Soundcards an outdated concept?

S

SoftwareGuy256

Newcomer
I was thinking about getting the Soundblaster X-FI, but ended up not getting it because of the trouble with getting 7.1 surround setup. Driving home I realized why do we even need a sfx card these days? The x-fi fatality series chip looks like it runs without any heatsink hence low computational power and transfers data over a ordinary PCI bus. The only value this card seems to add value in is the algorithms such as their crystalizer software which to me sounds like a fancy interpolator. But with modern multi-core CPUs, this is task even a SISD core can mow through. Discuss.
 
Therefore KillerNIC that have a heatsink on their chip it must be an insanely powerful card? :rolleyes:
 
I guess it depends on whether you want to throw away CPU cycles on audio. Those cycles could be used for gameplay instead. It's not like these are extra cycles, they are lost on whatever task you want to perform with them.

It is nice though that potentially everyone could have the same audio experience. But, I'm not really convinced that even the fastest CPUs can really handle the kind of audio calculations a dedicated chip like X-Fi performs. It's specialized hardware vs. general. Specialized always has a huge efficiency advantage. Otherwise we wouldn't have 3D accelerators, either. And X-Fi does work on a daunting number of simultaneous channels and effects.

If you'd like an example of this, just run out and buy one of those super cheap Creative cards that uses software processing for EAX4. Load up Rightmark 3D sound analyzer and do the CPU utilization test. Or just run a game with and without audio. That software processing will have a serious impact on speed.

And, of course, the reason we don't have more sound card variety (and just more hardware audio implementations in games) is because there is little demand for them. People generally care a LOT more about visual immersion than aural. Tragic as that is...
 
swaaye said:
It is nice though that potentially everyone could have the same audio experience. But, I'm not really convinced that even the fastest CPUs can really handle the kind of audio calculations a dedicated chip like X-Fi performs. It's specialized hardware vs. general. Specialized always has a huge efficiency advantage. Otherwise we wouldn't have 3D accelerators, either. And X-Fi does work on a daunting number of simultaneous channels and effects.
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I don't know if it's efficiency but rather "throughput". Yes, they are "better" at it but unless they're also speedy at it they're useless.

And, of course, the reason we don't have more sound card variety (and just more hardware audio implementations in games) is because there is little demand for them. People generally care a LOT more about visual immersion than aural. Tragic as that is...
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Well, you could also argue the point that there's also very little use of the advanced features so it's back to the chicken and egg situation. What I do know is that a while back the SC market was thriving and once Creative established their dominion (again) they no longer innovated. I think the X-Fi is IMO a case of too little too late. Why should I spend extra on a card that will provide better sound for maybe two of my recent games when I can use that money on an extra gb of ram which will benefit almost every semi-recent game I have?

While I won't say discrete cards are useless, I do think CL is to blame for current matters.
 
To my understanding, the DSP of the new X-Fi cards has the ability to run algorithms in frequency domain, that is, it can do FFT fast. Whether one wants to burn CPU power for this is another question, though.

However, another problem with on-board audio is the noise. It's quite difficult to make the audio components free from motherboard noises if you put them on the motherboard. Sound cards have better signal separation. However, many people probably don't care. Some people would even say that if you really want to be noise-free you won't use computers.
 
neliz said:
Graphic cards with integrated sound cards for the win.
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Like R600. However, I think that once GPGPU takes off, we will see the GPU's shader's doing the sound card's work. Maybe even utilize IGPs fpr sound when discrete(s) gfx card(s) are present in the system
 
Isn't the only X-Fi without a heatsink the XtremeAudio, which is actually a Audigy 2 SE? And I rencently upgraded both my wifes and my own onboard sound to X-Fi XtremeGamers solely for hardware accelerated, and more compatible, support for OpenAL. Onboard sound doesn't have Generic Hardware options in Vista due to no DirectSound 3D anymore, leaving you with Generic Software mode only which is horribly slow.
 
AFAIK the first revisions of X-Fi Xtrememusic were without a heat sink. According to Creative the newer ones had heat sinks (like mine) but there was no other change besides a firmware update.

I like it when I can change from Sftware+HRTF to Hardware Direct Sound and enable hardware HRTF in the driver. :)
 
Simon F said:
Videologic Apocalypse 5D?
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Diamond Edge 3D by NVIDIA. Hey, and also maybe a few Packard Bell ISA cards!

Richard said:
Why should I spend extra on a card that will provide better sound for maybe two of my recent games when I can use that money on an extra gb of ram which will benefit almost every semi-recent game I have?
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I don't know why you should. :) I won't. I have a Audigy 2 ZS that I got with 5 games for $55 a few years ago. EAX 4 is enough for me (seeing as how it has only been used in a few games).

I won't use onboard audio ever, though. The hiss that comes along with it is enough to turn me away. Never mind the horrible frequency response and other wonderful facets of disappointment.

And regarding the blame for Creative, I'm not so sure. I'm not entirely sure what killed off Aureal, but I'm sure it was Creative entirely. I have a feeling that they weren't bringing in enough money (Creative was way more diversified even back then). I've also read that Aureal was badly managed (they were built upon the leftovers of the mis-managed Media Vision, I believe, too).
 
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Snyder said:
Since you mention it - the SpaceNavigator should be nice for playing Descent...
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Looks like someone has finally come up with an update to the "Space Ball".
spaceball.jpg

We had 2 prototypes at the first place I worked which I managed to keep hold of. Unfortunately, users didn't realise they were force sensitive and not meant to move at all, so they got broken :(
 
neliz said:
you get it for free with an autocad license through some dealers.
But how you do want to use it? in out for up and down and use the dial to rotate you craft?
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Sadly, I've never used one. But doesn't it give you full 6DOF control?
Looking at that doc, this should work great.
 
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