A Word about the SB Live!

[typedef enum 0]

I just want to throw this out there....For a long time, I've been convinced that there was 'something' about the SB Live! in Win2k that was causing some odd performance issues....Namely, the stuttering....

 

Now, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that there is a 100%, definitive correlation...What I can tell you is this.

 

In the game Giants, I notices that Win2k performance was 50% that of Win98, and WinXP was right in between. This was using a SB Live! 5.1 card.

 

I recently purchased a Philips Acoustic Edge sound card, and went about doing some comparisons....Now, all things being equal, I gained nearly 10 FPS in Win2k to pretty much close the gap between WinXP and Win2k performance. So, in other words, switching sound cards bumped up the performance in Win2k, while WinXP didn't change at all. Right now, I get about 61 FPS Avg. in WinXP while I get 55 FPS Avg. in Win2k.

 

And let me say one more thing...The sound quality of the Philips card is second to NONE. It's the best sounding card I have ever owned. I have a 5.1 speaker setup, and these things rock. No hissing/popping issues, and the Win2k WDM drivers work like a charm in WinXP RC1. And the darn things aren't bloatware either.

 

TE

http://www.nvnews.net

FIC AD11

256 MB PC2100 (Crucial)

AMD T-Bird @ 1.3 GHz.

VisionTek GF3 (225/530)

Philips Acoustic Edge

[DosFreak 2]

Hmmmm, same here.....with my Sblive!

[clutch 1]

I must be fortunate, as I have not had any issues with my SBLive! in my system.

[Cynan 0]

I'm using 2K SP2 with LiveWare3 and upon doing an upgrade to XP RC1, my sound was all stuttery (yeah I know the flesh install and using MSs drivers fix that, just saying).

[typedef enum 0]

Let me be a little bit more precise....By stuttering, I'm referring to framerate, not sound.

 

And another thing...this *never* happens in OpenGL...It's always Direct3D. Of course, we typically tend to play OpenGL games based around the same engine (that is to say, Quake1/2/3 engines), but there are some other games as well, such as MDK2, Tribes2, Unreal/UT, SeriousSam....

 

Anyhow, if you're somebody who is looking for something that produces unparalleled sound quality, and might even get rid of some odd phantom bottleneck, I strongly urge you to check this card out.

[imtim83 0]

i dont think i should buy a SBlive i was told for my abit KT7A raid mobo because it could cause cracking sound so i am getting a different sound card. i was going to get a SBlive at first till i found out about how problematic they are for a lot of people.

[NaughtyNu 0]

I've had this old SB Live Value ever since the SB Live value was a brand new thing and in my P75 with my Voodoo1/ATI combo. I never was able to get the thing working as nice as it does in the 9x in Win2k and only in RC1 does the base drivers for it seem decent although that's without the EAX stuff.

 

I'm hoping that before the end of the year after XP is in the stores that Creative will actually do proper, decent XP drivers (Liveware?) for the thing. I have this feeling they designed the card for Win 9x from the ground up and then tried to hack some code in 2k to get it to somewhat work after they realized that this NT core wasn't going away.

 

I'm wondering how that Hercules Theater sound thingy is...

[Shampoo 0]

I've had similar experiences . . .

 

I bought a SBLive Value when they first came out and used it for years with no extreme mishaps under Win98 and Win2K on my old Asus P2B motherboard (other than slow performance with EAX turned on in games). When I upgraded to an Athlon on an Asus A7V133 motherboard, I experienced frequent system locks. Since the system often locked when no sounds were playing, I never suspected the audio card, and proceeded to troubleshoot pretty much every other component in the rig. I also tried buying a new SBLive 5.1 XGamer, but it made no difference.

 

I finally borrowed a Philips Accoustic Edge from a friend and dropped it in. AMAZING! Not only did every lockup and problem I had disappear, but performance shot up and my games run way better than they did with the SBLive, even with EAX on! On top of that, the sound quality was much clearer, and the surround sound with my 4-speaker setup was much better.

 

Needless to say, I gave my SBLive 5.1 to my brother for his rig and bought an Accoustic Edge. This was two months ago and I have never regretted it for an instant. It's also nice to own a sound card from a company that has frequent driver updates (monthly).

 

I have nothing bad to say about the Accoustic Edge and highly recommend it to everyone. I think many people would be surprised to see how much better their systems run with a better soundcard under the hood. The only thing I'm waiting for now is Linux drivers (should be out next month!).

[miku 0]

You Guys must be using Pirated Version of SB Live!

 

ARC

[Cynan 0]

Pirated version of the SB Live!? eh?

[typedef enum 0]

Shampoo,

 

I couldn't agree with you more. I'm a real sucker when it comes to hardware. Honestly, it's pretty sad sometimes

 

I was just leaving work, and stopped by BestBuy to get Anachronox, and I saw the box just sitting there...and I read plenty of reviews on the thing, and figured what the heck.

 

Like you, I haven't turned back since.

 

TE

http://www.nvnews.net

FIC AD11

512 MB PC2100 (Crucial)

AMD T-Bird @ 1.3 GHz.

VisionTek GF3 (225/530)

Philips Acoustic Edge

[Shampoo 0]

Pirated version of the SBLive? I don't get what you mean. Both my 2 year old SBLive Value and 5 month old SBLive 5.1 XGamer were retail-purchased Creative-boxed cards. I always used the latest version of LiveWare directly from Creative as with the Value, and I used the drivers off the packaged CD with the 5.1 because newer drivers were not available. Right before I abandoned hope and ditched the Live, I tried a few unofficial updated drivers and various VIA patches including the infamous VIA southbridge patch (check out www.viahardware.com).

 

In other words, I was not using a priated, fake card or pirated, hacked software (except at the end). I finally gave up and bought the Accoustic Edge, which alleviated all of my freezeup problems, helped my machine perform better, and is a better-sounding higher-quality card to boot. I have also tried a Santa Cruz in a friends similar machine and have been reasonably impressed with it as well.

 

In other words, I would strongly recommend both the Accoustic Edge or Santa Cruz (the AE more so) to anyone who wants a quality soundcard for their machine. Again, I bet many die-hard SBLive fans would be surprised if they tried one of these cards in their computers for a week.

[Johnrock 0]

Did you purchase the Phillips card locally? I checked ENU, Heiden's, etc, maybe Fry's carries it?

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I bought it @ BestBuy, of all places. I honestly didn't think they would have carried it....but they do. I'm sure that Fry's would have it as well.

 

TE

[Johnrock 0]

Thanks! I'll have a look at BB, it's a lot closer than Wilsonville.

 

(trying to avoid the PDX traffic whenever possible.)

[typedef enum 0]

Wow....hehe...OK, I missed it. You're also from Beaverton

 

I was kinda wondering why you were asking me....I was like, "Well...maybe the BestBuy near you won't carry it? Or have it in stock?"

 

Groovy

[shineon134 0]

Hello,

 

I have not had anyproblems with my SB Live i just upgraded to winXP RC1 and everything on my computer works great there is just one program that for some reason will not work. That program is Tribes 2 this program is the worst, it did not work under win2k either so i am completely giveing up on the tribes games. This is not good either because i like tribes but i am not giving up stability for one game. well talk to you guys later.

[Shampoo 0]

I bought my Accoustic Edge at a local Circuit City. Circuit City had a $20 rebate on them when I purchasesd mine; don't know if it's still being offered.

[Seldzar 0]

typedef enum, dude, your using a Acoustic edge in winxp?

 

What is your hardware config as me and a buddy have one and in winxp the windows sounds have a popping/distorted sound but only at the start of the sound.

 

For example in winxp the default sounds for right click and browsing to submenus are little clicks but on my Philips it's not even a decernible sound just some noise.

 

On longer sounds such as an icq uhoh the popping/distortion is there just for a quick second at the begining of the sound and then is gone.

 

It sounds kinda like someone touching the end of a live jack (that bzzzt sound you get out of the speakers)

 

I'm just curious if it might be related to my hardware if it's working fine on your box in the windows sounds etc.

 

I'll clarify the mp3 playback and gaming sounds are just fine.

 

And yes the sound quality is awesome, it blows the sblive away.

[miku 0]

Dont take that comment "pirated version" seriously. That was just to get you guys started!

 

ARC