Inside the Audigy 2 ZS PCMCIA

[swaaye]

I was bored and had been long wondering what was really inside this little card I've been using for over a year. So I went at it and figured out how to get it open. Whatever that APU is it's definitely not the same as the chip on my A2ZS PCI. It's about 1/3 the size.

I definitely do not recommend anyone try this. PCMCIA cards are not much fun to take apart and put back together

 

[wireframe]

Cool stuff. Does the PCMCIA version lack certain features of its bigger PCI brother or is the smaller size a die shrink?

 

[swaaye]

Well it doesn't have a gameport or firewire. It may also not have a hardware MIDI synth but I don't think that's ever been proven or stated. Its MIDI is somewhat limited though, especially with latency.

 

[suryad]

This supports EAX right?

 

[Crusher]

According to the website, yes, it supports "hardware accelerated EAX® 4.0 ADVANCED HD™." X-bit labs has a comparison chart which makes it appear that the only difference between the notebook and the PCI card is the optical S/PDIF input/output instead of the game/midi ports and a slightly worse signal-to-noise ratio. It even supports THX certified 7.1 surround sound, for all those speakers you like to carry in your laptop case

 

[swaaye]

Yeah it does almost everything the real PCI A2ZS does. It's far superior to the USB options. Not only does it use negligible CPU, but there is no power brick to add to the mess. I actually use it to hook up my home 4.1 speakers. My notebook basically becomes my home system after 30 seconds of hooking up DVI (2405FPW), audio, USB, firewire drive, etc.

 

[Sxotty]

How did you get it open anyway? I kind broke a pcmcia card and I want to take it apart and fix it but the only way to take it apart appears to be smashing it with a sledge hammer.

 

[swaaye]

The sides snapped shut so I just popped them open. They are sort of knit together along the length of the card. I couldn't get the end towards the connector apart actually and just bent the cover a bit.

Don't expect it to be perfect anymore once you get done. These stupid cards are built to be put together once lol.