Surround Sound In Counter-Strike Source?

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sitalchauhan

Limp Gawd
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May 30, 2006
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My PC specs are in my sig. I have got a 5.1 surround sound system using the onboard sound on the Asus P5K Deluxe.
The onboard sound uses the AD1988B chip, which supports EAX 1.0 and 2.0. However, it does not support the newer versions of EAX after 2.0

I have played Counter-Strike 1.6 for years but now with my new system fully built and working, I am thinking of buying Counter-Strike Source because of the improved graphics and support for surround sound.

I was just wondering, does the surround sound in CS:S use EAX?

If it does use EAX, will I still get surround sound even though my chip only supports up to EAX2.0? (i.e. Will I still get surround sound but not all of the effects that are in the newer EAX versions?)

Thanks,
Sital

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I am running Windows Vista 32Bit incase that makes any difference...

P.S. I know that as gaming, I really should buy a seperate sound card such as the X-Fi to dully support EAX. I am saving up for a sound card but must put up with the onboard until I have got enough to get a sound card :eek:
 
Yes.. it makes a big difference (at least to me).

For entry level X-Fi, go with the Extreme Gamer. There are posts on how to upgrade / improve the sound by changing out your caps. (either here or at www.head-fi.org). It supports EAX 5.0, and is only lacking X-Ram (really not used by anything at this point, or to the point of having an advantage over those who don't), and a 5.25 I/O deck.

You can get it for about 85 - 90 bucks on antarescomputersinc or newegg.
 
Sorry I dont want to be rude or anything, but you havnt actually answered the 2 questions I had :p My questions were relating to Counter-Strike Source :)
 
You still get rather accurate positioning...just not with the new eax features or processing
i read that the eax on realtek onboard is rather shakey...as in some work...while others dont
 
If anything, you stand a good chance of it just doing minimal hardware processing. Ambient sounds will be minimized, shallow at best; easily overwhelmed with what you are physically doing. If you really looking for sound to track an individual.

Counter-Strike Source is ideally set for EAX5, and will utilize EAX4. However, using AD1988B, you will probably get something a step above software rendering.
 
I just read that CS:S uses DirectSound, and support for DirectSound in vista has been removed.

Does that mean that I wont get any surround sound in CS:S at all on my system?
Or does it mean that I will get surround sound but not all of the new EAX effects?

P.S. There is a workaround by getting an X-Fi and using Alchemy which converts DirectSound to OpenAL, which then allows you to get surround sound in DirectSound games.
 
i play all my games in surround sound, i think it rly helps in CS:S, but my FW900 helped more;) big monitor+surround sound=:D
 
Unless they changed CS S in the past year or so, I'm pretty sure there is no advanced EAX support in CS S. (if there is, then its extremely pitiful compared to say, Quake 4)

HOWEVER, the X-Fi's positional clarify is 1000x better than my onboard sound(in other games too besides CS S), using 5.1 speakers.. Its like having a "wallhack" for your ears.
 
source cs does NOT use eax or hardware acceleration. the surround sound is custom to the source engine
 
sitalchauhan said:
My PC specs are in my sig. I have got a 5.1 surround sound system using the onboard sound on the Asus P5K Deluxe.
The onboard sound uses the AD1988B chip, which supports EAX 1.0 and 2.0. However, it does not support the newer versions of EAX after 2.0

I have played Counter-Strike 1.6 for years but now with my new system fully built and working, I am thinking of buying Counter-Strike Source because of the improved graphics and support for surround sound.

I was just wondering, does the surround sound in CS:S use EAX?

If it does use EAX, will I still get surround sound even though my chip only supports up to EAX2.0? (i.e. Will I still get surround sound but not all of the effects that are in the newer EAX versions?)

Thanks,
Sital

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I am running Windows Vista 32Bit incase that makes any difference...

P.S. I know that as gaming, I really should buy a seperate sound card such as the X-Fi to dully support EAX. I am saving up for a sound card but must put up with the onboard until I have got enough to get a sound card :eek:
Click to expand...


You probably already know this, but to get 5.1 in most games (e.g. CS:S) you need to run everything in analog - the digital output of your sound card generally will NOT produce 5.1 unless it's a DD or DTS (or similar) signal. I've never heard of a game that encodes itself in DD, so unless your soundcard/motherboard does this, you will need to go analog for gaming to get 5.1.
 
Garret Jax said:
You probably already know this, but to get 5.1 in most games (e.g. CS:S) you need to run everything in analog - the digital output of your sound card generally will NOT produce 5.1 unless it's a DD or DTS (or similar) signal. I've never heard of a game that encodes itself in DD, so unless your soundcard/motherboard does this, you will need to go analog for gaming to get 5.1.
Click to expand...

Yup I was aware of that. I have both analogue and digital hooked up to my speakers. Use the digital for when watching DVD's, but analogue for everything else :)
 
So is there any true benefit in gaming from running onboard sound vs buying a seperate soundcard ?

and what would u recommend
 
Getting a seperate sound card is way better than onboard as long as you get a decent soundcard. I would strongly recommend you get a soundcard, such as an X-Fi, if you have the money. I am just saving up at the moment to get myself a sound card, so have to put up with the onboard sound at the moment.

Seperate sound card produce a much clearer sound quality, support advanced in-game sound effects (such as EAX), and with a good sound card it is much easier to identify where the sound came from (ie back left, front left, etc).
 
ourfpshero said:
source cs does NOT use eax or hardware acceleration. the surround sound is custom to the source engine
Click to expand...
Source uses DirectSound3D, which most Creative cards accelerate functions for. There's no implementation factor for basic hardware acceleration so long as a game uses DirectSound3D or OpenAL functions.

Garret Jax said:
I've never heard of a game that encodes itself in DD, so unless your soundcard/motherboard does this, you will need to go analog for gaming to get 5.1.
Click to expand...
There are none. Dolby Digital-branded games typically just use AC3 for asset compression (a poor idea), but that isn't required for a game's box to adorn the double-D logo either. I think the process of obtaining rights to use the logo is about as complicated as calling Dolby and sitting through a Dolby Labs AC3 encoder sales pitch.
 
Just did the speaker test in CSS and as I expected, the surround sound does not work properly in 5.1 on Windows Vista with my onboard sound. The rear speakers play at the same time as my front speakers. I have got my speakers fully set up correctly, and they work perfectly with DVDs and all the surround sound tests I have done. Just to let anybody else know if they were wondering the same as myself.
 
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