"Half Height" PCI sound card needed ( PCB 1/2 OK ; I can do the bracket)

[R. Asby Dragon]

I bought a used Gateway "FlexATX" box for my wife; price was right
and it's good for what she does. PIII 800 ; Intel 810 chipset ;
integrated video and AC97 audio. 384 megs RAM; 98SE with all
patches; "trimmed" startup ...the usual routine

We now have DSL; and when she tries to do streaming
multimedia --- )*&%(
herkyjerky . I've played the various mediaplayers/codecs game...
I'm thinking (as I always have) that it's the onboard AC97 audio. .

AC97 audio is crap . It's the only option I can see to "replace" as
there's only one free "half-height" PCI slot available. (the other
one is filled with a needed Linksys 10/100 NIC ) .

I'm not looking for a high end soundcard; 2 channel (stereo) is
fine as she has a 2.1 Boston Accoutistics speaker set. All it needs
is line and /or speaker out and mic in jackage . I'd prefer on with
a Yamaha chipset..

If it's already "Half Height"; great! If it's still got a
full-height bracket; that's easily done.

Any ideas??

 

[D.Currie]

I bought a used Gateway "FlexATX" box for my wife; price was right
and it's good for what she does. PIII 800 ; Intel 810 chipset ;
integrated video and AC97 audio. 384 megs RAM; 98SE with all
patches; "trimmed" startup ...the usual routine

We now have DSL; and when she tries to do streaming
multimedia --- )*&%(
herkyjerky . I've played the various mediaplayers/codecs game...
I'm thinking (as I always have) that it's the onboard AC97 audio. .

AC97 audio is crap . It's the only option I can see to "replace" as
there's only one free "half-height" PCI slot available. (the other
one is filled with a needed Linksys 10/100 NIC ) .

I'm not looking for a high end soundcard; 2 channel (stereo) is
fine as she has a 2.1 Boston Accoutistics speaker set. All it needs
is line and /or speaker out and mic in jackage . I'd prefer on with
a Yamaha chipset..

If it's already "Half Height"; great! If it's still got a
full-height bracket; that's easily done.

Any ideas??

Beware of spending too much money on that model. Every one I've seen in the
past few months has had blown capacitors. Open the box and look at all the
capacitors on the motherboard. The tops should all be flat. If any are
bulging or leaking, that motherboard doesn't have much time before failure.

 

[Hamman]

I bought a used Gateway "FlexATX" box for my wife; price was right
and it's good for what she does. PIII 800 ; Intel 810 chipset ;
integrated video and AC97 audio. 384 megs RAM; 98SE with all
patches; "trimmed" startup ...the usual routine

We now have DSL; and when she tries to do streaming
multimedia --- )*&%(
herkyjerky . I've played the various mediaplayers/codecs game...
I'm thinking (as I always have) that it's the onboard AC97 audio. .

AC97 audio is crap . It's the only option I can see to "replace" as
there's only one free "half-height" PCI slot available. (the other
one is filled with a needed Linksys 10/100 NIC ) .

I'm not looking for a high end soundcard; 2 channel (stereo) is
fine as she has a 2.1 Boston Accoutistics speaker set. All it needs
is line and /or speaker out and mic in jackage . I'd prefer on with
a Yamaha chipset..

If it's already "Half Height"; great! If it's still got a
full-height bracket; that's easily done.

Any ideas??

I'd advise against the yamaha chipsets. They really suck on the lower end
cards. Look for something using a c-media 8738 or higher, from one of the
major brands (Creative, Hercules etc)

Google is your friend:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=half+height+sound+card+pci&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&meta=

hamman