Anyone have any comparisons between the gameports of the Live and the
MX300? Is a PDPI worth it if you have either of these cards? They're
digital gameports on those soundcards anyway aren't they? Would the PDPI
be saving any fps over the soundcards gameports?
Good question Bryon! And the PDPI card is an ISA card. Does this
sound like a state of the art "aka" cutting edge card?? Why wasn't it
made in PCI? {imho} Seems odd for a P2 or P3 type m'board?
Thom_j.
Yes.. it is a very good question. Ive seen a few people post stating that
their calibration was much improved with the SB Live card.
Im not sure about it being ISA, but I presume they just did not want
something like this to take up another precious PCI slot in some systems
especially if they already have a PCI SoundCard, Video card(s) etc. *shrug*
Not really sure though <G>
Im in the position where Im going to be upgrading a few items in the near
future. Im going to buy a 19 inch monitor in a few weeks so its going to put
my TSW2 modified on hold for a little bit so I want to maximize the
effectiveness of my TM NPro and was considering the PDPI. However, I
currently have a SBPCI 128 and am thinking about buying the Live card. If it
smooths out the calibration, etc... I will probably save my $60 as they just
about covers the cost of the Live card <G>
Any input would be much appreciated here in regards to the gameport on the
live? Is it digital and does it effect CPU at all? I dont have much of a
problem with framerates, but anytime you can reduce the load on the CPU its a
good thing!
Scott
PA-Scott
--
Scott B. Husted
PA-Scott on TEN
G.T.S. Racing - http://www.GTS-Racing.com
High Gear "The View" Editor - http://www.simracingnews.com
http://home.earthlink.net/~sbhusted
ICQ# 4395450
Quoted text (12 lines)
> Good question Bryon! And the PDPI card is an ISA card. Does this > sound like a state of the art "aka" cutting edge card?? Why wasn't it > made in PCI? {imho} Seems odd for a P2 or P3 type m'board? > Thom_j. > > Anyone have any comparisons between the gameports of the Live and the > > MX300? Is a PDPI worth it if you have either of these cards? They're > > digital gameports on those soundcards anyway aren't they? Would the PDPI > > be saving any fps over the soundcards gameports?MX300 port is digital and works exceptionally well for me. When I first got
this PC 5 mos ago I used my Xitel A3D card using the analog port bc the
digital gameport was inconsistent. Always had some spikes and floating
curor after calibrating in analog. In games the control was sloppy, most
notable in driving games. Analog just wasn't precise. Never realized how
poor an analog port was until I tried digital. Since I put in the MX300
using my SFS flight controls or TSW2 wheel I have the best control I've ever
had. No spikes, no floating cursor, just rock solid movement. I highly
recommend the sound card as well so for about $80 you can't go wrong. I
don't think SBLive is digital so not really a good comparison to PDPI or
MX300.
Glad to see they fixed the gameport from the Vortex 1 - I had a Turtle Beach
Montego 1 and it had all the problems you described.
The SB Live however works quite fine for me - no jitters in GPL and
everything else is very smooth. As the Vortex 1 boards showed it's not
whether the gameport is digital or not, but how you implement it.
--
Ken's Sig 3.0
"Who is the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?" - Obi-Wan
Kenobi
Go #43 and #44!
volksy (at) geocities (dot) com
volksy (at) yahoo (dot) com
>MX300 port is digital and works exceptionally well for me. When I first
got
>this PC 5 mos ago I used my Xitel A3D card using the analog port bc the
>digital gameport was inconsistent. Always had some spikes and floating
>curor after calibrating in analog. In games the control was sloppy, most
>notable in driving games. Analog just wasn't precise. Never realized how
>poor an analog port was until I tried digital. Since I put in the MX300
>using my SFS flight controls or TSW2 wheel I have the best control I've
ever
>had. No spikes, no floating cursor, just rock solid movement. I highly
>recommend the sound card as well so for about $80 you can't go wrong. I
>don't think SBLive is digital so not really a good comparison to PDPI or
>MX300.
>> Anyone have any comparisons between the gameports of the Live and the
>> MX300? Is a PDPI worth it if you have either of these cards? They're
>> digital gameports on those soundcards anyway aren't they? Would the PDPI
>> be saving any fps over the soundcards gameports?
I do not believe the Live's gameport is digital. However, I have the Live
Value, and I am very pleased with the gameport. It is very smooth for me,
smoother than any previous gameports or gamecards I've had. I have not owned
a PDPI, but with the port on the Live, I don't seen any reason with it to
add an extra gameport.
It works very well for me in N2, N99, and GPL. I have not seen any hurt on
framerates by using the gameport on the Live.
Give it a try, you can always add a pdpi later if your not satisified with
it's gameport, though I think you will be.
Don Burnette
I echo Don's sentiments. My Live Value (got for $55 at a local computer
shop) works extremely smoothly with my TM NASCAR Pro, which was not the case
with my Turtle Beach Montego or a SB PCI 64.
The Live's gameport isn't digital, BUT the soundcard itself takes up less
CPU cycles for sound than the competition so it should balance out or even
come out faster. It's noticeably smoother with more sound channels then the
Montego and it's digital gameport in GPL. I've had none of the sound
problems with NR99 or some other games that I had with the other two cards.
And games are quite nice with the sound coming from behind you too :-)
--
Ken's Sig 3.0
"Who is the more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?" - Obi-Wan
Kenobi
Go #43 and #44!
volksy (at) geocities (dot) com
volksy (at) yahoo (dot) com
>> Any input would be much appreciated here in regards to the gameport on
the
>> live? Is it digital and does it effect CPU at all? I dont have much of
a
>> problem with framerates, but anytime you can reduce the load on the CPU
>its a
>> good thing!
>> Scott
>> PA-Scott
>I do not believe the Live's gameport is digital. However, I have the Live
>Value, and I am very pleased with the gameport. It is very smooth for me,
>smoother than any previous gameports or gamecards I've had. I have not
owned
>a PDPI, but with the port on the Live, I don't seen any reason with it to
>add an extra gameport.
>It works very well for me in N2, N99, and GPL. I have not seen any hurt on
>framerates by using the gameport on the Live.
>Give it a try, you can always add a pdpi later if your not satisified with
>it's gameport, though I think you will be.
>Don Burnette
Sounds like the MX300 is a no brainer then! Thanks :)
Quoted text (19 lines)
> MX300 port is digital and works exceptionally well for me. When I first got > this PC 5 mos ago I used my Xitel A3D card using the analog port bc the > digital gameport was inconsistent. Always had some spikes and floating > curor after calibrating in analog. In games the control was sloppy, most > notable in driving games. Analog just wasn't precise. Never realized how > poor an analog port was until I tried digital. Since I put in the MX300 > using my SFS flight controls or TSW2 wheel I have the best control I've ever > had. No spikes, no floating cursor, just rock solid movement. I highly > recommend the sound card as well so for about $80 you can't go wrong. I > don't think SBLive is digital so not really a good comparison to PDPI or > MX300. > > Anyone have any comparisons between the gameports of the Live and the > > MX300? Is a PDPI worth it if you have either of these cards? They're > > digital gameports on those soundcards anyway aren't they? Would the PDPI > > be saving any fps over the soundcards gameports?Buy Australian Byron! :)
www.xitel.com and the Xitel Storm Platinum! :)
--
Nathan Wong http://www.nectar.com.au/~alfacors
- Super Touring - Alfa Romeo -
- V8Supercars - CART -
On Sun, 30 May 1999 14:15:35 -0400, "Scott B. Husted"
>Im not sure about it being ISA, but I presume they just did not want
>something like this to take up another precious PCI slot in some systems
>especially if they already have a PCI SoundCard, Video card(s) etc. *shrug*
>Not really sure though <G>
It could also be because the PDPI needs very little interfacing with
the CPU, just a couple of joystick values at most at 70fps or so. So
no need for a high speed bus or fancy stuff.
...
Ruud van Gaal
MarketGraph / MachTech: http://www.marketgraph.nl
Art: http://www.marketgraph.nl/gallery
Great Nathan.
Love this bit
"Direct Joystick Input and Acceleration
supports standard analog and digital joysticks while
accelerating joystick commands.
In DirectX, the gameport continually polls the joystick axis
without CPU intervention.
improves game control and relieves CPU resources otherwise
dedicated to processing controller commands. "
:))))))))))
Sold!
