New sound Card
- Thread starter mkillio
- Start date
cloudscapes
Regular
If you're going to use it primarily for music (stereo) then I don't reccomend a Creative. I'd get an M-Audio. They suck for gaming but they're wayyyy better for audio.
Dr. Ffreeze
Regular
mkillio,
I went from a Live! 5.1 to an Audigy 2 ZS and love it. The Audigy is much faster when I use 3D audio (always). I was amazed at how much faster Giants was with the new card. =) YMMV
I went from a Live! 5.1 to an Audigy 2 ZS and love it. The Audigy is much faster when I use 3D audio (always). I was amazed at how much faster Giants was with the new card. =) YMMV
It'll smooth out your gameplay more than a FPS boost, no more glitches as sounds load.
Get yourself an Audigy2 and be happy. It might not be the very best, but it is without a doubt the very best for gaming right now and by far the most popular and best supported.
One bit-o-advice, do NOT get an OEM. Some OEM versions don't like the standard Audigy2 drivers and it can be a bit of a pain in the nuts to update 'em.
(The Dig kicks his OEM Audigy2 with a grimace)
Get yourself an Audigy2 and be happy. It might not be the very best, but it is without a doubt the very best for gaming right now and by far the most popular and best supported.
One bit-o-advice, do NOT get an OEM. Some OEM versions don't like the standard Audigy2 drivers and it can be a bit of a pain in the nuts to update 'em.
(The Dig kicks his OEM Audigy2 with a grimace)
I hate creative, any good alternatives? Id rather have no sound then buying their product._xxx_ said:
epic
epicstruggle said:
For gaming, they're the best option, like it or not.
If you want a much better sounding card at the cost of a few fps, go for a used Terratec DMX6fire. Should be able to find one for $20-30 I guess.
EDIT:
Or you try M-Audio Delta 410, it's essentially the same as DMX6Fire.
Iron Tiger
Regular
My recommendation is a Turtle Beach Montego DDL. I've been anti-Creative for a number of years (even when I spent $200 on an SB Live! 5.1 Platinum), and they don't seem to be doing anything to redeem themselves in my opinion. I've had 1 Turtle Beach card, and have a friend that had one, and though they've all used different chipsets, they've all been well supported.
The "DDL" on their latest card stands for Dolby Digital Live, which is the feature that has kept a lot of us Athlon XP owners clutching our ancient systems tightly, because it has (until recently) only been available in nForce and nForce2 motherboards with SoundStorm. If you want a 1-cable multichannel solution that works with ALL types of media, you need Dolby Digital Live in your sound card. Turtle Beach is the first manufacturer/distributor I trust that's delivered it in an add-in sound card.
The "DDL" on their latest card stands for Dolby Digital Live, which is the feature that has kept a lot of us Athlon XP owners clutching our ancient systems tightly, because it has (until recently) only been available in nForce and nForce2 motherboards with SoundStorm. If you want a 1-cable multichannel solution that works with ALL types of media, you need Dolby Digital Live in your sound card. Turtle Beach is the first manufacturer/distributor I trust that's delivered it in an add-in sound card.
Yup. I hate Creative and looked long and hard for something that could give it a run in the gaming department, but there just isn't any._xxx_ said:
Everybody hates Creative! It's a popular thing. Lol.
I've had a Creative card in my life pretty much solid since my Sound Blaster Pro in 1992. A brief break to an Ensoniq card. Then back to Creative with a SBLive. Audigy 2 ZS really sounds fantastic for games and music. I imagine anything better for other tasks is only going to be marginally superior in audio quality and need top notch (and I mean TOP notch) speakers to be apparent.
If you want to game and want a card developers will use to test, Creative Audigy 2. Otherwise any cheap AC97 chip with kick ass signal quality will do the job. Of course there are serious music composition cards that have special hardware and software, blah blah. But if you need that stuff I think you'd know.
I've had a Creative card in my life pretty much solid since my Sound Blaster Pro in 1992. A brief break to an Ensoniq card. Then back to Creative with a SBLive. Audigy 2 ZS really sounds fantastic for games and music. I imagine anything better for other tasks is only going to be marginally superior in audio quality and need top notch (and I mean TOP notch) speakers to be apparent.
If you want to game and want a card developers will use to test, Creative Audigy 2. Otherwise any cheap AC97 chip with kick ass signal quality will do the job. Of course there are serious music composition cards that have special hardware and software, blah blah. But if you need that stuff I think you'd know.
It sucks, but it's the truth.swaaye said:
MasterBaiter
Regular
Hating Creative is definitely what the cool people are doing. 8)
I don't hate them, but I don't like them either. I've had pretty good luck with their stuff, but not everything is as it should be IMO. Creative has had a nasty bug with their bass on subs (for the whole Audigy line I think) for ages, and there's no fix in sight.... wait there is... it's their new product coming out in a few months! They suck donkey ballz for this reason, but their product otherwise is quite good.
I don't hate them, but I don't like them either. I've had pretty good luck with their stuff, but not everything is as it should be IMO. Creative has had a nasty bug with their bass on subs (for the whole Audigy line I think) for ages, and there's no fix in sight.... wait there is... it's their new product coming out in a few months!
They suck donkey ballz for this reason, but their product otherwise is quite good.Wonder how their newfangled X-Fi audigy successor will be...
I hate creative with such a huge passion after Aureal died and they bought them and proceeded to waste the patents/technology that Aureal had. Makes me cry to think there are far better things out there that are just as practical, yet we have to use Creative's shit because there is no real competition in the sound card market.
With that said, I'm still using my Monster 2 (Diamond Vortex 2) and an SB Live! in my comps
I hate creative with such a huge passion after Aureal died and they bought them and proceeded to waste the patents/technology that Aureal had. Makes me cry to think there are far better things out there that are just as practical, yet we have to use Creative's shit because there is no real competition in the sound card market.
With that said, I'm still using my Monster 2 (Diamond Vortex 2) and an SB Live! in my comps
Iron Tiger said:
Thank you for point out that card because ...
... I've been hanging on to my nForce2 motherboard and AXP for a few years now because of DDL. With that card, plus the X-Mystique gives me hope that there will be upgrade options over the next year or so.
I got the AUdigy2 ZS Gamer and it sounds alot better than my old sound card, there's a lot less dead noise. I haven't been able to play a game yet. I loaded up HL2 and the image got garbled right away so I'm bidding on some radeon's right now. Is there a cable that goes from the digital out on the Audigy to Coax? Or do I need a seperate card?
Accord1999
Newcomer
You only need a 1/8" mini-jack to mono/stereo RCA cable, essentially the same as the analog cables used to connect a sound card to a PC speaker system.mkillio said:
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