[Driftwood]

it is obvious to me that your games have a hidden agenda against good audio. It is best you forget about those games, and just stick to audio cds.

Or it might just be that I don't have any ideas about what the problem is, and I am getting a little punchy.

Driftwood

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Driftwood and others,

Now I know what the problem is with my TBSC under Windows 98SE: The compatibility issue's not between the most recent VxD driver for that OS and the OS or AMD Athlon XP CPU, but it's a conflict between that VxD driver and DirectX 8 or 8.1. But unfortunately, the latest drivers for the Radeon- and the GeForce-based graphics cards require DirectX 8 or higher in order to function properly (if at all). And Turtle Beach, as I stated, is no longer updating the VxD drivers for the Santa Cruz. (The only workaround for that compatibility issue is to reformat the hard drive, reinstall Windows 98SE, and install DirectX 7 instead of DirectX 8 - in other words, "downgrade" your version of DirectX.)

There are three possible solutions:

1. Upgrade to a newer Windows OS (Windows Me, Windows 2000 or Windows XP), and use the WDM drivers instead, OR

2. Replace the TBSC with a different sound card (I don't want to spend any more money at this time, so my choice for an alternate sound card are: a. SB Live!; b. Creative/Ensoniq Sound Blaster PCI64; c. Integrated SiS AC97 audio), but keep my R8500 and Win98SE, OR

3. Keep my TBSC and Win98SE, but downgrade to an older graphics card (such as a WAY outdated ATI Rage Pro Turbo).

(FWIW, I went with #1 above, which is also ideal for most users.)

In addition to the above problem, there's another compatibility issue with the TBSC, this time between the Santa Cruz Control Panel and newer versions of the Gravis Experience drivers for Gravis game controllers. Currently there are four solutions here:

1. Downgrade the Gravis Xperience software to an older version (that means no support whatsoever for Windows OS releases newer than Windows 98SE), OR

2. Forget about the Gravis software, and use generic DirectX-supplied drivers (that means you'll either have to use a USB-compatible Gravis game controller or upgrade to Windows XP), OR

3. Simply replace the Gravis controller and switch to a different brand, OR

4. Switch to a different sound card, but keep your Gravis controller and newer Experience software.

(Here, I went with #2, but the ideal choice may be #3.)

 

[Audio-Me]

I hope you chose to upgrade to win2kpro.

Have you read my pc audio guide in the amps/sources forum? If not, you might want to give that a look, as there are much better sound cards out there (under $200) from the junk that Creative Labs and its competitors sell. Wouldn't you rather have hi-fi stereo audio (accurate, good imaging, realistic soundstage) than cheesy 3D processed noise simulation?

I've grown to hate Gravis's latest products, their oldschool stuff kicks ass, but their new gamepads and joysticks have serious driver issues.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Yeah, Audio&Me, but Windows 2000 Pro won't run the games that I play most often at all. And that's because Win2kPro has no compatibility mode whatsoever; I would have to buy games that are designed for Win2kPro. And even many VERY recent titles still won't run correctly or at all on Win2kPro.

 

[Audio-Me]

You ever thought of dual boot? I guess winxp will give you good and bad of both generations of OS's, and many happy ppl seem to be happy with it. I'm one of those people who have completely different preferences from everyone else. So who knows, XP might be great for you.

Might I remind you again, get away from consumer level crap sound cards and move onto good ones,

BTW, if you must have 3D API support, Terratec DMX 6Fire supports it through software while still giving you high quality sound. A new member (Keiso) commented on it, said it sounded great, but he had some problems with it. I suggest you PM him for details if you're interested in it.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

A&M, none of my games will run correctly or at all with software-based 3D API support. My frame rates will drop far below 15fps unless I downgrade my screen resolution to 640x480 and my color depth to 16-bit, and I turn all detail off. All of my games require hardware-based 3D API support to obtain even playable frame rates at most resolutions. And besides, I am not spending any more money on my computer at this time.

FWIW, my original budget for a sound card is extremely strict - less than $70.

 

[Audio-Me]

Have you looked into Yamaha YMF744B based sound cards? They're dirt cheap, if you don't need digital I/O, can be had for under $50.

I used to play Quake2 with AMD K6-III 400mhz and Diamond Stealth III S540 (S3 Savage4 Pro) @ 800x600*8bit with 16bit 22khz stereo directsound @ 80fps, all useless annoying junk like dynamic lighting, particles, etc off. When it comes to games, it's ultimately about the gameplay.

The eye candy comes last.

 

[grinch]

i've never had any games not run under win2k for me.. course, i also hate ati and their raging piles of ******** as well as their once-a-year driver support. for me, it's all about nvidia. and soon i dream of removing the gastly creative crap from my machine and replace it with the dmx 6fire.

either way, xp is beginning to really annoy me and i find it has nothing useful over 2k pro and i don't plan on upgrading anytime soon. it's still full of bugs and slows down on even the fastest machines, when 2k pro and service pack 2 is not quite short of perfect.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Unfortunately, I must have most of the detail turned on. I tried a lower resolution and no detail settings, and all of my games look horrible! So hideous that the no-detail settings took all of the fun out of gaming! (To my eyes, that is.)

And I hate nVidia for the most part, as well - most of the cards based on that company's chipsets are WAY overpriced for the performance and image quality that they deliver. Until now, that is. My local Best Buy carries the 128MB Radeon 8500 (not to be confused with the Radeon 8500LE) for $300 - but the trouble is, that same store carries a GeForce4 Ti4400-based card with 128MB for that same price. Given the actual bench-tested performance of both of those cards, I'd definitely pick the GF4-Ti4400 over the R8500 at that price point.

 

[Audio-Me]

IMO, both of those cards suck. Performance wise they both kick ass though. I'd choose the Radeon over GF anyday, way more useful. Their driver problems arn't that bad, every card has those. Just bashers and trolls exaggerate issues and always have flame wars against each other. I remember when 3dfx vs tnt2 battling was hilarious. Now it's just an old argument that goes on and on with shifted labels.

I understand, those details actually do add to the enjoyment of gameplay. Especially EMBM, Matrox surprised me when I noticed something extraordinarily cool in Slave Zero, hehe. I don't pay attention to it when playing multiplayer, but do like to explore scenery in singleplayer games (texture is the most important part in games for image quality IMO, then comes color tone and shading, then the details).

I'd never pay over $200 for a gaming card, heh. That's what I use consoles for. Priorities fellas, priorities.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

A&M: Boy, am I glad I paid $140 after rebate for my 64MB ATI R8500!!!

 

[grinch]

i'm not a toll or whatever you call it, i'm just a computer builder/user with bad experiences with ati. that's enough for me to not give them my business. same reason why i don't buy any dfi motherboards: bad experiences.

Quote:

Originally posted by Eagle_Driver And I hate nVidia for the most part, as well - most of the cards based on that company's chipsets are WAY overpriced..

i find it funny that we complain about prices of a video card, a part that is _needed_ for a computer to run, yet we'll blow a grand on a pair of headphones and an amplifier.. err, at least i will.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

And the same goes for the millions of consumers who can't (or won't) order online; they'll simply go to so-called "superstores" and pay WAY too much money for a pair of headphones that perform really poorly for the price.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

FWIW, my Windows XP installation - even with ACPI enabled on my AMD system through the BIOS - is relatively "conflict-free". I checked the Device manager, and found that my sound card and my other expansion cards are using the exact same IRQs that the BIOS itself has assigned to them.

But had I used an Intel-brand mobo running an Intel processor, I would have had all of my add-on and integrated devices - including the parallel, serial and USB ports - share IRQ 9!