F1RS Cound Cards

Well I have an Ensoniq Soundscape (ISA) and was almost going to get the PCI. The old Soundscape cards have an onboard Motorola 68K processor (yes a CPU) so I don't notice much of a slowdown. You might want to check the Ensoniq www site and see if the new card also has a similar CPU. -- Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming hordes. >IF the sound card drags so much processing power that it slows the game >down (i still get times when the commentator causes the sim to almost >stop for a split second) how about using these new Ensoniq or any other >make for that matter PCI sound cards? >Has anyone got one who uses F1RS? the processor load should be less on >the pci bus straight away. >Comments anyone? >Mike. >-- > 00:00 on 01/17/98 > From sunny Herne Bay, Kent.UK. > mailable also at > remove NO-SPAM to mail me.

IF the sound card drags so much processing power that it slows the game down (i still get times when the commentator causes the sim to almost stop for a split second) how about using these new Ensoniq or any other make for that matter PCI sound cards? Has anyone got one who uses F1RS? the processor load should be less on the pci bus straight away. Comments anyone? Mike. -- 00:00 on 01/17/98 From sunny Herne Bay, Kent.UK. mailable also at remove NO-SPAM to mail me.

I have just ordered an s3 pci sound card so i will find out next week just how much difference it makes. Mike.

Quoted text (22 lines)

>> Well I have an Ensoniq Soundscape (ISA) and was almost going to > get the PCI. The old Soundscape cards have an onboard Motorola > 68K processor (yes a CPU) so I don't notice much of a slowdown. > You might want to check the Ensoniq www site and see if the new > card also has a similar CPU. > -- > Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming >> IF the sound card drags so much processing power that it slows the >> game down (i still get times when the commentator causes the sim to >> almost stop for a split second) how about using these new Ensoniq or >> any other make for that matter PCI sound cards? >> Has anyone got one who uses F1RS? the processor load should be less >> on the pci bus straight away. >> Comments anyone?

-- 13:52 on 01/17/98 From sunny Herne Bay, Kent.UK. mailable also at remove NO-SPAM to mail me.

Anyone else have any info on sound card performance with F1RS? I have an old SoundBlaster 16 and get noticeable pauses whenever the announcer starts chatting. Not to mention the dreaded stepping of the engine sound when engine rpms change quickly. If a new sound card will fix these problems, I'll likely go for one. On Fri, 16 Jan 1998 18:30:56 -0600, "Greg Cisko" >Well I have an Ensoniq Soundscape (ISA) and was almost going to >get the PCI. The old Soundscape cards have an onboard Motorola >68K processor (yes a CPU) so I don't notice much of a slowdown. >You might want to check the Ensoniq www site and see if the new >card also has a similar CPU. Eagle Woman Remove the spam blocker NOSPAM to email me. http://www.nh.ultranet.com/~alison

I notice that when I am qualifying I will get a slight pause for the first announcement that I have the pole. But no pauses for subsequent pole records. I never get any pause at all for quick engine rpm changes. Mostly just the announcer. I am thinking that going from 32MB to 64MB will fix it. It seems to be a soundfile caching issue. -- Header address intentionally scrambled to ward off the spamming hordes. >Anyone else have any info on sound card performance with F1RS? I have >an old SoundBlaster 16 and get noticeable pauses whenever the announcer >starts chatting. Not to mention the dreaded stepping of the engine >sound when engine rpms change quickly. If a new sound card will fix >these problems, I'll likely go for one. >On Fri, 16 Jan 1998 18:30:56 -0600, "Greg Cisko" >>Well I have an Ensoniq Soundscape (ISA) and was almost going to >>get the PCI. The old Soundscape cards have an onboard Motorola >>68K processor (yes a CPU) so I don't notice much of a slowdown. >>You might want to check the Ensoniq www site and see if the new >>card also has a similar CPU. >Eagle Woman >Remove the spam blocker NOSPAM to email me. >http://www.nh.ultranet.com/~alison

Well, getting closer. Why people would seem to think that pauses like these are inevitably related to sound playback taking up huge amounts CPU resources, simply beats me. Next time you're about to experience these pauses, keep an eye out for some disk activity. Don't blink yer eyes though, otherwise you'll miss that brief but revealing moment, it might only be a tiniest flash of the HD light. I've got a basic Vibra-based SB16 myself, coupled with a Yamaha SW60XG wavetable standalone for MIDI sounds and I've never experienced even a slightest pause that could've been attributed to the sound hardware doin' it's job. As for the 32Mb->64Mb upgrade, that's always useful in Windows, but it'll hardly do anything for the pauses. I've seen several systems with 64Mb or more RAM which still occasionally suffer from these fraction-of-a-second pauses described in this thread. And those pauses occured because of disk activity. The soundfile still has to be loaded the first time its played. --- Antti Markus Peteri "He was a bold man that first ate an oyster." Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) Polite Conversation, Dialogue I

I have an Ensoniq PCI and don't seem to have any trouble with the game stopping because of sound. That could just be the rest of my system as well though. I'd be interested to see how it works on a P120 or something like that. ---------------------------------------------------------- If You think health care is expensive now, wait till it's free! RR #3 Box 96 Williamsport, Pa. 17701 (717) 745-7697

Quoted text (19 lines)

>IF the sound card drags so much processing power that it slows the game >down (i still get times when the commentator causes the sim to almost >stop for a split second) how about using these new Ensoniq or any other >make for that matter PCI sound cards? >Has anyone got one who uses F1RS? the processor load should be less on >the pci bus straight away. >Comments anyone? >Mike. >-- > 00:00 on 01/17/98 > From sunny Herne Bay, Kent.UK. > mailable also at > remove NO-SPAM to mail me.

Quoted text (21 lines)

> > I notice that when I am qualifying I will get a slight pause for the first > > announcement that I have the pole. But no pauses for subsequent > > pole records. I never get any pause at all for quick engine rpm > > changes. Mostly just the announcer. I am thinking that going from > > 32MB to 64MB will fix it. It seems to be a soundfile caching issue. > Well, getting closer. Why people would seem to think that pauses like > these are inevitably related to sound playback taking up huge amounts CPU > resources, simply beats me. Next time you're about to experience these > pauses, keep an eye out for some disk activity. Don't blink yer eyes > though, otherwise you'll miss that brief but revealing moment, it might > only be a tiniest flash of the HD light. I've got a basic Vibra-based > SB16 myself, coupled with a Yamaha SW60XG wavetable standalone for MIDI > sounds and I've never experienced even a slightest pause that could've > been attributed to the sound hardware doin' it's job. > As for the 32Mb->64Mb upgrade, that's always useful in Windows, but it'll > hardly do anything for the pauses. I've seen several systems with 64Mb or > more RAM which still occasionally suffer from these fraction-of-a-second > pauses described in this thread. And those pauses occured because of disk > activity. The soundfile still has to be loaded the first time its played.

Yeah, and I think some of these first lap slowdowns are a result of the same thing. It's quite strande really. Sometimes I get the HD going crazy even with replays off and other times everything is ok even with replays on. It seems Ubisoft have not made things better for machines with more ram as the lousy 5 min replay indicates for eg.

On Sat, 17 Jan 1998 08:43:23 -0600, "Greg Cisko" >I notice that when I am qualifying I will get a slight pause for the first >announcement that I have the pole. But no pauses for subsequent >pole records. I never get any pause at all for quick engine rpm >changes. Mostly just the announcer. I am thinking that going from >32MB to 64MB will fix it. It seems to be a soundfile caching issue. I also get occasional pauses whenever an announcement is made (eg. "pole position" or "return to pit"). So this seems to be a function of the program and not particularly any hardware or lack of memory. (AudioPCI, PPro200, 128MB, full install of F1RS).

I have an Ensoniq PCI and It does absolutely nothing for the trouble you talk about. I just yanked a AWE32, a Yamaha OPL3 card, and an ESS-1868. Actually, I liked the ESS the best, just the card's sound quality ($20) card, was not up to what I was looking for. All of them did the same thing. I also bought into the PCI speed bullshit. Sound requires CPU. ---------------------------------------------------------- If You think health care is expensive now, wait till it's free! RR #3 Box 96 Williamsport, Pa. 17701 (717) 745-7697

Quoted text (19 lines)

>IF the sound card drags so much processing power that it slows the game >down (i still get times when the commentator causes the sim to almost >stop for a split second) how about using these new Ensoniq or any other >make for that matter PCI sound cards? >Has anyone got one who uses F1RS? the processor load should be less on >the pci bus straight away. >Comments anyone? >Mike. >-- > 00:00 on 01/17/98 > From sunny Herne Bay, Kent.UK. > mailable also at > remove NO-SPAM to mail me.