[Iron_Dreamer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edwood The RME PAD works perfectly in it. I might have just enough room to fit Iron_Dreamer's modded one in it if I keep the case cover off. Those blackgates on the back of the card, would probably stick out too much. -Ed

I was able to squeeze the big blackgates onto the fronts of both cards, so it can be run with only 2 PCI slots, but the bottom one needs a bit of clearence for the very tall cap, it almost hits the floor of my case, installed in the last PCI slot (the digital card, with the analog card in the slot above). I should have 2 or 3 free PCI slots for loading up other cards

 

[minya]

Can you install only the digital card? Or are you required to have both for it to work properly?

Thanks,

- Chris

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Minya, to use it only as a transport, as you would, the analog card is not necessary.

 

[minya]

OK. Cool. Am I to understand that the Chaintech whatever-model-it-is works well (by "well" I mean passable - I play PC games perhaps twice a year) enough for PC gaming?

- Chris

 

[ooheadsoo]

If you only play twice a year, I would guess that the emu itself is "ok."

If the chaintech is anything like my revo, then it is acceptable, though nowhere NEAR as nice as an audigy series card for layered 3d environmental effects.

 

[minya]

Heh. "3D layered environmental effects" I could care less about. As long as I have 2 channel audio I'm good.

As long as it doesn't slow down the game itself, then I should be fine with the 1212M, yes...

- Chris

 

[ooheadsoo]

the 3d stuff is actually quite immersive and a nice touch if you play fps games. The Audigy series allows game programmers to program in several layers of reverb effects so that if you're inside a sewer and people are shooting outside in a warehouse, the appropriate effects will be applied (warehouse + open environment + sewer.) With cards like the revo/chaintech/emu etc, it will just sound like the guys in the warehouse across the way are shooting far away with a sewerish reverb being applied. And also, for example, in splintercell, the people you communicate with through your earpiece have the same reverb as the environment you're in, so if you're in our all purpose sewer, the people talking in your earpiece will have reverb too. Not so on the audigy, if properly programmed. This, I think, is a very nice feature of eax2 and above.

 

[minya]

Yeah, I see what you mean. But for as little as I play games (all I've got my sights set on this year: Doom3, and HL2, and that's singleplayer only -- no multi), I don't think it makes sense for me to keep an Audigy in my setup, especially since they can be so fussy when paired with other soundcards.

- Chris

 

[ooheadsoo]

Wow, you looking to sell?

I wouldn't mind having properly functioning reverb

Hehe, maybe when you're finally ready to sell, I may actually have enough scratch to afford it

 

[JeffL]

EAX has to be supported by the game to work with the hardware. IMO EAX is worthless, as the reverb can easily be applied in software, and can indeed by layered just as EAX does. The only advantage that EAX has is that it is hardware accelerated.

Quite frankly, modern hardware can keep up with the demands of a non-accelerated sound card, since the load is fairly minimal, compared to the graphics and AI in modern games.

Features like this, IMO, are nothing more than marketing hype. Does that mean that they don't work? No, just that they aren't neccessary.

Keeping an Audigy 2 for gaming in addition to a music card may make sense, but I think it is a real waste.

 

[Jasper994]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeffL EAX has to be supported by the game to work with the hardware. IMO EAX is worthless, as the reverb can easily be applied in software, and can indeed by layered just as EAX does. The only advantage that EAX has is that it is hardware accelerated. Quite frankly, modern hardware can keep up with the demands of a non-accelerated sound card, since the load is fairly minimal, compared to the graphics and AI in modern games. Features like this, IMO, are nothing more than marketing hype. Does that mean that they don't work? No, just that they aren't neccessary. Keeping an Audigy 2 for gaming in addition to a music card may make sense, but I think it is a real waste.

This is something fueled by the gammers who must get every last fps no matter what the cost... similar to audiophiles who must spend thousands on their gear to get every last nuance out of the music...

did I say that out loud?!? sorry guys... I'm only joking... I was most certainly one of those people when I built my current pc and am moving in that direction with my audio gear... what fun is life, however, if one cannot make fun of ones self.

 

[ooheadsoo]

AFAIK, there is no software api that supports layered reverb yet. I'm also a bit skeptical re: how well "modern" hardware can process layered reverb in real time. Reminds me how a friend used to insist that "modern" cpus were so fast that 3d graphics cards would soon be obsolete since the CPU would be able to do all the work. Incidentally, every decent game with decent sound out there supports EAX.

 

[fewtch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ooheadsoo AFAIK, there is no software api that supports layered reverb yet. I'm also a bit skeptical re: how well "modern" hardware can process layered reverb in real time. Reminds me how a friend used to insist that "modern" cpus were so fast that 3d graphics cards would soon be obsolete since the CPU would be able to do all the work.

They could, except that games have grown in visual complexity to the point where offloading processing to a high end 3D graphics card is necessary. As far as audio by itself, a 3 GHz CPU can do nearly anything in realtime (provided it's not also having to process video data, networked connections, mathematical calculations, etc. for a game at the same time). The problem isn't with CPU processing power, it's with games always being on the cutting edge of what the hardware can handle. If a 40 GHz CPU came out, I'm sure games would quickly get to the point where frame rates were just barely adequate

.

 

[ooheadsoo]

But them they would up the sample rate of the in game sounds to 192khz, bit depth to 1k, and play 1024 independant streams at the same time, one for every rat, frog, fly, and terrorist in that sewer

Back to square one we go

 

[Jasper994]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fewtch They could, except that games have grown in visual complexity to the point where offloading processing to a high end 3D graphics card is necessary. As far as audio by itself, a 3 GHz CPU can do nearly anything in realtime (provided it's not also having to process video data, networked connections, mathematical calculations, etc. for a game at the same time). The problem isn't with CPU processing power, it's with games always being on the cutting edge of what the hardware can handle. If a 40 GHz CPU came out, I'm sure games would quickly get to the point where frame rates were just barely adequate .

Up until the point where it looks real, is this really a bad thing?