• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Need help upgrading from a SB Live!

T

the-womp

n00b
Joined
Aug 14, 2004
Messages
3
Hey everyone,

I'm trying to decide what sound card to get to replace my ailing SB Live! Value. I just bought a new set of PC speakers: Klipsch Promedia 2.1. It sounds ok right now, but I figured that a newer card may improve the sound further.

I'm trying to keep the price pretty low, say <$50. I've been reading about the Revo, which sounds nice, but is out of my price range. All the new audigies seem to be a bit expensive. The Chaintech 7.1 card looks very nice, and I can pick that one up for ~30 down the road. Also the Mad Dog Media Entertainer 7.1 is interesting, but looks nearly the same as the Chaintech

Ultimately, i'm looking for something that sounds great using the analog outs. I will be using it for both music and games. I'm not interested in any surround or 3d audio modes, as long as my games don't start to chug that is ( I have an Athlon 1700xp).

Right now the audio is a little bland, without much live on the top end. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.
 
EDIT: Oh, and welcome to the forum!!

From what I hear, the envy chipsets sound really good for music from analog. I would pick of that one you saw for ~30. Ify ou dont like it you can always return it :) Other than that for the price range i dont know. Im still using my analog off my asus a7n8x deluxe 2.0. Fine for now, but will prolly upgrade to something with envy becuase my primary focus is on music quality as well. Good luck!
 
Theres a good reason the Entertainer looks like the Chaintech, Its basically the same card! Both cards should suit you well for sound reproduction, but between these 2, I would just take the least expensive one, and since you are sticking with a 2.1 system, and aren't concerned with 3d audio for games, either one of these will give you very good results.
 
Thanks for yor help.

I went out and picked up the Chaintech AV-710 last night.

Using the 24bit mode (with the Wolfson DAC) everything sounds awesome, including music, games even window sounds ! :p

But I can't seem to figure out how to make this mode work with ut2004, which I have been playing constantly these days. It works fine using the main front speaker out, but not using the higher quality DAC. Sound does come out, but very slow and low in pitch, like slowing a record or cassette tape down.

Any thoughts?
 
I fixed it.

Yup, there are definitely audio options in the game. However, that was hardly the problem.

I changed out the sound card driver, now running without a hitch with the Wolfson, sounding really, really nice. Don't notice any CPU hit (no H/W sound though, only 3d audio which is CPU driven anyways)

Thanks for all your advice.
 
exactly how noticeable is the difference between the SB Live! Value and the one you picked up.

I currently have a SB Live! Value also, and I recently got a HD497, and am soon going to get a 5.1 set for my comp, and I just want to know how much difference in audio quality an upgraded soundcard (perhaps to an Audigy2 ZS or something) would do to the sound. i.e. is it enough to warrant a US$80 purchase?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top