rec.autos.simulators

I am currently trying to decide between two sound cards.  One is a Sound
Blaster Live!  Pretty new card, but not a Platnium, or any of their much
more expensive range, I believe i it just a basic Sound Blaster Live.

I am currently using my Diamond Monster MX300 which uses the Aureal style
drivers etc..  I'm pretty happy with it as it has twin output front and rear
(so does the SBLive) and has a fantastic gameport (best I have ever seen).

I'm running a Windows 98 / XP Pro dual boot system, with a set of Digital
5.1 surround speakers.  As far as I know, the MX300 is an analogue output,
but I was told that it can take a 5.1 digital signal, something that I think
the SBLive can do?

Which one do peope think will give superior sound quality (games, music,
racing sims)????

Thanks in advance,

James

So which one would be better?

Thanks again in advance,

James

After the Live cards Creative should be too.

MadDAWG

--
Daytona Beach - Winter Speed Carnival 1903 - 1935

1919 - Ralph DePalma Driving Champion and winner of hundreds of races, sets
new 1 mile record driving 905 cubic inch V-12 Packard on beach at 149.875
mph. DePalma also sets World Records for distances of 2 to 20 miles and
standing mile. His standing mile record of 92.713 mph is unbroken for 36
years.

Personally I really the the hercules game theater xp. They keep their
drivers up to date and I really like the breakout box. And it is very
inexpensive for what you get. And it sounds great. (I wish gamespot would
review it again with the latest drivers).

I had a SBlive but gave up on it because soundblaster were terrible at
releasing fixed drivers for old cards. You had to keep buying a new card
to get updated drivers.

I have had the MX cards before but gave up on them when they went out of
business.

Should run only $65 US.

--
Joe Marques

Are you using the 2048 Reference drivers for it?

MadDAWG

SBLive will give you headaches - drivers, system instability and
audio crackle with some games are just a few of the issues I have
both read about and experienced.

I don't know about the Aureal cards except support will be pretty
limited given Aureal don't exist any more.  I can highly recommand
a Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo ii which not only has great
sound and does nice surround but it also has optical in and out
which is great if you have a minidisc or similar audio equipment.

iksteh

I got the Fortissimo II with my new system and had problems with it. It
would lock up GPL after about 2 laps. I would get an high pitch tone out of
the speakers until I rebooted. Also, N2002 didn't sound to good either. In
car engine sound wasn't there and the sound would break up when in the
"arcade view." I had the game patch with the latest version, lowered the
sounds in the game and down loaded the lasts patch from Hercules. I emailed
them and didn't hear anything for about a week and a half. I RMA'd the card
back to Newegg. Finally Hercules responded and said "There will be new
drivers released shortly for the GFII which will resolve these issues, stay
tuned to our website for more details."

I would wait until the new drivers are out before buying one.

Chris G.

PS. It sounded great on F12001 and the F12002 demo. Music also sounded
great.

You've got a card that works (so do I), so keep it. No driver problems
at this time or for foreseeable future. There is even a recent EAX 3.0
Unified driver for the card. Don't spend money on a new one until you
absolutely have to.

Thanks,

Kerry