Well it can't be too much of a draw because the new N2Force boards like
the Asus mentioned eariler in the thread are now pretty much acknowledged
as the fastest AMD motherboards available. I still have such a built in
bias against the first Nforce card that I'm having trouble accepting
this...basically I have to tell myself the N2 boards are everything the
original Nforce mb's weren't.
dave henrie
A PCI sound card also leaches cycles from the CPU. Dont be under the
impression that just because it's soldered on to the motherboard means it
doesnt fundamentally work 'the same'
as far as I can remember ( and you'll ahve to look back thru HardOCP.com
reviews I think) - using Quake 3 FPS ( at 640 x 480 so it's cpu limited)
with sound off, and then on - the Audigy 2 was a few percent MORE of a hit
than the nForce 2 ( yeah - I went "wtf? - you're kidding me - onboard sound
better than a PCI card - nahhhh" - but it's true - if I can find the reviews
I'll post here)
Hell yeah - the nForce 1 was a dog.
The nForce 2 is the very best ( and possibly last ) socket A solution there
is
Dog
MadDAWG
Solid hardware, solid drivers, NO PCI ISSUES!, and it plays nice with other
hardware.
Supports 5.1, Digital, and most common formats.
$79 Retail. Ya can't beat it.
Larry
Larry
I'll double-check though.
Larry
> >I woulda tried a turtle beach SC as people rave about them around here
> >but couldn't find one. Is it a US only product?
> It's sold as Videologic Sonic Fury in europe these days... it's
> exactly the same card.
> It's not completely GPL friendly either, not in WinXP anyway. You need
> to set sound hardware acceleration to "basic" to get skid and shift
> sounds audible...
> --
> - JKo -
Yeah yeah I know all about creative and there***poor driver updates (had
em all since the original 8bit) but the Audigy 2 was designed for XP and XP
will be around till 05' so I feel pretty safe as far as compatibility for at
least 3 years. When longhorn ships my advice will be to wait on any
Creative purchases ;))
Mitch
> Solid hardware, solid drivers, NO PCI ISSUES!, and it plays nice with
other
> hardware.
> Supports 5.1, Digital, and most common formats.
> $79 Retail. Ya can't beat it.
> Larry
> > Your recommendations.
> > /Igor
BTW, anyone remember buying their first sound card? I remember using the
built-in PC speaker (playing Wing Commander IIRC) until a guy at a computer
game store about 13 years ago convinced me that a sound card makes a big
difference. So I ran out and bought a sound blaster 16 (?) and slapped it
in my 286 12 Mhz speed demon. It's amazing how far we've come.
--
Joe M.
> >>Your recommendations.
> >>/Igor
> > A bit like ATI (drivers - but they're getting there)or Gainward (huge
> > numbers of returns) Gfx cards, IBM Hard drives ( had 6 at work. All 6
have
> > died), myself, I steer clear of the Sound Blaster range
> > I have a Hercules Game Theater XP - and it's fantastic
> > Doug
A friend of mine has a HGSIII with 5.1 Altecs and he says it's incredible.
- Tom N
: > Your recommendations.
: >
: > /Igor
: >
: A bit like ATI (drivers - but they're getting there)or Gainward (huge
: numbers of returns) Gfx cards, IBM Hard drives ( had 6 at work. All 6 have
: died), myself, I steer clear of the Sound Blaster range
: I have a Hercules Game Theater XP - and it's fantastic
: Doug
> BTW, anyone remember buying their first sound card? I remember using the
> built-in PC speaker (playing Wing Commander IIRC) until a guy at a
computer
> game store about 13 years ago convinced me that a sound card makes a big
> difference. So I ran out and bought a sound blaster 16 (?) and slapped it
> in my 286 12 Mhz speed demon. It's amazing how far we've come.
> --
> Joe M.
> > Turtle Beach/Santa Cruz
> > >>Your recommendations.
> > >>/Igor
> > > A bit like ATI (drivers - but they're getting there)or Gainward (huge
> > > numbers of returns) Gfx cards, IBM Hard drives ( had 6 at work. All 6
> have
> > > died), myself, I steer clear of the Sound Blaster range
> > > I have a Hercules Game Theater XP - and it's fantastic
> > > Doug
I was suprised that the PC NEEDED a soundcard. I came from the Amiga
school which had built in 4 channel sound. First card was a SB Pro...boy
did it feel dumb buying something that was included in my old system. Wing
Commander was the title that pushed me over to the PC world. About a year
after it was released for the PC, they finally ported it over to the Amiga.
they made NO attempt to optimize it, or adjust the color. Just a quick and
dirty port..like almost all PC ports for the AMiga, it ran like a dead PIG.
There was a wargame that included armour, jets, hovercraft,
helicopters..nothing fancy in the graphics arena but the framerate was
amazing. If you didn't find and shoot the oncomming jet it would zoom past
before you could even recognize it...Then loaded the next great thing from
the PC crowd and INSTANT SLIDE show...ah them were da days..
dave henrie
But there are issues with GPL and Hitman 2 in WinXP. GPL issues are
easy to overcome, but with Hitman 2 it's either no music (which is
pretty essential in this game, IMO), or no hardware acceleration (hit
on fps and no 3D sounds).
Other than that, it's a great card. Couldn't notice any difference in
sound quality when compared to SB Live 5.1 though, but that's probably
due to my poor monitor speakers (Nokia 447XPro)... but I did get rid
of the stuttering in GPL when I ditched the SB card =)
--
- JKo -
--
don
-------------------------------------
BAPOM
Alternative Program Covers for GPL
http://www.trilon.com/bapom/
Yup! It was also a Turtle Beach card and it would not work in my
brand new Gateway 400Mmhz dream machine! :-)
-pw
pw
livingston,montana
please use "pw at williamsonenterprises dot com" for e-mail
thanks
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Amiga guy Dave? I was an Atari man all the way (800 -> 64 ->128 -->
ST 1024 (?)). Still have the ST in my closet with an non-working 20MB
hard drive and both a color and b&w monitor. I should try and boot it
up! I still remember the ST as having incredible graphics <g>
Those darn ex-Commodore owners ruined Atari!
-pw
pw
livingston,montana
please use "pw at williamsonenterprises dot com" for e-mail
thanks
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