I see that the UT2K3 specs reccomend a soundbalster audigy sound card. Right now i have a live! 5.1, and i am wondering if there is any real difference between them that is worth the $90CDN upgrade. New features or anything?
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I see that the UT2K3 specs reccomend a soundbalster audigy sound card. Right now i have a live! 5.1, and i am wondering if there is any real difference between them that is worth the $90CDN upgrade. New features or anything?
Personally... I'd upgrade to the Audigy. It has more advenced EAX and 5.1 gaming.
supposedly improved sound quality (less hiss), new EAX & true 5.1 gaming capability. worth it? no imo but if you are a hardcore gamer it might be worth it.Quote:
Originally posted by YahoKa
I see that the UT2K3 specs reccomend a soundbalster audigy sound card. Right now i have a live! 5.1, and i am wondering if there is any real difference between them that is worth the $90CDN upgrade. New features or anything?
At this point, i generally think that the two major upgrade considerations for sound cards should be the OEM Turtle Beach Santa Cruz or an OEM Sound Blaster Audigy. Both are QUITE an improvement over the live, and each has it's own set of strengths and weaknesses. Depending on your needs/room/system/upgrade path, you would be better suited to one or the other...
I suggest getting the Audigy, it's the only card that supports EAX HD, currently used by updated JK2 and UT2k3, and many games will follow it.
It depends how good your speakers are. If you have a good set of surround sound speakers it might be worth the upgrade but if your speakers aren't that good then your probably won't hear the difference.
I had a SB Live, and I upgraded to an Audigy. It was the worst 79 dollars I ever spent Best Buy price. The SB live is faster at games, and there is no difference in sound quality. It halts game play some when lots of sounds are going on, and my live card didn't do that! The only thing you get is a MP3 ripper with it. Not worth the money in my opinion. If you need an MP3 ripper you can get music match jukebox for free!
amd, I assume you're using a via chipset, have you considered trying the 4 in 1 drivers?
If not, it's pretty lame to piss and moan about the card's halting, which it holds no bearing on your system freezing up or anything.
Perhaps you should consider upgrading your cpu/mobo/ram instead of your soundcard, if it's freezing in games?
None the less, $80 for an Audigy, you got ripped. The Audigy OEM's $60 online. ;)
How exactly does one use the EAX feature in games ? Whenever I put that thing on, I hear a bad echo on the effects... Am I doing something wrong?
What is your sound card, what are your sound drivers, what is your operating system?Quote:
Originally posted by VenomZeus
How exactly does one use the EAX feature in games ? Whenever I put that thing on, I hear a bad echo on the effects... Am I doing something wrong?
The QUALITY of the EAX effect depends greatly on the sound card and drivers supporting it... but EAX *is* a way of doing various echoes.. so they are SUPPOSED to be there, they are simply not supposed to be overwhelming.
Well I have the audigy OEM and my speakers are the Logitech Z 560 and i'm running windows xp
On my opinion Live is better than Audigy. Why?
Live! -> Big sound
Audigy -> Big bass
Live! -> good for both music and games
Audigy -> Great for games not music.
Live! -> 16 bit of sound
Audigy -> 24
Maybe I am wrong, 'cause I don't have digital speaker. Only analog.
Computer Maniac :)
__________
Amd XP 2000+ @ stock speed
MSI MS-6367 Socket A motherboard
MSI N4 Ti 4400 @ stock speed
SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 (Live! Audigy returnning tomorrow)
512MBs DDR 266 PC-2100
2x WD 120GBs HDD Special Edition
Liteon 40x12x48 burner
Toshiba 16x48 DVD Player
TT Volcano 7+ (+AS III)
AltecLansing ATP3 2.1 speakers
Samsung 955DF Monitor
The Audigy doesn't really do 24bit of sound. Takes 16bit sound and converts it to 24bit. Hence, not true 24bit.
The 'echo' that you hear, it's suppose to be there : ) Sorry to pop your bubble.
The audigy, I say wait and don't upgrade yet. Not that many games take advantage of it yet. If you have a live stick w/ it. Especially if you have the 5.1 version.
Heh, as for the solution to the soundcard causing his comp to freeze, you recommend he upgrade his CPU, MOBO, AND RAM? heh, now that's a hardcore Audigy lover.
Personal opinion though, if not really a gamer, go Santa Cruz, if a gamer, go Audigy. If you have a Live! Be a heavy gamer, then upgrade to the Audigy.
Personally, i'd use the money and treat myself and go out. Just kill a day and no worries. Or buy your girlfriend/wife something. Surpise her. You bought for her because you were thinking of her. She'll love it! Mean it though.
ComputerManiacs, we need to talk... and you need to read the article in my .sig..
The echo he's hearing is from having EAX turned in in "Audio HQ."
Which can easily be fixed by going in there and turning all EAX effects off. They'll turn themselves on when needed, in a game. :)
does the Audgiy still hog a lot of bus? if so, would the Game Theatre XP be any better then the Audigy series? (I know it is the older stuff, but is the performance better?)
Still? Audigy's known for having low utilization, not high.
I don't know where you're hearing that from. :confused:
The 5.1's did, and I was wondering if Creative Still did that w/ there AudigyQuote:
Originally posted by CrawlingEye
Still? Audigy's known for having low utilization, not high.
I don't know where you're hearing that from. :confused:
I've heard the live and audigy cards in action, I could tell the difference, but it wasn't THAT great of a difference. If you are extremely paranoid about "having the best" then I guess buy it, but I still think the Live is fine. It's not like this audigy card will make your computer gaming experience much better, if at all. Unless you're one of those people who pretend their ears can hear that faint fuzz in the "low quality" systems. Just my opinion, I know a lot of folks here will tell you differently :)
That new feature that allows transitions w/o fuzz is good :DQuote:
Originally posted by Spartan
I've heard the live and audigy cards in action, I could tell the difference, but it wasn't THAT great of a difference. If you are extremely paranoid about "having the best" then I guess buy it, but I still think the Live is fine. It's not like this audigy card will make your computer gaming experience much better, if at all. Unless you're one of those people who pretend their ears can hear that faint fuzz in the "low quality" systems. Just my opinion, I know a lot of folks here will tell you differently :)
i personally didn't hear much of a difference between my live! 5.1 and audigy. if i had known about the TBSC being so good at the time, i would've purchased that instead. o well, **** happens :rolleyes: i really dont think the upgrade is that worth it...just wait for a new card to come out ;)
When I play Madden 2002, it occurs at the main menu screen, and it locks up for a few secs :( (and that is with my mom's in the sig!)Quote:
Originally posted by tYteaZzAzN
i personally didn't hear much of a difference between my live! 5.1 and audigy. if i had known about the TBSC being so good at the time, i would've purchased that instead. o well, **** happens :rolleyes: i really dont think the upgrade is that worth it...just wait for a new card to come out ;)
*EDIT*
it has a SB live 5.1
what occurs? i didn't say anything doesn't happen :confused: if you're talkin about the performance....Quote:
Originally posted by speed freak
When I play Madden 2002, it occurs at the main menu screen, and it locks up for a few secs :( (and that is with my mom's in the sig!)
*EDIT*
it has a SB live 5.1
I had a live 5.1 then upgraded(i guess) to an audigy. There is really no noticeable difference. And any game that plays 5.1 will play the same on the live as it does the audigy, that I own anyway. Save your money.