Alternative Sound Cards for Gaming Under Vista 64bit?

[Woofmeister]

I'm getting a little tired of Creative's driver problems under Vist 64 bit; they've improved a lot over the last year, but I still can't run BF 2142, which is my favorite. I'm also not using the IO panel on my X-Fi Fatal1ty much anymore and would like to recapture the front slot for a larger cooling fan.

So, any suggestions for a good gaming sound card for use under Vista 64?

I've heard good and bad about the Auzen X-FI Prelude 7.1. Any comments?

 

[WraithETC]

Prelude has the same problems as any x-fi they use basically the same drivers. The prelude however has DD live unlocked and other hardware differences. With modded drivers almost any x-fi can do DD live.

Orbital strike + crackle = lulz.

 

[potato28]

Maybe look into a modded firmware? If not, I've heard good things about the Asus DX-1 or something along the lines of that. Looks really promising, and has EAX 3 or 5 or something through the CPU.

 

[biostud]

ASUS Xonar DX PCI Express 7.1 Audio Card

http://www.hothardware.com/Art...Express_71_Audio_Card/

 

[Woofmeister]

Originally posted by: biostud
ASUS Xonar DX PCI Express 7.1 Audio Card

http://www.hothardware.com/Art...Express_71_Audio_Card/

Hmm, interesting suggestion. This part really intrigues me:

One of the biggest talking points with this card is ASUS' approach to EAX 5.0 support, through DirectSound 3D GX2. ASUS claims the Xonar DX can deliver EAX 5.0 effects through software emulation. Thanks to Vista's Universal Audio Architecture, Vista users need a software solution for EAX 5.0 support, and ASUS believes the end results, whether achieved through dedicated hardware or software, are the same. Creative has made it clear that they don't believe ASUS can offer true EAX 5.0 support, but it's all relative in the end.

So no Alchemy and better support under Vista. Nice.

 

[Brian48]

No, it's not nice. If gaming is for you, then you're better off with the X-FI. I have the "high-end" Xonar D2.

There are still issues with several games (including BF2142) and DS3DGX 2.0 is a joke. I keep it turned off most of the time. You should check out the Asus forums. These reviewers should really try this card under Vista 64 instead of WinXP or Vista 32.

What really ticks me off is that the current set of drivers is still in beta since February and as bad as Creative support is, at least they bother to read the posts in their forums.

 

[Woofmeister]

Originally posted by: Brian48
No, it's not nice. If gaming is for you, then you're better off with the X-FI. I have the "high-end" Xonar D2.

There are still issues with several games (including BF2142) and DS3DGX 2.0 is a joke. I keep it turned off most of the time. You should check out the Asus forums. These reviewers should really try this card under Vista 64 instead of WinXP or Vista 32.

What really ticks me off is that the current set of drivers is still in beta since February and as bad as Creative support is, at least they bother to read the posts in their forums.

Wow, sounds familiar. Maybe I'll just rip my card out and play BF2142 with onboard sound.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

I would say try Danial K's drivers because it made my own X-Fi Platinum go from almost completely worthless (for what I wanted to use it for) to just as good as it was in Windows XP. However there might be a chance he's giving it up for good due to yet another cease and desist email, although there seems to be a chance the email is a fake. But whatever, its probably best we all start supporting/promoting alternative solutions, Creative has been skating on thin ice since forever.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: Woofmeister

Originally posted by: Brian48
No, it's not nice. If gaming is for you, then you're better off with the X-FI. I have the "high-end" Xonar D2.

There are still issues with several games (including BF2142) and DS3DGX 2.0 is a joke. I keep it turned off most of the time. You should check out the Asus forums. These reviewers should really try this card under Vista 64 instead of WinXP or Vista 32.

What really ticks me off is that the current set of drivers is still in beta since February and as bad as Creative support is, at least they bother to read the posts in their forums.

Wow, sounds familiar. Maybe I'll just rip my card out and play BF2142 with onboard sound.

unfortunately onboard sound is the ONLY way to go.
There are simply no serious companies making sound cards.
Driver supports span the gamut from "atrocious" to "crimes against humanity"
Really, you don't know what you are missing by not using onboard sound. And if you want better sound quality... get a mobo with SPDIF optical out and a higher quality speaker set.

Originally posted by: bunnyfubbles
I would say try Danial K's drivers because it made my own X-Fi Platinum go from almost completely worthless (for what I wanted to use it for) to just as good as it was in Windows XP. However there might be a chance he's giving it up for good due to yet another cease and desist email, although there seems to be a chance the email is a fake. But whatever, its probably best we all start supporting/promoting alternative solutions, Creative has been skating on thin ice since forever.

From 2002 to 2006 creative would NOT allow you to install the latest driver unless you had previously installed an "original driver" from the CD (which was liable to corrupt windows installation); it was some sort of copyright issue (who would want to steal their DRIVERS!)
Now it will install the drivers, but ONLY the driver (if you want the fancy control panel you DO have to get the original CD, install it, and then install the new version, which will proceed to uninstall the old one and then install the new one from scratch)

It does not surprise me that they would send cease and decease letters to a person who makes their heaps of junk worthwhile. They hate you almost as much as EA or Sony hate their customers...

"CREATIVE IS THE PLAGUE" - me

 

[Psynaut]

Alot of people seem to be pretty happy with the Razer Barracuda and if you shop around or follow Woot.com you can usually find them for around $50.00 vs. the $140 that Newegg sells them for. As of about a month ago they finally released a signed driver for Vista 64.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: taltamir

Originally posted by: Woofmeister

Originally posted by: Brian48
No, it's not nice. If gaming is for you, then you're better off with the X-FI. I have the "high-end" Xonar D2.

There are still issues with several games (including BF2142) and DS3DGX 2.0 is a joke. I keep it turned off most of the time. You should check out the Asus forums. These reviewers should really try this card under Vista 64 instead of WinXP or Vista 32.

What really ticks me off is that the current set of drivers is still in beta since February and as bad as Creative support is, at least they bother to read the posts in their forums.

Wow, sounds familiar. Maybe I'll just rip my card out and play BF2142 with onboard sound.

unfortunately onboard sound is the ONLY way to go.
There are simply no serious companies making sound cards.
Driver supports span the gamut from "atrocious" to "crimes against humanity"
Really, you don't know what you are missing by not using onboard sound. And if you want better sound quality... get a mobo with SPDIF optical out and a higher quality speaker set.

You forgot to push the E8400. :roll:

Your opinion is fine, just make it a little more clear. IMO, onboard sound is absolute crap. I don't have a home theater receiver and high quality speaker setup for each and every one of my PCs, and sometimes I just want to plug in a decent set of cans into the system (such as my gaming rig)...absolutely no need to jump through hoops that way - there's nothing wrong with spending a little extra money on a decent video card vs. settling for crap onboard sound and perhaps bypassing it with a more expensive alternative.

 

[konakona]

Originally posted by: bunnyfubbles

Originally posted by: taltamir

Originally posted by: Woofmeister

Originally posted by: Brian48
No, it's not nice. If gaming is for you, then you're better off with the X-FI. I have the "high-end" Xonar D2.

There are still issues with several games (including BF2142) and DS3DGX 2.0 is a joke. I keep it turned off most of the time. You should check out the Asus forums. These reviewers should really try this card under Vista 64 instead of WinXP or Vista 32.

What really ticks me off is that the current set of drivers is still in beta since February and as bad as Creative support is, at least they bother to read the posts in their forums.

Wow, sounds familiar. Maybe I'll just rip my card out and play BF2142 with onboard sound.

unfortunately onboard sound is the ONLY way to go.
There are simply no serious companies making sound cards.
Driver supports span the gamut from "atrocious" to "crimes against humanity"
Really, you don't know what you are missing by not using onboard sound. And if you want better sound quality... get a mobo with SPDIF optical out and a higher quality speaker set.

You forgot to push the E8400. :roll:

Your opinion is fine, just make it a little more clear. IMO, onboard sound is absolute crap. I don't have a home theater receiver and high quality speaker setup for each and every one of my PCs, and sometimes I just want to plug in a decent set of cans into the system (such as my gaming rig)...absolutely no need to jump through hoops that way - there's nothing wrong with spending a little extra money on a decent video card vs. settling for crap onboard sound and perhaps bypassing it with a more expensive alternative.

Well I for one find onboard audio decent enough for my measly swan "multimedia" speakers. Common wisdom amongst headfiers is such that you are not going to get any decent sound just by plugging your headphones straight into a creative whatever card without an amp anyway. Best option IMO is a usb dac, or something cheap like chaintech AV710 that can do bit perfect digital out hooked up to a decent DAC (or a receiver). Granted, the OP was asking for a gaming card so this is quite irrelevant to begin with.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

right, and there's also difference between 'decent enough' and being truly satisfied

 

[konakona]

Originally posted by: bunnyfubbles
right, and there's also difference between 'decent enough' and being truly satisfied

the point is, to argue that plugging a hifi headphone directly into a creative card's jack gets you a truly satisfying result is quite moot at best. To each his own I guess, more power to ya if you are happy with those cards

 

[chynn]

The Asus Xonar D2X is NOT a gaming card as far as I am concerned. I am using the latest Asus drivers (circa December, 2008) on Asus P6T Deluxe; i7 965; 3G memory; Windows XP. Using this card crashes every one of the games I play:

1. Crashes World of Warcraft if you check "Use Hardware"; causes game motion to "surge" if you do not check "Use Hardware".

2. Crashes Age of Conan during the introduction movies(s) if you even enable the card.

3. Crashes Lord of the Rings Online.

When played on an eVGA 680i, X7800, 2G memory, Windows XP, and a Creative X-Fi Elite, the same games do NOT crash!

So don't use the Asus Xonar D2X card for gaming ... even if it does sound twice as good as the X-Fi Elite.

 

[octopus41092]

I use a Razer Barracuda AC-1 under Vista x64 a nd it runs everything fine. I think its pretty decent for gaming too, you might want to check that out. However, others say the sound quality sucks but whatever...

 

[imported_Flimflam]

I'm looking for a new soundcard myself. My old audigy 2 sucks with vista 64 and my onboard can't seem to keep up I get sound drops in one of the games I play.

I've looked at that xonar and the omega cards on newegg. I'm just not sure what to get I dont care if it has gimmicy eax or not. I just want hardware sound that can keep up with my gaming. I read that vista only uses open al I think?? What card does that?

 

[evident]

i have no problems w/ my xfi elite pro on vista 64. are you sure you're using the latest drivers?

it was one of the main reasons why i took so long to move to vista. i dual booted for a while and it seems their latest drivers are rock solid.

 

[chizow]

Yep, X-Fi has been rock solid in Vista 64 here since Nov 2007 and a fairly major driver update for systems with 4GB+. Personally I wouldn't recommend anything other than an X-Fi if you want the best game support in Vista. ALchemy is absolutely necessary if you want surround sound in older games that don't support OpenAL natively or aren't programmed for multi-channel with Vista's UAA. Some games don't support surround at all without an X-Fi (Mass Effect, GoW).

If you're worried about random chipset/crackling/bus issues, Creative has since introduced the X-Fi Titanium that's PCIE, which should eliminate the bus noise and conflicts seen on the PCI version in some configurations, particularly with Nvidia chipsets.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: octopus41092
I use a Razer Barracuda AC-1 under Vista x64 a nd it runs everything fine. I think its pretty decent for gaming too, you might want to check that out. However, others say the sound quality sucks but whatever...

Sound quality sucks? Whoever says that is either a Razer hater who's never used one, or just somebody who's never used one and is going off what they read (from a Razer hater) It might not support the latest EAX, but mine works awesomely under Vista x64 and it sounds GOOD, easily one of the best sounding cards out there. I have had no problems with any games, lack of the latest EAX does suck but this is a solid card. And can be hard for a very decent price if you look around.