Wanted: Vista Compatible Sound card

If you have a decent sound card for sale that works under Vista I would like to buy it form you. I want to hear the new high-fi sounds that that guy made for Doom. I have onboard sound, so sounds not so great on my computer. Thanks!

You can grab this one from NewEgg. It's pretty cheap and it's Vista compatible.

Am I missing something here???

From that product page:
Not Vista

white Reviewed By: on 1/21/2009
Rating + 4Rating + 4Rating + 4Rating + 4Rating + 4
Tech Level Tech Level: high - Ownership: less than 1 day

Pros: Good card, perfect on an XP OS.
Cons: Vista NOT supported, no drivers for Vista on disc bt I did not search online for any..

CL cards are way overrated BTW, and especially the Audigy SE is unlikely to have a better DAC than your onboard card, at least if you have a HD onboard. It also offers no wonderful hardware acceleration or anything like that, it's just a PCI interface to a DAC/ADC just like your onboard card. If you are using digital sound output, there will be exactly zero difference in sound quality.

Maes said:

Am I missing something here???

You can't trust roughly 90% of user reviews. A quick trip to the Creative Labs home page will show that there are Vista drivers available for it: http://support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?catID=1&subCatID=205&prodID=14257&prodName=Audigy%20SE&subCatName=Audigy&CatName=Sound+Blaster

CL cards are way overrated BTW, and especially the Audigy SE is unlikely to have a better DAC than your onboard card, at least if you have a HD onboard. It also offers no wonderful hardware acceleration or anything like that, it's just a PCI interface to a DAC/ADC just like your onboard card. If you are using digital sound output, there will be exactly zero difference in sound quality.

Hardware acceleration: EAX.

Creative Labs' support has suffered somewhat, but I've been using a regular Audigy card roughly since they've come out. It's been in about four different machine configurations I've had since I got it, and it has been a wonderful card. I can't testify to the quality of their latest offerings, but I've used Sound Blaster cards from the SoundBlaster 16 to the AWE32, to Live! and now the Audigy 1.

Edit: Messed up quoting Maes' post.

Lich said:

Hardware acceleration: EAX.

Does this shit still sell?

Graf Zahl said:

Does this shit still sell?

I never said EAX itself was great, but it is a hardware accelerated sound API. Apparently they're going to go with OpenAL, so EAX is done for as far as future products are concerned anyway.

Lich said:

Hardware acceleration: EAX.

Only the cards with an EMU processor have any sort of hardware acceleration, the SE and Live! 24-bit series (and the infamous "X-Fi" Xtreme Audio) have a simple codec-like controller, and EAX compatibility is implemented in software, just like onboard audio cards.

Maes said:

Only the cards with an EMU processor have any sort of hardware acceleration, the SE and Live! 24-bit series (and the infamous "X-Fi" Xtreme Audio) have a simple codec-like controller, and EAX compatibility is implemented in software, just like onboard audio cards.

My bad. My card has an EMU10K2 on board, but that's the regular Audigy card.

Voyetra made some good sound cards. Maybe check that out...?

Lich said:

Voyetra made some good sound cards. Maybe check that out...?

AFAIK, Creative Labs, like it or not, is the only company still actively producing gamer-oriented sound cards and DSPs, older alternatives such as the Yamaha Waveforce may still be available for a dime.

If you carefully check the specs of just about any other sound card on the market (except for Aztech, which uses licensed X-Fi chips from CL), including Turtle Beach, Razer and a few others (which may cost a lot more than a CL!) you will find no mention of "hardware polyphony" or "simultaneous voices" anywhere. The focus is all on connectivity, how many audio channels (not voices) they have, digital inputs/outputs, and throw a ton of buzzwords at'cha about their "supported standards" (exclusively via software ofc.)

And if you search even deeper, you'll see that practically all alternatives use Realtek or C-Media chips, which are just like the onboard "codec" soundcards, only glorified by being connected to $50-a-piece DACs/ADCs and high end (I hope...) caps and components.

What surprised me is how Turtle Beach, which once produced high-end wavetable MIDI soundcards, now has fallen back to USB soundcards (which can't be anything but codec based) and to Audigy-SE class soundcards with C-Media chips (yeah, I actually bothered downloading and inspecting their drivers). So no super-duper hardware acceleration there either, and not something I'd pay $50 for.

I was hoping to get something that's a year or two old. I don't care about cutting edge technology--I'd use my old SB Live! card if it was supported. Just want something with same sound quality as Sb Live! Figured someone might have something lying around they could sell me for $15 or $20 but this card looks like it might fit the bill. I have a dual line speaker system so needs two outputs. Maybe I will just buy this. Newegg is awesome. This has 2 outputs, right?

This looks great, thanks!

Have you considered just getting an OS that's compatible with the sound card you already have?

fraggle said:

Have you considered just getting an OS that's compatible with the sound card you already have?

I could install XP but last time I tried it was a hassle (Windows Vista wouldn't let me)

Hellbent said:

I could install XP but last time I tried it was a hassle (Windows Vista wouldn't let me)

Ever heard of hard disk partitioning? And if you're installing from the Windows XP CD, where on earth does Vista even enter into it?

Hellbent said:

I could install XP but last time I tried it was a hassle (Windows Vista wouldn't let me)

boot from the Windows XP CD, then. be sure to back up your files first.

Maes said:

Am I missing something here???

===============================================================
From that product page:
Not Vista

white Reviewed By: on 1/21/2009
Rating + 4Rating + 4Rating + 4Rating + 4Rating + 4
Tech Level Tech Level: high - Ownership: less than 1 day

Pros: Good card, perfect on an XP OS.
Cons: Vista NOT supported, no drivers for Vista on disc bt I did not search online for any..
===============================================================

CL cards are way overrated BTW, and especially the Audigy SE is unlikely to have a better DAC than your onboard card, at least if you have a HD onboard. It also offers no wonderful hardware acceleration or anything like that, it's just a PCI interface to a DAC/ADC just like your onboard card. If you are using digital sound output, there will be exactly zero difference in sound quality.

Umm... installed the new sound card last night. Not impressed. :( I discern no difference. Music stutters, too in Rhapsody. After I installed the soundcard, I booted the comptuer. ignoring Windows Vista's desire to handle the hardware--I installed the driver/software package I downloaded from CL's site. But the installation would not conintue: "this hardware version is older than what is on the system" even though I hadn't installed anything. I then let windows handle the installation of the software. Vista and/or Creative Labs Suck!

My CD drive doesn't work (Power Supply has insufficient newage power connectors which is what my CD drive has) so I don't feel like messing with trying to install XP.

So you don't have a CD-Rom Drive at all?


???


:(

Hellbent said:

Umm... installed the new sound card last night. Not impressed. :( I discern no difference. Music stutters, too in Rhapsody. After I installed the soundcard, I booted the comptuer. ignoring Windows Vista's desire to handle the hardware--I installed the driver/software package I downloaded from CL's site. But the installation would not conintue: "this hardware version is older than what is on the system" even though I hadn't installed anything. I then let windows handle the installation of the software. Vista and/or Creative Labs Suck!

My CD drive doesn't work (Power Supply has insufficient newage power connectors which is what my CD drive has) so I don't feel like messing with trying to install XP.

Did you also disable your onboard sound?

Csonicgo said:

So you don't have a CD-Rom Drive at all?


???


:(

Correct. My computer has 2 new power ports which are both used up by my hard drives. So I have no way of supplying power to my CD-Rom drive.

I hadn't disabled the onboard sound. I just did and restarted and the sound quality seems like it might on par now, but there are still occasional small hiccups in the sound when I multi task, even loading a webpage. But the hiccuping is not nearly as bad as before. I had watched an episode of HD Lost last night on my onboard sound and no hiccups or pauses in video or sound--I will try now and see how it fairs. Thanks everyone for chiming in. I really appreciate it. Ars Technica expertise at a DW price. :)

The real reason I got a new sound card was to get a benefit from the new redone doom sound effects that recently were released (can't remember the guy's name, sorry) The lift doesn't sound as cool with the new card as the old one (less pronounced now) but overall I think there is an improvement with this sound card.

I took out the new soundcard. Booted the computer up and zim zam! Everything is working as it should; Lost is glitchless--sound is just as good. And the lift and doors in Doom with the new hifi sfx sound as good or better with the built in audio than with the Audigy. Thanks guys for the help. If anyone wants to buy my sound card, it cost me $40.00 with shipping from NewEgg. So.. make me an offer? I'll make a sale post.

Lich said:

You can grab this one from NewEgg. It's pretty cheap and it's Vista compatible.

Below is OSes listed as supported for the soundcard you linked to:

System Requirements Windows XP (SP2), XP Professional x64 or 2000 (SP4)
Intel Pentium III, Celeron 1GHz or equivalent AMD processor
Available PCI slot (2.1 compliant)
128MB RAM
600MB of free hard disk space

I don't see Vista listed there....

Hellbent said:

Below is OSes listed as supported for the soundcard you linked to:

System Requirements Windows XP (SP2), XP Professional x64 or 2000 (SP4)
Intel Pentium III, Celeron 1GHz or equivalent AMD processor
Available PCI slot (2.1 compliant)
128MB RAM
600MB of free hard disk space

I don't see Vista listed there....

That copy may have been written at a time when a Vista driver wasn't available. Check the manufacturer website. If you go to this page, select Audigy, then Audigy SE in the next column and then hit the next button, you'll be taken to a page that has a link to downloads that contain drivers for the Audigy SE card.

You know they make splitters for molex and/or SATA power connectors, right?

Hellbent said:

I took out the new soundcard. Booted the computer up and zim zam! Everything is working as it should; Lost is glitchless--sound is just as good. And the lift and doors in Doom with the new hifi sfx sound as good or better with the built in audio than with the Audigy.

The "sad" thing is that these days you pretty much have to get a professional-grade sound card to notice much difference at all compared to on-board audio. :( Whether that's because the on-board chips have improved or the lower grade sound cards aren't what they used to be, I'll leave that for the tech geeks to wrestle out.

Hellbent said:

I took out the new soundcard. Booted the computer up and zim zam! Everything is working as it should; Lost is glitchless--sound is just as good. And the lift and doors in Doom with the new hifi sfx sound as good or better with the built in audio than with the Audigy.

Q.E.D.

Good thing you didn't think about wasting nearly $100 on an X-Fi Xtreme Audio (which is basically an Audigy SE at double the price with different drivers, for the gullible).

Those claiming that onboard sounds bad don't even know what they are talking about most of the time. Maybe if compared to a card with a very expensive DAC or referring to how EAX effects in EAX-enabled games sound. That is, if used with something better than generic $10 "1000 Watt P.M.P.O. multimedia speakers".

And yeah, CL + Vista = huge fuckup. If they can't get a simple card with a single DAC/ADC and no acceleration to work properly, imagine how "well" more complex cards will work!

Buying a sound card today is really a losing proposition: most use the exact same unaccelerated AC'97-like codecs used in onboard cards (with all the hype now being about the C-Media chips), and sell for nearly the price of a new motherboard which may be using the exact same sound chip. Not worth it, really.

Hellbent said:

Correct. My computer has 2 new power ports which are both used up by my hard drives. So I have no way of supplying power to my CD-Rom drive.

Assuming your CD-Rom has a SATA power connector - what you need one of these...

or one of these

or you can just unplug a hard drive, install XP on the drive you want to install XP on, then replug the hard drive. wouldn't hurt.