Another "should I screw my son over" question.

digitalwanderer · Jun 13, 2002, 04:17 PM

More bits came for the rebuild of my son's pc today, and with it another f-ing temptation. I picked him up a cheap ($26us) Hercules Fortissimo (not II), and after reading the box am tempted to put it in my gaming rig and give him my SB-live 5.1.

I have a Fortissimo II in my other pc that I just love to pieces. It installed with no headaches or conflicts, and it sounds faboo! (I get better surround on my 2.1 set-up with the Forty2 than on my 4.1 set-up on the SB-live!) Also, there's A3D...

A3D is sweet, period. I like it a lot better than EAX and it seems to have a much smaller performance hit and give better results. The original Fortissimo supports both A3D & EAX as opposed to the SB-live's EAX dependancy.

But I really don't know all that much about soundcards, (maybe that's why my name ain't in the "moderated by" section in the sound category anymore...

), so I thought I'd ask the experts before going and seeing what insite the mighty Google has for me on the matter.

Thanks in advance,
Dig

UberLord · Jun 13, 2002, 04:38 PM

IMO the SB Live! cards suck ass. Replacing it with most other cards would be a step in the right direction. I'm loving my Sonic Fury (Santa Cruz chipset) to bits!

Only problem I've got with the card is a lack of 5.1 sound under Linux as Cirrus Logic (manufacturer of the DSP core) won't release the specs for it :/

digitalwanderer · Jun 13, 2002, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by UberLord
IMO the SB Live! cards suck ass. Replacing it with most other cards would be a step in the right direction. I'm loving my Sonic Fury (Santa Cruz chipset) to bits!

Your assesment of the SB is right in line with a whole bunch of other people who's opinion I respect...that's sort of why I was thinking of changing it. The 4.1 speakers on that system are a cheapy CyberAccoustic set, (YES, I know...back off! I replaced Blue's cheapies with a bargain-bin $38us Altec-Lansing 2.1 set-up that has got me religion when it comes to brand loyalty on speakers now as well as an appreciation of what a truly well designed set of speakers can do for a system!), so I figure if there's a quality difference I probably won't notice it anyways. (And it would be nice to not have to set my bios 7 ways to Sunday just to get the damn system to work around the soundcard!) I haven't really had any major issues with my SB-live, but I had an awful lot of good advice and detailed information on how to set it up to work with my mobo.

Yeah, I've heard nothing but good about Santa Cruz and it's definately the way I'm going next time; but I picked this up 'cause it was cheap at the same place I was ordering his vid card & HD from and getting it all there was just more convenient. (Yes, when all else fails convenience is a great criteria.

)

Just for giggles I'm doing my homework on this card late, but it doesn't look like I screwed up too bad. There's a couple of reviews here, here, and here that seem to like the thing. I just read that it has EAX, EAX2, and A3D 1.0 support but no A3D support...hell I don't think my SB-live does EAX2! But in the end it still looks like pretty much of a toss-up 'tween the two. (DAMN IT! Decisions, decisions, DECISIONS!!!

)

EDITED BITS: Just some lay-out tweaking. Oh, and I deleted the bit about the nuns and the salamander.

UberLord · Jun 13, 2002, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by digitalwanderer
hell I don't think my SB-live does EAX2!

Yeah - only the Audigy and Extigy can the EAX2 afiak.
After the ammount of grief I had with the Live! being slow, popping and damn silly drivers I'm never going to Creative for a ever again. And I was a loyal user every since the origional 8-bit SoundBlaster - except for a brief foray with a Gravis UltraSound (exceptional card - but very very poor driver and developer support)

shuki · Jun 18, 2002, 10:23 PM

I'm a happy audigy camper. though it doesn't apply to this thread particulariy just wanted to say that. before it I had onboard pci128 that was OK for nominal stuff. but the audigy I'm pleased with (and that was on a KT-133a chipset with winME!!). Ordered a buddy of mine the TBSC card and for the life of me I can not get any volume out of the card! maybe it's the 2 passive speakers he is just plugging in but it's pretty weak... so much that I ordered another audigy for my next rig over the TBSC....

Necrosis · Jun 19, 2002, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by shuki
I'm a happy audigy camper. though it doesn't apply to this thread particulariy just wanted to say that. before it I had onboard pci128 that was OK for nominal stuff. but the audigy I'm pleased with (and that was on a KT-133a chipset with winME!!). Ordered a buddy of mine the TBSC card and for the life of me I can not get any volume out of the card! maybe it's the 2 passive speakers he is just plugging in but it's pretty weak... so much that I ordered another audigy for my next rig over the TBSC....

I would say it would be the two passive speakers since the voltage coming out of the card is in the millivolts. You should hear my setup sometime and I think you would change your mind about how "weak" the S.C. is.

Jun 13, 2002, 04:17 PM	#1
digitalwanderer Colour Commentator Join Date: May 2002 Location: Highland, IN USA Posts: 5,620 Rep Power: 0	Another "should I screw my son over" question. More bits came for the rebuild of my son's pc today, and with it another f-ing temptation. I picked him up a cheap ($26us) Hercules Fortissimo (not II), and after reading the box am tempted to put it in my gaming rig and give him my SB-live 5.1. I have a Fortissimo II in my other pc that I just love to pieces. It installed with no headaches or conflicts, and it sounds faboo! (I get better surround on my 2.1 set-up with the Forty2 than on my 4.1 set-up on the SB-live!) Also, there's A3D... A3D is sweet, period. I like it a lot better than EAX and it seems to have a much smaller performance hit and give better results. The original Fortissimo supports both A3D & EAX as opposed to the SB-live's EAX dependancy. But I really don't know all that much about soundcards, (maybe that's why my name ain't in the "moderated by" section in the sound category anymore... ), so I thought I'd ask the experts before going and seeing what insite the mighty Google has for me on the matter. Thanks in advance, Dig __________________ WTF is up with the sigs?

Jun 13, 2002, 04:38 PM	#2
UberLord A Legend in Underwear Join Date: May 2002 Location: Unknown Posts: 5,255 Rep Power: 70	IMO the SB Live! cards suck ass. Replacing it with most other cards would be a step in the right direction. I'm loving my Sonic Fury (Santa Cruz chipset) to bits! Only problem I've got with the card is a lack of 5.1 sound under Linux as Cirrus Logic (manufacturer of the DSP core) won't release the specs for it :/ __________________ Gentoo Linux - Developer (baselayout) Read my blog "I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." Stephen Roberts

Jun 18, 2002, 10:23 PM	#5
shuki DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: in the hidden place Posts: 1,975 Rep Power: 0	I'm a happy audigy camper. though it doesn't apply to this thread particulariy just wanted to say that. before it I had onboard pci128 that was OK for nominal stuff. but the audigy I'm pleased with (and that was on a KT-133a chipset with winME!!). Ordered a buddy of mine the TBSC card and for the life of me I can not get any volume out of the card! maybe it's the 2 passive speakers he is just plugging in but it's pretty weak... so much that I ordered another audigy for my next rig over the TBSC....