Hi all,
When I was in the market for a 3D video card for GPL, there were a few poor
choices and one or two that were a "can't miss" situation.
I chose the 8 meg Hercules Thriller and have been very pleased with it. My
purchase was entirely based on what more experienced folk posted on the
subject. Thanks to all of you who spend the time to help us newbies!
Now, I'm thinking of upgrading my soundcard. Two basic questions;
1) Are there any certifiable stinkers I should avoid?
2) Is there a "can't miss" card that a lot of you use?
Thanks to all, any thoughts or comments, long or short are welcome.
I have a SB-Live! Value. I can't comment on whether or not it's a "can't
miss" but it works for me in both GPL and NR99. I can't complain.
--
=========================================================
John Simmons - Redneck Techno-Biker (Zerex12)
http://www.members.home.net/jms1/index.html
John Simmons - Barbarian Diecast Collector
http://members.home.net/jsimm/diecast_index.html
IGPS Director
http://www.paddedwall.org/igps/igps.html
If you want to send me email, go to either of the URL's
shown above & click "Send Me Mail" in the contents frame.
=========================================================
SB live value, works great, sounds great, no problems.
Do NOT get the speakers creative says work great with this for surround sound
Do NOT get cambridge 4 point with subwoofer, they sound soooo bad.
I tried many different settings and they sucked. The fastest Iv'e ever returned
anything.
JM
Quoted text (16 lines)
> Hi all, > When I was in the market for a 3D video card for GPL, there were a few poor > choices and one or two that were a "can't miss" situation. > I chose the 8 meg Hercules Thriller and have been very pleased with it. My > purchase was entirely based on what more experienced folk posted on the > subject. Thanks to all of you who spend the time to help us newbies! > Now, I'm thinking of upgrading my soundcard. Two basic questions; > 1) Are there any certifiable stinkers I should avoid? > 2) Is there a "can't miss" card that a lot of you use? > Thanks to all, any thoughts or comments, long or short are welcome.I got a SB PCI 128, and if you're like me and not a huge audophile, and can't tell much of a difference in sound cars, I can tell the difference between this and a 16 (DUH LOL) but I probably couldn't tell ya anything between the 128 and Live! and best of all it's not all that expensive. I recommend getting it packaged with the Cambridge Soundworks speakers, I'm lookin all over for the 4 speaker set of those little magical speakers.
Jon
--
go24 on TEN
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I haven't tried either (yet), but the only two contenders I can think of are
the Diamond Monster Sound MX300 (Vortex 2) and Creative's Sound Blaster Live
Value - both $99 and have great reviews. If you're budget-strapped, $50
could get you a Vortex 1 board like the Turtle Beach Montego - that's what I
have and it is pretty nice. What you get with the $100 ones are 4-speaker
support and better 3D sound, plus both use less of the CPU for effects than
the older cards. It seems the SB Live is somewhat faster (using less of the
CPU, might give you slightly more frames a second) but the MX300 has a
slight edge in game support. But the 3D sound on the Montego is pretty nice
just using the 2 speakers, so that might be all you need if you're not going
to 4 speakers.
Probably what you want to do, look at games you own or might buy in the
future, and see what they use for 3D sound. A3D is the API for the Vortex
cards, and EAX for the SB Live. That may sway you a bit towards one or the
other. Very much like the graphics cards, these are the Voodoo 2 and TNT of
the sound cards, both are good.
--
Ken
"If I went 'round claiming I was Emperor because some
moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away" - anonymous
peasant
Go #43 and #44!
volksy (at) geocities (dot) com
volksy (at) yahoo (dot) com
>>When I was in the market for a 3D video card for GPL, there
>>were a few poor choices and one or two that were a "can't
>>miss" situation.
>I have a SB-Live! Value. I can't comment on whether or not it's a "can't
>miss" but it works for me in both GPL and NR99. I can't complain.
>--
>=========================================================
>John Simmons - Redneck Techno-Biker (Zerex12)
>http://www.members.home.net/jms1/index.html
>John Simmons - Barbarian Diecast Collector
>http://members.home.net/jsimm/diecast_index.html
>IGPS Director
>http://www.paddedwall.org/igps/igps.html
>If you want to send me email, go to either of the URL's
>shown above & click "Send Me Mail" in the contents frame.
>=========================================================
They sound just fine with the Diamond MX300 card. :) Would be ok, except
for the damn annoying powerdown feature that kicks in every 25 minutes.
Annoying. If anyone knows of a fix for it, let me know please. :)
>SB live value, works great, sounds great, no problems.
>Do NOT get the speakers creative says work great with this for surround sound
>Do NOT get cambridge 4 point with subwoofer, they sound soooo bad.
>I tried many different settings and they sucked. The fastest Iv'e ever returned
>anything.
Hi Chris
I returned an excellent pair of Advents from Powered Partners with a
BOOMing sub for that reason, only it powered down every... oh... 15
SECONDS. Talk about an annoying feature. I read of a fix somewhere
that involved opening the sub and doing some soldering, but I don't
know of the site. Maybe a search would turn up something. You could
try to contact Creative for info on the schematics, but I wouldn't get
any high hopes that route...
Why a company would not include an option to turn this off, I don't
understand, but with Powered Partners and me, it was their loss.
Another problem that could be easily rectified if companies would just
make their product dev team sit down and USE the "features" that they
come up with! "Oh, I just LOVE that thud that precedes every sound
the computer makes -- can we make it louder?" ;)
Sorry to rant, I loved the sound of those things, and I wanted to keep
them.
Good Luck!
Brett
On Fri, 26 Feb 1999 07:22:16 -0600, "Chris Schletter"
Quoted text (13 lines)
>They sound just fine with the Diamond MX300 card. :) Would be ok, except >for the damn annoying powerdown feature that kicks in every 25 minutes. >Annoying. If anyone knows of a fix for it, let me know please. :) >>SB live value, works great, sounds great, no problems. >>Do NOT get the speakers creative says work great with this for surround >sound >>Do NOT get cambridge 4 point with subwoofer, they sound soooo bad. >>I tried many different settings and they sucked. The fastest Iv'e ever >returned >>anything.I don't have the 4-points, but had the 2 speaker+sub Cambridge PC Works, and
for the $100 then (now $70) they were GREAT. Not as nice as the Boston
Acoustics Media Theater's that came with the Gateway that I use now, but
very, very clear, sharp sound for that price. Couldn't get REALLY loud
without overloading the sub, but otherwise very nice. Most everyone that's
heard them commented they didn't sound like "computer speakers" and were
shocked they were only $100.
--
Ken
"If I went 'round claiming I was Emperor because some
moistened bint lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away" - anonymous
peasant
Go #43 and #44!
volksy (at) geocities (dot) com
volksy (at) yahoo (dot) com
>They sound just fine with the Diamond MX300 card. :) Would be ok, except
>for the damn annoying powerdown feature that kicks in every 25 minutes.
>Annoying. If anyone knows of a fix for it, let me know please. :)
>>SB live value, works great, sounds great, no problems.
>>Do NOT get the speakers creative says work great with this for surround
>sound
>>Do NOT get cambridge 4 point with subwoofer, they sound soooo bad.
>>I tried many different settings and they sucked. The fastest Iv'e ever
>returned
>>anything.
