SOUND CARDS

What is the best PC sound Card out there? I have an SB live value and would like to upgrade. I have some infinite loop issues and have changed all but the sound card. Thanks

"Lemans" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:DQqL9.27200$[email hidden]... > What is the best PC sound Card out there? I have an SB live value andwould > like to upgrade. I have some infinite loop issues and have changed all but > the sound card. Thanks Hercules Game Theater XP. I've had one since chucking my SB Live Plat ( Creative Labs still havnt written any proper drivers for it under Win2k and WinXp as far I know ) It's fantastic - and the breakout box is great Doug

I am very satisfied user of a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz (upgrade from SB Live). More stable, compatible an capable than the SB Live. Less cpu utilization. Nice card. Cannot go wrong with a Hercules card either from what I've heard. -- Joe M. "Lemans" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:DQqL9.27200$[email hidden]... > What is the best PC sound Card out there? I have an SB live value and would > like to upgrade. I have some infinite loop issues and have changed all but > the sound card. Thanks > >

Please explain what you mean by an infinite loop error....i am having issues at the moment and this sounds sort of like it... Many Thanks AD "David Horrocks" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > On Mon, 16 Dec 2002 20:37:55 GMT, "Lemans" <[email hidden]> > wrote: > > >What is the best PC sound Card out there? I have an SB live value andwould > >like to upgrade. I have some infinite loop issues and have changed allbut

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> >the sound card. Thanks > > > > That infinite loop error could be tied to an inadequate power supply. > But, soundcards I recommend are Hercules Fortissimo II or III, Turtle > Beach Santa Cruz and Creative's Audigy 2 (note the 2). I have the > FortissimoII and Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is better for music quality > but FortissimoII is a rock solid card with rock solid drivers. > > P.S. I used to get the infinite loop on WinXP with a Geforce2 but now > have a GF4 and have no issues. I think it was due to a problem with my > PS though and I upraded to a 400w Antec PS. >

I just got me an Audigy2 and quite like it. Achim "Lemans" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:DQqL9.27200$[email hidden]... > What is the best PC sound Card out there? I have an SB live value andwould > like to upgrade. I have some infinite loop issues and have changed all but > the sound card. Thanks

Yes XP....i dual boot with Win Me and it never happens then..!! Now you say this about power supply i am convinced that is the answer as my 9700pro does draw alot of power as well as my full gallery of PCI cards and 2 hard drives and my power hungry wheel and dsl modem....lol You have convinced me....new PSU and case. :) AD

Do you use the Fortissimo II in XP with GPL? Do you need to adjust the DirectX sound acceleration? Does it work with Nascar 2002 (papy)? What motherboard do you have? "David Horrocks" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > On Mon, 16 Dec 2002 20:37:55 GMT, "Lemans" <[email hidden]> > wrote: > > >What is the best PC sound Card out there? I have an SB live value andwould > >like to upgrade. I have some infinite loop issues and have changed allbut

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> >the sound card. Thanks > > > > That infinite loop error could be tied to an inadequate power supply. > But, soundcards I recommend are Hercules Fortissimo II or III, Turtle > Beach Santa Cruz and Creative's Audigy 2 (note the 2). I have the > FortissimoII and Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is better for music quality > but FortissimoII is a rock solid card with rock solid drivers. > > P.S. I used to get the infinite loop on WinXP with a Geforce2 but now > have a GF4 and have no issues. I think it was due to a problem with my > PS though and I upraded to a 400w Antec PS. >

According to reviews the _best_ card is the Audigy2. However, inifinite loops are usually caused by clashes between the motherboard chipset, and the Graphics card. I solved my problems by upgrading the VIA-4-in-one drivers, and using Nvidia's own drivers. Have you been here: http://www.viaarena.com/ ? You can get all your via drivers from there. There are an interesting article there as well: http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=64 (Staying out of the loop) (I'm just assuming that you also have a VIA based chipset...) :-) /Carl "Lemans" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:DQqL9.27200$[email hidden]... > What is the best PC sound Card out there? I have an SB live value andwould > like to upgrade. I have some infinite loop issues and have changed all but > the sound card. Thanks > >

Joe M. wrote:

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> > I am very satisfied user of a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz (upgrade from SB > Live). More stable, compatible an capable than the SB Live. Less cpu > utilization. Nice card. Cannot go wrong with a Hercules card either from > what I've heard. > > -- > Joe M. > > "Lemans" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:DQqL9.27200$[email hidden]... > > What is the best PC sound Card out there? I have an SB live value and > would > > like to upgrade. I have some infinite loop issues and have changed all but > > the sound card. Thanks > > > >

I had some major problems with my old Creative Labs X-Gamer card in my Athlon system. Ever since I installed a TB Santa Cruz, all has been well. YMMV. Gary

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> I am very satisfied user of a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz (upgrade from SB > Live). More stable, compatible an capable than the SB Live. Less cpu > utilization. Nice card. Cannot go wrong with a Hercules card either from > what I've heard. > -- > Joe M. > > What is the best PC sound Card out there? I have an SB live value and > would > > like to upgrade. I have some infinite loop issues and have changed all but > > the sound card. Thanks

I had some major problems with my old Creative Labs X-Gamer card in my Athlon system. Ever since I installed a TB Santa Cruz, all has been well. YMMV. Gary

Lemans wrote: > What is the best PC sound Card out there? I have an SB live value and > would like to upgrade. I have some infinite loop issues and have changed > all but the sound card. Thanks I have been very happy with my Audigy 2. -- Don Burnette

Really? I got a problem with SantaCruz with NR2002 and GPL. Only tyre skid sounds are gone, so cannot to handle. =( Since then, I swaped it with Audigy1 and the problem is gone. I don't like Creatives poor sound and DirectSound3D, though. Y.Minami > > I had some major problems with my old Creative Labs X-Gamer card in my > Athlon system. Ever since I installed a TB Santa Cruz, all has been > well. YMMV. > > Gary

Another vote for the Santa Cruz. No problems in any games including GPL and NR2002. When I ditched my Live card for it I picked up almost 10 fps in N4 (yes I have had it for a while). Gonna take a major reason for me to leave this card behind. MadDAWG

IMHO, the most trouble-free and best-value sound card you can buy is the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. Great sound, solid drivers, designed right to not be picky about the PCI slot OR hog the PCI bandwidth. Has about every feature you could want or need, including 5.1 support. It just plain works, and works right. Nice, stable drivers too. $79 or thereabouts. -Larry "Lemans" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:DQqL9.27200$[email hidden]... > What is the best PC sound Card out there? I have an SB live value andwould > like to upgrade. I have some infinite loop issues and have changed all but > the sound card. Thanks > >

The Hercules GTXP is the same basic reference design card as the TBSC is, except it's breakouts are on an external box instead of the back of the card. They both use the same base reference driver set, which is then worked over by the manufacturer. Turtle beach has _always_ had a far better handle on the drivers than Hercules has (TB had release, WHQL drivers out _before_ WinXP even shipped, while Hercules wouldn't even provide beta's for intermediate use.). I have both cards. They sound almost identical. I prefer the TBSC as it provides 95% of the features of the GTXP at a lower cost and more convenient setup (unless you really need the external box). Both are impressive cards, and far more reliable than anything Creative has ever made. -Larry "Doug Ellison" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:JUqL9.2013$4k6.229436@wards... > > "Lemans" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:DQqL9.27200$[email hidden]... > > What is the best PC sound Card out there? I have an SB live value and > would > > like to upgrade. I have some infinite loop issues and have changed allbut

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> > the sound card. Thanks > > Hercules Game Theater XP. > > I've had one since chucking my SB Live Plat ( Creative Labs still havnt > written any proper drivers for it under Win2k and WinXp as far I know ) > > It's fantastic - and the breakout box is great > > Doug > >

You are in the minority on this one. Several of us use TBSC cards with NR2002 and have zero sound issues. -Larry "Yoshihiko Minami" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:atprud$g5l$[email hidden]...

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> Really? I got a problem with SantaCruz with NR2002 and GPL. > Only tyre skid sounds are gone, so cannot to handle. =( > > Since then, I swaped it with Audigy1 and the problem is gone. > I don't like Creatives poor sound and DirectSound3D, though. > > > Y.Minami > > > > > I had some major problems with my old Creative Labs X-Gamer card in my > > Athlon system. Ever since I installed a TB Santa Cruz, all has been > > well. YMMV. > > > > Gary > >

I don't use/need Sensuara so it's not an issue for me. You couldn't GIVE me a Creative Soundblaster card. Not any more. Been there, done that. Suffered the consequences of lousy drivers and poor PCI bus integration, along with the "Scratchy-Sound Syndrome". The TBSC has hd zero, and I mean absolutely ZERO issues and it's been through about 6 machines so far of greatly varying configuration. -Larry "Billy-Bob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > On Fri, 20 Dec 2002 08:10:19 GMT, "Larry" <[email hidden]> wrote: > > > >Turtle beach has _always_ had a far better handle on the drivers than > >Hercules has (TB had release, WHQL drivers out _before_ WinXP evenshipped,

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> >while Hercules wouldn't even provide beta's for intermediate use.). > > Hercules Fortissimo II soundcards have better drivers than the TBSC > because TB won't pay Sensaura for updated drivers. I have both cards > and had both installed just this past weak and in games the Fortissimo > is better. > > >Both are impressive cards, and far more reliable than anything Creative

has > >ever made. > > Not from what I'm hearing about the Audigy2. Audigy2 is 24bit, up to > 96khz recording sampling rate and up to192khz playback sampling rate. > Santa Cruz can't even touch it in audio quality if those specs pan out > in the real world.

No, it's been used in Windows 98 and 2K as well. Never had a problem, though it didn't stay in Win98 long due to normal upgrade cycles. I burn Windows ME CD's on site, so I've never dealt with that one. -Larry "Billy-Bob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> On Fri, 20 Dec 2002 08:07:23 GMT, "Larry" <[email hidden]> wrote: > > >IMHO, the most trouble-free and best-value sound card you can buy is the > >Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. > > > >Great sound, solid drivers, designed right to not be picky about the PCI > >slot OR hog the PCI bandwidth. Has about every feature you could want or > >need, including 5.1 support. > > > >It just plain works, and works right. Nice, stable drivers too. > > > >$79 or thereabouts. > > > >-Larry > > Obviously you only use WinXP. > > http://www.geocities.com/pegasus65/santa_cruz_review.htm > I received all kinds of BSOD's, GPF's, and errors because Turtle Beach > will not update their Windows 9x drivers. >

http://www.pricegrabber.com/rating_getprodrev.php/product_id=410204/id_type= M/ut=8e9a751b6d668499 > Card stability in Win 9x was a little sketchy back when I was using > Win98SE, but in Windows XP/2k, the drivers are rock solid.

I particularly enjoy the capability of the A2 to simulate 5.1 in the headphones. This feature sounds incredibly good in GTR2002 and N2k2, as well as in IL2 (when the environmental acoustics and realistic occlusion are on). It makes the sound more real, and, interestingly, when using Roger Wilco during IL2 missions, I actually understand the other players better. Somehow what they say becomes clearer using CMSS2. There are new drivers for the A2 btw, available through the Autoupdater now, will be released as individual download as well I hear. Achim "Billy-Bob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... ... > Not from what I'm hearing about the Audigy2. Audigy2 is 24bit, up to > 96khz recording sampling rate and up to192khz playback sampling rate. > Santa Cruz can't even touch it in audio quality if those specs pan out > in the real world.

Then it works just fine for me as it is :) -Larry "Billy-Bob" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> On Fri, 20 Dec 2002 18:41:51 GMT, "Larry" <[email hidden]> wrote: > > >I don't use/need Sensuara so it's not an issue for me. > > Um, yes you do. Sensaura are the ones that provide the positional > audio stuff. > >