. It does have a Buy It Now option, but I'm not sure if I should try my luck with the auction. Maybe I shouldn't take the risk and just buy it. This one can be delivered. I don't know what motherboard it has, but from the screenshots I've been shown, it does have an AGP and ISA slot. It comes with a 19" flat panel CRT monitor, micro ATX tower, mouse, keyboard, speakers, joystick, some software, a Pentium III 450MHz, 13GB HDD, 128MB SDRAM, 3.5" 1.44MB floppy drive, a Riva TNT 16MB GPU, and a DVD drive.

So tempted...

If it was on this side of the pond, I might buy that for a DOS system...

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2024-10-20, 13:21:

You need to be wary about sharing links to auction things, you will find they sell rather quickly once you announce to this community.
Not a lot of people look all the time, and once theyre aware they buy.

Yeah, that thought did cross my mind. ^^; Hence why I didn't share a link to the other system I'm tempted by.

VivienM wrote on 2024-10-20, 13:26:

I'm not sure I understand the objective here. It's an AT case, a super-duper-elcheapo CRT monitor, the internals of the systems are way too old for a 98SE project, etc. What useful parts would you get out of this?

Probably none, to be fair. Was just exploring different possibilities, I guess.

VivienM wrote on 2024-10-20, 13:27:

If it was on this side of the pond, I might buy that for a DOS system...

Guess I'd better swipe it up then. I'll probably need to invest in an ISA sound card at a later point.

I think the motherboard is a 440ZX, so not sure if the tower would support a 440BX at a later date. But I'm guessing what it has should be fine for my uses and the games I'll be playing.

I've ordered it. 😁 The seller has ensured me that he makes sure things like computers and anything with glass etc is packaged fully and that they will arrive safely. So fingers crossed.

If it comes with the CRT I would go and get it mate.
Chirk isnt that bad to get to, its only on the Welsh border.
CRTs never do well in the post

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-10-20, 15:28:

I've ordered it. 😁 The seller has ensured me that he makes sure things like computers and anything with glass etc is packaged fully and that they will arrive safely. So fingers crossed.

Congrats and here's hoping everything arrives in good shape!

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-10-20, 20:29:

Congrats and here's hoping everything arrives in good shape!

Thank you. ^^ Me too. I can't wait to set it up. Just need to clear some space... ^^;

As I've already mentioned, I am considering the possibility of getting an Roland MT-32 somewhere down the line. In the meantime though, if I invest in a Soundblaster 16 sound card, should I go for a regular 16 or 32/64 AWE?

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-10-21, 00:29:

As I've already mentioned, I am considering the possibility of getting an Roland MT-32 somewhere down the line. In the meantime though, if I invest in a Soundblaster 16 sound card, should I go for a regular 16 or 32/64 AWE?

I’d purchase a Creative sound card with OPL3. All the cards you mentioned have versions or they have CQM emulation (all AWE64 cards have CQM) which doesn’t sound that good, but granted it doesn’t bother everyone.

Also, in many ways Creative sound cards aren’t as good as alternatives. Many models suffer from hanging note bugs and they are relatively noisy.

Creative aren’t bad cards and there is no reason to avoid them, only that you can consider other alternatives such as Yamaha YMF-71x based cards or ESS Audiodrives and they are often cheaper. Last one doesn’t have genuine OPL3, but they sound fantastic. I have both SB16s, Yamaha cards and Audiodrives in my DOS systems.

Either case, if you are going to go with MT-32 or MT-32Pi route at some point, you need to get intelligent MIDI card at some point or rely on SoftMPU as none of these cards have intelligent MIDI built in. They work fine with GM, though.

440ZX is fine. It's limitations are non issues for a reto PC.
AWE32/64 are basically just a normal SB16 with an EMU chip if you want to play around with sound fonts.
If it's worth the money is personal choice but that said even if you don't like it you'll be able to resell it easy enough. Good ISA soundcards are always in demand.

Okay, thanks for clarifying. I may get myself either an AWE32/64. I think last I checked on eBay the 64 was cheaper than the 32 for some reason. The cheapest are around £50.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-10-21, 16:35:

Okay, thanks for clarifying. I may get myself either an AWE32/64. I think last I checked on eBay the 64 was cheaper than the 32 for some reason. The cheapest are around £50.

There are a lot of different models of Sound Blasters. Depending on the specific feature combination certain models are more desirable and therefore command higher prices.

This thread has more details: Sound Blaster: From best to worst

Okay, I have the machine. It's arrived safely (thank God), it's been cleaned up, and it's hooked up and tested. 😀 There are a few things that need sorting. The biggest issue is the noise 🤣. It's crazy how loud the computer is and then you go back to your main one, which is whisper quiet. I'm not quite sure what's causing the noise in my retro PC, whether it's the CPU fan or the PSU. If it's the latter, it may need replacing with something quieter. Having it next to me to my left, it's almost deafening 🤣. It's like an airport runway. Have yet to open it up and investigate.

https://imgur.com/79lzBJE

I've also noticed under dxdiag, that it's saying it's a Pentium II despite the sticker on the case, and at startup, saying Pentium III. The speakers are built into the monitor so it looks like I need to see if I have a spare audio cable. At any rate, I'll need to look at getting some vintage speakers at some point. And finally it'll need reformatting to get the rid of all the crap on it. I've been given the original Windows 98 disc, which is great, however I don't have any license key. I presume that was very much a thing with the first release of Windows 98? I can't recall if our old copy of Windows 95 has one, but our 98 SE certainly does. Worst case scenario, I'll just install SE, which is probably a good idea anyway.

I’ve had the same with mine have been able to reduce it a little bit by cleaning everything out and make everything dust free including the psu and if you can disassemble the fans and get a tiny drop of sewing machine oil on the spindle that would help not much you can do with the harddrives unless you know how without damaging it.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-10-21, 18:42:

Okay, thanks for clarifying. I may get myself either an AWE32/64. I think last I checked on eBay the 64 was cheaper than the 32 for some reason. The cheapest are around £50.

There are a lot of different models of Sound Blasters. Depending on the specific feature combination certain models are more desirable and therefore command higher prices.

This thread has more details: Sound Blaster: From best to worst

So I can't go wrong with a lot of them really, judging by that list. They all have the MPU-401 slowdown/pauses, so that can't be helped. Doesn't look like my system has a sound card and there's no cable to plug from the monitor's speakers to the onboard sound. So I'll need to get some speakers along with a sound card.

Greywolf1 wrote on 2024-10-23, 15:00:

I’ve had the same with mine have been able to reduce it a little bit by cleaning everything out and make everything dust free including the psu and if you can disassemble the fans and get a tiny drop of sewing machine oil on the spindle that would help not much you can do with the harddrives unless you know how without damaging it.

No, I won't go down that road of disassembling the fans or HDDs. That's out of my field. ^^; But I can certainly blast everything out with my handheld air duster.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-10-23, 11:55:

Okay, I have the machine. It's arrived safely (thank God), it's been cleaned up, and it's hooked up and tested. 😀 There are a few things that need sorting. The biggest issue is the noise 🤣. It's crazy how loud the computer is and then you go back to your main one, which is whisper quiet. I'm not quite sure what's causing the noise in my retro PC, whether it's the CPU fan or the PSU. If it's the latter, it may need replacing with something quieter. Having it next to me to my left, it's almost deafening 🤣. It's like an airport runway. Have yet to open it up and investigate.

That may just be... how it is. Sure, some computers from that era are louder than others, but in general, there was a big push to quiet computers starting around the mid-2000s after the excess noise around Preshot, higher-clocked G4s, etc which pushed the noise levels way too high. You also started to see a lot more variable speed fans than you had before.

But I think it's kinda normal for computers that predate that era to make a general humming sound when they're running.

Obviously, I haven't heard your system, so it's also possible that you have a bad worn out fan...

VivienM wrote on 2024-10-23, 21:02:

That may just be... how it is. Sure, some computers from that era are louder than others, but in general, there was a big push to quiet computers starting around the mid-2000s after the excess noise around Preshot, higher-clocked G4s, etc which pushed the noise levels way too high. You also started to see a lot more variable speed fans than you had before.

But I think it's kinda normal for computers that predate that era to make a general humming sound when they're running.

Obviously, I haven't heard your system, so it's also possible that you have a bad worn out fan...

I posted a link of a recording of it a few posts above. Hopefully a dust out will help, but I'm not sure how dusty it is yet. Hopefully I'll get more of an idea if what's the culprit. I doubt it's the CPU or GPU fans though as they're quite small. If the PSU is some generic sort hopefully a newer and quieter 400W one will help?