ISA Question

[Mist]

I have a single ISA slot on my mainboard, which is currently unused.

I'm looking at possible options to bring it into use, thus freeing up a PCI slot, so with this in mind, I was considering trying either an ISA Soundcard, or alternatively an ISA NIC.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the pros and cons of doing this, since I recall reading somewhere that ISA Soundcards are more effective than the usual PCI ones.

Thanks for your attention.

Michael.

 

[dkozloski]

Both types of ISA cards you mention work very well if they are of the high end variety such as Soundblaster AWE32/64 and 3COM 509. An added benefit is that they can be had for pocket change. A downside is that drivers might be hard to find for newer operating systems.

 

[ProviaFan]

An ISA NIC would be especially limited by the ISA bus, so an ISA soundcard would probably be a better bet, such as the Soundblaster mentioned above.

 

[forumreader]

I have an ISA NIC and a PCI Nic on the same system. On my Cable, I havent noticed any speed difference (as per dslreports.com) however, with the ISA Nic, you would need to reboot when you resume from sleep mode in Windows to re-establish connection.

With the PCI Nic you dont have this issue. This is acknowledged as an issue by Microsoft (search the knowledge base)

 

[Mist]

Thanks for the replies so far, guys.

As an added bit of info regarding this, I'm running Windows 2000 Pro and I expect to be running it for some time to come.

Michael.

 

[TROGDORdBURNINATOR]

since I recall reading somewhere that ISA Soundcards are more effective than the usual PCI ones.

MMMMMMkay. This is FALSE.

 

[emjem]

I have an CreativeLabs ISA dial up modem and they don't publish Win2k or WinXP drivers for it.

I figured they just don't think anyone with an ISA slot will be running these operating systems.

 

[Jeff7]

My recommendation would be to move entirely to PCI and leave ISA behind. It's slow - 8MB/sec if I remember correctly; I think PCI is 133MB/sec (someone correct me on those numbers if they're off), and even PCI's speed is looking to become a problem soon, because everything wants more bandwidth. Having a PCI soundcard can be a very good thing too - Plug'n'Play, with IRQ sharing, and lower latency.

 

[Mist]

Oh yeah, I agree with you that I should move from ISA to PCI altogether, but since it came with my board, I feel it's a waste of space, so am just looking at ideas of how I can utilise it and as I said, a soundcard or NIC were my original thoughts.

However, I'd be more than happy to hear of any other suggestions which would make it useful.

Michael.

 

[jackschmittusa]

I have a couple of old ISA video cards you could buy.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: jackschmittusa
I have a couple of old ISA video cards you could buy.

Which would do absolutely nothing for him, because even most high-end ISA video cards are limited to 8 bit color at 1024x768, or 16 bit at 800x600, because of memory size limitations; that's not counting the fact that finding drivers to get them to work with Windows 2000 or XP might be nothing short of a royal PITA, if not an impossiblity.

Now, for ideas other than a sound card (which wouldn't be worth it unless you got a particularly high-end one, because the cheaper ones are not going to be any better than the integrated audio on your motherboard), you could try an additional parallel port card, if you need another non-USB printer, or you could hook up a data acquisition / output card and control your house from your computer, or you could get a RS-485 board and control a CNC machine.

 

[arcenite]

If you use the NIC for a cable modem, I'd say just buy an ISA NIC. If you use the NIC for a home network (and you expect the full 10/100 speeds, and you're not much of a gamer, then go with the Creative AWE32.

Bill

 

[Mist]

Now Bill, that sounds like a good idea, since I'm currently revamping an old socket 7 board system to use exclusively for the net and my intention is to have this current machine removed from the net, but networked to the socket 7 system to exchange files back and forward.

Great idea, Bill, thanks!

Michael.

 

[Jeff7]

I'd say to get something that'll use the slot on the back of the computer, but not the slot on the motherboard, like maybe a NewQ Equalizer. They have a little daughercard that goes in the back of the PC to connect to the soundcard's output. Or maybe a ventilation fan. Just cause it's there doesn't mean you need to use it. I've got a few extra PCI slots empty. Tough urge to resist, but you can do it.