Sudesh
IMHO, by far the best bang for the buck on the market.
Rock-Solid Win2K/XP drivers.
Better sound quality than the Live! (and most seem to think it's at least as
good as the Audigy).
It's a hell of a lot of card for only $79.
-Larry
--
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Morgan Vincent Wooten
http://personal.lig.bellsouth.net/~mvwooten
-------------------------------------------
--
Joe Marques
> IMHO, by far the best bang for the buck on the market.
> Rock-Solid Win2K/XP drivers.
> Better sound quality than the Live! (and most seem to think it's at least
as
> good as the Audigy).
> It's a hell of a lot of card for only $79.
> -Larry
> > To my soundcard that is.....
> > I have an Aureal SQ2500, and it has always worked great, but now I have
> > switched to W2k I no longer have sound in any games, while the rest
> > (windows, tvcard etc) works well.
> > I think it has something to do with the drivers, as when I do the
> soundtest
> > in DX dialog, it fails at test 20........sad
> > Since new W2k drivers won't be forthcoming i'll have to switch (audigy
5.1
> > here I come!) unless any of you has an idea?
> > Sudesh
I also have the GTXP. I had to take it out because Hercules was being
hard-headed about providing beta drivers for XP testers. Baastads.
So, I got the TBSC. Same reference hardware, same reference drivers. The
main difference was that TB had RELEASE WHQL drivers available 5 WEEKS
before XP final even shipped :)
Since the GTXP and TBSC use the same reference hardware and drivers, I never
really understood that. Nor did I ever understand why Hercules had problems
with machines with more than 256MB of RAM, whereas TB did not.
Anyway, where was I... :)
Oh, yeah...
If you carefully compare the TBSC and the GTXP, it becomes apparant that the
TBSC has 95% of the same features as the GTXP does, at half the cost.
The main difference? The TBSC has you plug stuff in on the back of the
card, instead of a breakout box.
The Hercules has 4 (un-powered) USB ports, and optical in/out. That's
really the only feature difference. The TBSC has coaxial digital, so the
optical's may not be missed.
Both great cards. TB has better drivers. GTXP has 4 USB ports, adds
optical i/o, but still has a potential driver issue. Apparantly, the 3.0
drivers they released (on Oct 25th, I believe, again - BAASTADS!) aren't
perfect.
-Larry
> --
> Joe Marques
> > Turtle Beach Santa Cruz.
> > IMHO, by far the best bang for the buck on the market.
> > Rock-Solid Win2K/XP drivers.
> > Better sound quality than the Live! (and most seem to think it's at
least
> as
> > good as the Audigy).
> > It's a hell of a lot of card for only $79.
> > -Larry
> > > To my soundcard that is.....
> > > I have an Aureal SQ2500, and it has always worked great, but now I
have
> > > switched to W2k I no longer have sound in any games, while the rest
> > > (windows, tvcard etc) works well.
> > > I think it has something to do with the drivers, as when I do the
> > soundtest
> > > in DX dialog, it fails at test 20........sad
> > > Since new W2k drivers won't be forthcoming i'll have to switch (audigy
> 5.1
> > > here I come!) unless any of you has an idea?
> > > Sudesh
Thanks for the great info, I had no idea they were almost identical. I
really didn't do my homework on the TBSC. It was an impulse buy when I was
ordering the rest of my system. After seeing only good reviews and
compatibility reports, my gut told me it was the right card to own. I'm
glad to see my instincts were sound.
What speakers do you have? I'm using Klipsch 4.1 and they are terrific.
I'm considering the 5.1 set but I'm not sure it's worth it for ***. I
just feel compelled to have the latest speakers. Computer hardware ***ion
is brutal. ;-)
--
Joe Marques
> I also have the GTXP. I had to take it out because Hercules was being
> hard-headed about providing beta drivers for XP testers. Baastads.
> So, I got the TBSC. Same reference hardware, same reference drivers. The
> main difference was that TB had RELEASE WHQL drivers available 5 WEEKS
> before XP final even shipped :)
> Since the GTXP and TBSC use the same reference hardware and drivers, I
never
> really understood that. Nor did I ever understand why Hercules had
problems
> with machines with more than 256MB of RAM, whereas TB did not.
> Anyway, where was I... :)
> Oh, yeah...
> If you carefully compare the TBSC and the GTXP, it becomes apparant that
the
> TBSC has 95% of the same features as the GTXP does, at half the cost.
> The main difference? The TBSC has you plug stuff in on the back of the
> card, instead of a breakout box.
> The Hercules has 4 (un-powered) USB ports, and optical in/out. That's
> really the only feature difference. The TBSC has coaxial digital, so the
> optical's may not be missed.
> Both great cards. TB has better drivers. GTXP has 4 USB ports, adds
> optical i/o, but still has a potential driver issue. Apparantly, the 3.0
> drivers they released (on Oct 25th, I believe, again - BAASTADS!) aren't
> perfect.
> -Larry
> > I concur, TB Santa Cruz gets my vote. I didn't realize how crappy the
SB
> > Live was until I built a new rig with a TB. For $65 you can't beat it
> > (www.newegg.com). I only tried it bc of problems I anticipated with SB
> and
> > AMD mobos. There's no reason for an Audigy unless you want all the
bells
> > and whistles that come with the ext/int module. If you want the add on
> > module take a look at the Hercules Game Theater XP which is cheaper.
> > --
> > Joe Marques
> > > Turtle Beach Santa Cruz.
> > > IMHO, by far the best bang for the buck on the market.
> > > Rock-Solid Win2K/XP drivers.
> > > Better sound quality than the Live! (and most seem to think it's at
> least
> > as
> > > good as the Audigy).
> > > It's a hell of a lot of card for only $79.
> > > -Larry
> > > > To my soundcard that is.....
> > > > I have an Aureal SQ2500, and it has always worked great, but now I
> have
> > > > switched to W2k I no longer have sound in any games, while the rest
> > > > (windows, tvcard etc) works well.
> > > > I think it has something to do with the drivers, as when I do the
> > > soundtest
> > > > in DX dialog, it fails at test 20........sad
> > > > Since new W2k drivers won't be forthcoming i'll have to switch
(audigy
> > 5.1
> > > > here I come!) unless any of you has an idea?
> > > > Sudesh
I have a TBSC too and under Win2K/XP it's a great choice. But, under Win9x
there is an issue in *some* games where when Hardware Acceleration is
enabled you will get a BSOD. TB is aware of it and should have new drivers
out soon for Win9.x to correct this issue. Just so people know what to
expect if they get a SC and are running Win9.x. For now you can fix the
problem just by disabling hardware acceleration while playing any games that
BSOD on you.
