Hello, I am looking for recommend alternatives to Creative Labs sound card. I will be running Windows Vista Ultimate X64 with 4GB DDR2 memory. I am told that there major snap,crackle,pop sound issue with Creative Labs sound cards,Windows Vista Ultimate X64,4GB DDR2 memory.This is dedicated gaming rig and removing 2GB memory is not option nor is Onboard sound. I would prefer the sound card to have hardware acceleration so I do not take FPS hit in my games. I do not really care about the EAX support as long it has crystal clear sound. I have been looking at the AuzenTech HDA X-PLOSION 7.1, Bgears b-Enspirer 7.1. Again I need recommend alternatives and non-Creative Labs sound card users advice.
azuretech is coming out with a card based on x-fi it's going to be around 130$ US. the chaintech av-710 is a very very good budget sound card priced at around 25$ US
Yes ,AuzenTech X-FI Prelude 7.1 is out in Canada. It uses creative drivers and is almost $200.00. This out my budget and creative drivers are the problem. h*tp://www.nordichardware.com/news,6675.html I am told I will take %5 FPS hit in games if I use the AuzenTech HDA X-PLOSION 7.1. Would this apply with Intel duo Core 2 E6300 and GigaByte GA-965P-DS3 and effect the gaming performance to noticable level. My orignal choice of sound card was the Creative Labs X-FI Xtremegamer but I am told the snap,crackle,pop sound issue effects all chipsets and systems running Windows Vista Ultimate X64/XP X64,4GB DDR2 memory. Can anyone shed some light on this.
If you want the best out of a gaming rig, then don't go for something which isn't X-Fi based - so many games use it that it's not worth the sacrifice. After all, a gaming rig that costs that much should be as good as possible, shouldn't it?
I haven't come across any systems running Creative X-Fi sound cards having the problem you describe under Vista Ultimate x64, most of the systems are running the 2.15 driver version released quite a while back (May). I probably suspect some of the issues being related to the hardware combination or configuration problems (quite a lot of noise cracking issues have been solved by updating the chipset driver but this varies with different hardware but in particular VIA chipsets but you don't use that so I'm just ranting on with some useless stuff here ). If the sound card you choose does extra processing before outputting the sound, you will get a slight performance hit but in all honesty, you won't see much of a difference. Personally, I find the figures are all to do with benchmarking. In the real world, unless you are losing a few frames on a game running at 30FPS, you probably won't see much of a difference in performance. You can turn off these extra processing facilities which should reduce the hit in performance. Depending on what you use the card for, you could always opt for the cheaper Auzentech sound cards. Crystal clear sound as advertised by e.g. Creative is just sound enhancements processed by the sound card (or software-processed on Creative's software-based version). True, clear sound can only be achieved depending on the source of your audio.
Ok, well the reason I thought the creative issues would effect me is recently I helped friend build system based on the GA-P35-DQ6 (P35 + ICH9R Chipset). He uses the Vista x64 and 4GB with X-FI Xrtememusic( lastest Drivers)and this issue effects his system. I use the GA-965P-DS3 rev. 3.3 (Intel P965+ ICH8 chipset) so hopefully this will not effect my system and looks like there no alternatives to creative for gaming and I might have to run Vista x86 and 2GB if this occurred. There forums are full of ranting customers with these issues with all different chipsets maybe I will luck out but I am strongly considering the Bgears b-Enspirer 7.1. as the Oxygen 8788 chipset seem to be gaining following as the Razor uses it as well.
What is wrong with onboard sound on your motherboard? It does a very good job from what I recall, sure it doesn't offer the fancy stuff from Creative but for your requirements, I think it does a pretty good job plus it'll save you some money too... unless you are using it for some sort of professional sound use.
Ugh......never used Onboard sound ever in all the time I used computers always creative card. I will just bite the bullet get the X-Fi Xtremegamer pray Creative labs fixes the issue before I am able to round up the complete system to build. They got to fix it sometimes right........?
That's the same rule I use to live by in the past although I use to overdo it by buying the top of the range Creative card with each build (it started with the Audigy Platinum eX then the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro and so forth, nearly £200 per shot ). Onboard sound has moved on quite a fair bit from what it use to be, you should give it a try
that not very reassuring . This really tough because I realize the X-FI is the best but if it produces nothing but static then it useless to me. Sorry I just cannot run Onboard sound, I just cannot do it . I did some googling and it seems the new X-FI drivers do not fix this issue and creative does nothing as the majority of gamers do not use X64bit OS. Bgears b-Enspirer 7.1. like Onboard sound will it support all the latest games?
Try the onboard, it just might surprise you. I have had all of one problem with onboard sound ever - A good three years ago, I was running a modern (at the time) game on an ancient laptop, and it was doing weird things because it couldn't play all the different sounds at once. Both of the systems I've owned between then and now (desktops, onboard Realtek AC97) have been fine, doing everything from watching movies to playing Supreme Commander. As for sound quality, what kind of speakers are you using? If you spent less money on your speakers than you're talking about spending on a sound card, you'll never be able to tell the difference.
Sorry, onboard does suck. You can plainly hear the difference. the static is related to what chipset you have. nforce 4's are quite prone to this (it's not that bad for me though).
Techno-Dann My budget is pretty tight so I will be using the Logitech X-540 5.1 Speaker System with the bluegears b-Enspirer. You would honestly think that with games coming out like Stranglehold. That have minimum system requirement of 2GB memory Creative Labs with would make fixing this X64 issue priority. Rable From doing research they are saying the Static issues is Related to X64 OS and 4GB ram. There is even post in the Creative forums that states there drivers do not support over 3GB ram at this time. It also seems to effect chipsets from VIA and Intel as well.
i would recommend either the X-Mystique if you can still get it or the X-meridian/X-Plosion i prefer them to anything creative has. Iincluding the X-Fi since i was al set to buy it then when i read the reviews i was not really shocked that creative made another card with crappy drivers. I am happy to say that i enjoy playing my games in full 5.1 dts sound or 5.1 dd which ever mood i am in at the time
Is the Oxygen 8788 chipset(on the bluegears b-Enspirer) not superior to the X-Plosion chipset? The X-meridian is discontinued and in Canada. There around $200.00 also if you can find them which is out my budget I can do about $170.00 max. Reason I like bluegears b-Enspirer is it is the same chipset is in the Razor Barracuda sound card. I am not 100% sure but I think that maybe what the ASUS Xonar D2 is using it as well. I looked at the Sondigo inferno 7.1 but X64 drivers are only in the beta stage. The build quality of the X-Plosion looks better.
It's most likely a mixture of things that are causing it then, because I know fora fact a lot of nForce 4 guys are having trouble with static (I've been pretty lucky). God damn Creative, you do suck a lot.
Actually the x-meridian uses teh oxygen-hd chipset. Also the other reaosn they are more expensive (i believe) is because all of the op-amp chips are replaceable. Are 2 places that say they have them. http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=011735&cid=SC http://www.pccyber.com/scrItem.asp?product_subtypes_id=858&product_types_id=22&product_id=11350 The blue egars are good to they just don't have all the bells and whistles that these cards do.
My fear with the x-meridian is that it driver support will disappear. Even at those lower prices it bit much for me as taxes will drive it past my budget. It would be choice between the AuzenTech HDA X-Plosion 7.1 $99.00 but no Oxygen 8788 chipset and the Bluegears b-Enspirer $140.00 with the Oxygen 8788 chipset. I am assuming that the Bluegears b-Enspirer is the better choice out these two?
i would get the blue gears since you probably don't need the bells and whistles. Also keep in mind that bluegears was the first company with the x-mystique. One word of caution though if you plan on installing linux for get about the oxygen chip since i haven't seen support for it yet in alsa while earlier auzentech/bluegears card work fine. I have also run both the x-meridian and x-mystique in the following os's windows xp windows xp - mce windows vista ultimate ubuntu (x-mystique) suse 10 (x-mystique)
