Any motherboards with ISA slots?

[imported_goku]

I need a modern motherboard with ISA slots. I've got my Soundblaster AWE32 that I would like to put into my next high end system rig but I'm going smart by not buying another sound card when I've already got one. I don't want to be cheap by using onboard sound so I was wondering where can I get modern motherboard with ISA slots. If this isn't possible, I was wondering what would be the highest end board I could get with ISA slots.

 

[corkyg]

You gotta go back about 9 years to find one. You might try E-Bay - but I feel that a chance encounter at a yard sale or a used computer store might work. A PCI sound card can be had cheap.

EISA, the 16-bit extended version of ISA, was common on PC motherboards until 1997, when Microsoft declared it as "legacy" subsystem in the PC 97 industry white-paper. VESA Local Bus, an early expansion bus that was inherently tied to the 80486 CPU, became obsolete (along with the processor) when Intel launched the Pentium processor in 1996.

The PCI bus was introduced in 1991 as replacement for ISA. The standard (now at version 3.0) is still found on PC motherboards to this day. Intel introduced the AGP bus in 1997 as a dedicated video acceleration solution. Though termed a bus, AGP supports only a single card at a time. From 2005 PCI-Express has replaced both of these buses. This standard, approved in 2004, implements the logical PCI protocol over serial communication interface.

Do some browsing here:

ISA

 

[DaveSimmons]

I have a slot-1 P3 board with ISA, takes 100fsb processors up to 1GHz -- want it cheap?

You might be able to find a socket370 board with ISA, I don't think even the first generation 400fsb / SDRAM P4 boards did.

 

[themisfit610]

I know for sure that some of the early Socket A motherboards - KT100 / KT133 had an ISA slot. I got one because I had a BADASS ISA 56k modem which tore through phone line interference like nobody's business. Gave me an extra 10k over any PCI modem I tried. 100% Hardware

No P4 boards to my knowledge had them. Why do you still need an AWE32? Onboard would be light years better - higher sample rates, more channels, better dynamic range, DirectX support (hahaha). There is absolutely no point in keeping the AWE32 unless you have some old DOS games - and DOS / Win9x does NOT work correctly on newer chipsets like the nForce3/4.

Build a separate P3 system for running old stuff.

~MiSfit

 

[WildDreamer]

This looks to be the top of the line:

iBASE Technology MB886 LGA775 945G Express Industrial Motherboard

FEATURES

• Supports Pentium® 4 / Celeron® D processors
  Supports up to 3.8GHz, 533MHz/800MHz/1066MHz FSB
  DDRII DIMM x 4, Max. 4GB
  ICH7 10/100 and Intel® PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
  Supports DirectX 9.0
  Integrated Intel® 945G VGA, CRT support
  4x SATA II, 8x USB 2.0, 4x COM, Watchdog timer, Digital I/O
  4x PCI, 1x ISA, 2x PCI Express (x1), 1 x PCI Express (x16) slots

Here's a place that even has it in stock:

http://www.neutronexpress.com/prod.cfm/377638

only $315!

 

[fire400]

Originally posted by: corkyg
You gotta go back about 9 years to find one. [/L]

Socket 478 motherboards had ISA slots. If you are looking to test ISA cards, your bet with the best of stability is try the server class motherboards. It may be expensive, but it will be well worth it if you really need something dependable.

ISA was replaced by the PCI bus many years ago, the PCI bus is still widely used to this day. As far as I know, if the X-fi daughter cards can produce studio quality sound, and it's slot interface is PCI-32, I don't expect the PCI slot to be fully replaced by the PCI-e slots any time soon.

 

[oynaz]

A Sound Blaster Live, in every way superior to your AWE32, can be had very cheap. There is no point in keeping your AWE.

 

[RanDum72]

Originally posted by: corkyg
You gotta go back about 9 years to find one. You might try E-Bay - but I feel that a chance encounter at a yard sale or a used computer store might work. A PCI sound card can be had cheap.

EISA, the 16-bit extended version of ISA, was common on PC motherboards until 1997, when Microsoft declared it as "legacy" subsystem in the PC 97 industry white-paper. VESA Local Bus, an early expansion bus that was inherently tied to the 80486 CPU, became obsolete (along with the processor) when Intel launched the Pentium processor in 1996.

The PCI bus was introduced in 1991 as replacement for ISA. The standard (now at version 3.0) is still found on PC motherboards to this day. Intel introduced the AGP bus in 1997 as a dedicated video acceleration solution. Though termed a bus, AGP supports only a single card at a time. From 2005 PCI-Express has replaced both of these buses. This standard, approved in 2004, implements the logical PCI protocol over serial communication interface.

Do some browsing here:

ISA

EISA is actually 32-bit and its competing standard during the time was IBM's MCA slot. EISA was the first true plug and play expansion slot. EISA cards have no jumper settings, resources was setup using an EISA configuration utility (software).

Vesa Locas BUS is an extension to regular ISA. A VLB bus card inserts in an ISA and an extension VLB slot at the same time. This makes cards kinda long and a pain in the butt to insert and detach. Its competitor later on was the now common PCI slot.

Regular 16-bit ISA slots can be seen with PIII boards, either Socket 370 or Slot 1. Some older Socket A mobos have it as well.

Edit: I didn't know some more recent boards still have them. They were starting to get extinct in the PIII / Athlon days.

Soundblaster AWE32? Current on-board sound cards are actually better than that.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: goku
I need a modern motherboard with ISA slots.

I've got my Soundblaster AWE32 that I would like to put into my next high end system rig

I don't want to be cheap by using onboard sound

* There aren't any.
* "High end system" with an ISA AWE32... You're joking, right?
* The ship has already sailed on you being "cheap".
* Where's the camera at... I know we're being punked! :laugh:

 

[bendixG15]

Your Soundblaster AWE32
is inferior
to the on board sound in modern mobo's.

The ghost is dead....chuck it...........

 

[F1shF4t]

You can get industrial mainboards with ISA slots easily if u want to, they will be more expensive and also useless for any machine besides server or more discrete system. I saw some in catalog a few months ago, socket 478, 370 and 479, i dont think i saw any 775 though.

Anyways as pointed out by others current onboard sound cards are probably much better than that old isa one anyways.

 

[programmer]

Like bendix said, pretty much any on-board sound will beat the pants off that AWE32 these days.

 

[Oyeve]

Makes no sense. Spend over $300 for a sound card worth ~$10 bucks max.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: RanDum72
EISA is actually 32-bit and its competing standard during the time was IBM's MCA slot. EISA was the first true plug and play expansion slot. EISA cards have no jumper settings, resources was setup using an EISA configuration utility (software).

Not exactly correct according to this source - but close. ISA was 8-bit for several years.
ISA

 

[imported_goku]

Originally posted by: bendixG15
Your Soundblaster AWE32
is inferior
to the on board sound in modern mobo's.

The ghost is dead....chuck it...........

No way!!! Onboard will always suck ass compared to discrete cards. Onboard sound has lots of interference compared to discrete sound cards.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: goku
Onboard will always suck ass compared to discrete cards. Onboard sound has lots of interference compared to discrete sound cards.

Dude, you're talking about an ISA AWE32! :shocked:
You might also want to check out the new-fangled television sets... they come with "remote control units". :laugh:

 

[Markbnj]

Originally posted by: goku

Originally posted by: bendixG15
Your Soundblaster AWE32
is inferior
to the on board sound in modern mobo's.

The ghost is dead....chuck it...........

No way!!! Onboard will always suck ass compared to discrete cards. Onboard sound has lots of interference compared to discrete sound cards.

Haha, that may or may not be true. I'm inclined to believe that the interconnects that feed the onboard audio processor probably suffer from less interference than those that have to jump across the tabs in a slot, but whatever. It remains that you're basically engineering your high-end system around an ISA AWE32 card to the extent that you'd buy a special mobo to run it. That's kind of funny. I am also looking for the camera.

 

[Ayah]

Onboard is actually decent now. Way better than early soundblasters.

 

[themisfit610]

Don't even try to tell me that "any discrete sound card is better than onboard". By that logic, the original sound blaster would be better than a modern Realtek ALC850. That is completely and totally wrong.

The ONLY reason to keep something as old as an AWE32 is if you want to play some old game in DOS that needs a real sound blaster. That, or if you have an obsession with old hardware.

There is no other valid reason. As said a few posts above, literally building a high end gaming PC around such an old piece of hardware is just plain silly.

Modern Realtek chips are very good. They are irrelevant if you are an audiophile, or a professional sound engineer - but they have their $2000 3 slot APUs for ProTools

If you're a hardcore gamer or someone who cares about audio, then get a modern discrete sound card. It's worth the investment if your speakers can make it apparent.

~MiSfit

 

[RanDum72]

Originally posted by: corkyg

Originally posted by: RanDum72
EISA is actually 32-bit and its competing standard during the time was IBM's MCA slot. EISA was the first true plug and play expansion slot. EISA cards have no jumper settings, resources was setup using an EISA configuration utility (software).

Not exactly correct according to this source - but close. ISA was 8-bit for several years.
ISA

The older ISA is 8-bit and later it became 16-bit. EISA is different. It is an extension to ISA but has 32-bits. It accepts regular 8 and 16-bit ISA cards too .


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Industry_Standard_Architecture

 

[bluestrobe]

Originally posted by: RanDum72

The older ISA is 8-bit and later it became 16-bit. EISA is different. It is an extension to ISA but has 32-bits. It accepts regular 8 and 16-bit ISA cards too .


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Industry_Standard_Architecture

You found it before me. I had a 32bit EISA sound card, forgot what brand. Also the OP needs to realize that the AWE32 only has one digital channel and will only play one sound at a time. I ran with this card until I made the move to the P4 (2004'ish) cpu's and it made a nasty static noise whenever two sounds were made at the same time (music, IM's, windows, games, ect.). Onboard sound would run circles around the AWE32. You can't compare a sound card made in 1996 to current day technology.

 

[fire400]

Originally posted by: Markbnj

Originally posted by: goku

Originally posted by: bendixG15
Your Soundblaster AWE32
is inferior
to the on board sound in modern mobo's.

The ghost is dead....chuck it...........

No way!!! Onboard will always suck ass compared to discrete cards. Onboard sound has lots of interference compared to discrete sound cards.

Haha, that may or may not be true. I'm inclined to believe that the interconnects that feed the onboard audio processor probably suffer from less interference than those that have to jump across the tabs in a slot, but whatever. It remains that you're basically engineering your high-end system around an ISA AWE32 card to the extent that you'd buy a special mobo to run it. That's kind of funny. I am also looking for the camera.

I hate to break the ice, buddy. But daughter cards will always be superior to onboard technology. Integrated as far as sound and video go are known as "express" to the consumer market. They are also known as easy-go technology that is not completely meant for superiority in performance.
There is no onboard soundcard available to the public that will outperform an Audigy 2 ZS, make that known as fact, let alone how far behind onboard sound is compared to the X-fi add-on card.
It is true that integrated sound has made it's way through many stepping stones and is actually preferred by some enthusiasts and music lovers. CPU Magazine even said themselves that the integrated sound on an nForce 2 premium motherboard is very decent as far as the way sound quality goes, and that was 3 years ago...
A dedicated soundcard is far more reliable than onboard audio. Don't underestimate the power of a PCI 32-bit bus which replaced the ISA slot so many years ago. As technical as you want to sound, there is more of a possibility for signals that may get jammed in between all the data flow that is going on inside of motherboard circuits. PCI-E motherboards are more sophisticated in this process of interpretting data and redirecting routes of motherboard data with more accuracy and in less time. However, you'll know that integrated sound will be inferior to onboard sound technology because of the fact of the matter is, benchmarks show more durability from the much higher sound integrity of daugher cards than integrated sound cards will ever be capable of.

Think again, kids, although the article is 3 years old, it still proves very true to this day:
"As our testing confirms, hardware implementation of certain audio subsystem functions helps to reduce the CPU workload. As for sound quality, many add-on sound cards are still better than integrated audio solutions. The reason is simple: mainboard makers try to reduce the cost at any rate. They choose cheap codecs, and don?t care about proper screening of audio components. That?s why a user may consider purchasing a sound card to be a better decision than using the integrated audio."
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/multimedia/display/int-sound_12.html

http://www.soundblaster.com/reviews/

Over the years, I've come to a conclusion that if you call yourself an enthusiast, you will think twice about the framerates you get from Battlefield 2 when you try to use the EAX feature with cheap soundcards, or even the choppiness of sound output from when your motherboard is dedicating more resources towards other onboard components rather than your integrated sound.

p.s. ISA soundcards are a joke if you live in the U.S. Try living the pursuit of happiness.

 

[mithrandir2001]

Good luck getting the AWE32 to work with your OS and current software, even if you could find a decent modern mobo with an ISA slot.

The PC I am using right now has multiple ISA slots it has a Socket 370/Intel 440BX based board. It's OLD (circa 1998).

AWE32? Damn, I think the Dell PC I bought in 1996 had that! Why on earth would you keep it? If you don't want on-board sound, fine, but get a modern discrete sound card.

 

[imported_goku]

Actually it's 1994. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster_AWE32

And it actually turns out that I have a Soundblaster 32, which was suppose to be a value oriented AWE32 but turns out to actually have better sound quality. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster#Sound_Blaster_32

Hey, it's not like I'm using a soundblaster 1.5 or Pro...

 

[Markbnj]

As technical as you want to sound, there is more of a possibility for signals that may get jammed in between all the data flow that is going on inside of motherboard circuits. PCI-E motherboards are more sophisticated in this process of interpretting data and redirecting routes of motherboard data with more accuracy and in less time. However, you'll know that integrated sound will be inferior to onboard sound technology because of the fact of the matter is, benchmarks show more durability from the much higher sound integrity of daugher cards than integrated sound cards will ever be capable of.

Well, good thing you aren't trying to sound technical. He was talking about interference, and that's what I was responding to. Nothing you said, aside from some unsupported musings, indicates that onboard sound chips suffer from greater signal to noise problems, or other kinds of "interference" over dedicated cards. In any event, the bottom line is that a ten year-old Sound Blaster is not worth building a system around... as I think it obvious to almost everyone who read this thread.