This post is specifically for those people who are considering buying a SoundBlaster Live! or Audigy-based card.
I was given an SBLive! (Value, I think) as a present. I was thrilled.
I'm running:
AMD K6-2/500
VIA motherboard, which is apparently asking for trouble with Creative cards.
256Mb SDRAM
S3 Savage4
Genius 10/100 network card
Cambridge Soundworks FPS1000 4.1 speakers
Using Windows 2000 and the SBLive drivers which ship with Windows 2000, the card (with the speakers) is wonderful. The drivers for 98 installed well enough, and seemed to be stable and work. Under Windows 2000 I have yet to get any LiveWare drivers to work.
I have had:
Liveware 3 on Windows 2000 - machine now cannot shut down properly, gets a Blue Screen Of Death before shutting down (Stop 0xa for technical ppl)
Card suddenly lost the rear speakers, refuses to put out more than 5% volume to rear output
Sound has arbitrarily degraded in general on these drivers.
LiveWare 3 software installs incompletely, giving virtually no functionality.
I know it isn't the card because the same machine, same card, running Windows 2000 Server with the default M$ drivers (I swap hard drives) sounds brilliant.
I have also found that complaints about Creative's shocking driver support extend as far as Creative's official newsgroups - the Creative SBLive newsgroups are full of people's complaints about shocking driver support and the hoops they have had to jump through to get their cards working. Bear in mind that many of the posters are not amateurs either - they are professional musicians or avid gamers who have deep understandings of audio, and sound cards, and what they should expect.
To anyone deciding whether to buy an SBLive or Audigy card, I suggest waiting until nVidia delivers a sound solution. nVidia's driver support is an example that Creative should follow - all their graphics cards, from the humble TNT to the latest $399 GeForce3, are covered by a single driver; the driver is continually updated and genuinely improved, and it has a reputation for rock-solid stability at all times. Many card manufacturers don't even provide their own drivers any more, choosing instead to include the nVidia reference drivers which they know work so well. If nVidia gets the same trick right with their sound cards, Creative will have a real problem.
I was given an SBLive! (Value, I think) as a present. I was thrilled.
I'm running:
AMD K6-2/500
VIA motherboard, which is apparently asking for trouble with Creative cards.
256Mb SDRAM
S3 Savage4
Genius 10/100 network card
Cambridge Soundworks FPS1000 4.1 speakers
Using Windows 2000 and the SBLive drivers which ship with Windows 2000, the card (with the speakers) is wonderful. The drivers for 98 installed well enough, and seemed to be stable and work. Under Windows 2000 I have yet to get any LiveWare drivers to work.
I have had:
Liveware 3 on Windows 2000 - machine now cannot shut down properly, gets a Blue Screen Of Death before shutting down (Stop 0xa for technical ppl)
Card suddenly lost the rear speakers, refuses to put out more than 5% volume to rear output
Sound has arbitrarily degraded in general on these drivers.
LiveWare 3 software installs incompletely, giving virtually no functionality.
I know it isn't the card because the same machine, same card, running Windows 2000 Server with the default M$ drivers (I swap hard drives) sounds brilliant.
I have also found that complaints about Creative's shocking driver support extend as far as Creative's official newsgroups - the Creative SBLive newsgroups are full of people's complaints about shocking driver support and the hoops they have had to jump through to get their cards working. Bear in mind that many of the posters are not amateurs either - they are professional musicians or avid gamers who have deep understandings of audio, and sound cards, and what they should expect.
To anyone deciding whether to buy an SBLive or Audigy card, I suggest waiting until nVidia delivers a sound solution. nVidia's driver support is an example that Creative should follow - all their graphics cards, from the humble TNT to the latest $399 GeForce3, are covered by a single driver; the driver is continually updated and genuinely improved, and it has a reputation for rock-solid stability at all times. Many card manufacturers don't even provide their own drivers any more, choosing instead to include the nVidia reference drivers which they know work so well. If nVidia gets the same trick right with their sound cards, Creative will have a real problem.
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