Soundcards for my system?

[Guest]

I recently ordered my 1.2 ghz Pentium with a aBit KT7A, but was told that the soundblaster Live! value card that I wanted doesnt work with it. Does any one know why, or how I could get it to work, or at least another good card at around the same quality or price?

I no longer wish to belong to the kind of club that accepts people like me as members - Groucho Marx

 

[Crashman]

Get an ESS sound card, they sound nice and are available with 5.1 surround. I just bought 4 on clearence from CompUSA for $10 each, regular price was $40. I know they probably clearenced them at cost, so you should be able to find similar for around $20 if you look hard enough. ESS makes a very nice sounding chip.

Cast not thine pearls before the swine

 

[arsend]

I am not aware of any problems with Soundblaster card with Intel Processors with Intel Chipsets. Only Via and AMD seem to have difficulties and most of them can be solved by serious trouble shooting.

If it works for you then don't fix it.

 

[FatBurger]

I recently ordered my 1.2 ghz Pentium with a aBit KT7A

Where'd you find a 1.2 Pentium and how are you planning on fitting it onto a KT7a?

------------------------------
Apple? Macintosh? What are these strange words you speak?

 

[Guest]

Athalon, my bad
Thinking too fast. Well thats what the people told me, but they installed it anyhow. So far I notice in some games the sound will flicker and the game will stall. Other than that no problems though...

I no longer wish to belong to the kind of club that accepts people like me as members - Groucho Marx

 

[ejsmith2]

I use a Live Value card, and have had no trouble with it on an Asus a7v133. I've read an article (or two) that seems to point the problems with the 686B at the SB Live 5.1. That means the Platinum and Xgamer 5.1.

 

[Oni]

creative is practically the standard for video card right now, it SHOULD work on everything without problems. Maybe you just need to put it into a different PCI slot on your motherboard. If the company thought they were selling you a Pentium 1.2 GHz then they probably think if your sound card won't work in one PCI slot it won't work in another.
I'm amazed they even put your PC together from what you've said.

 

[AEboy128]

You mean sound not video i think. Right??

Im savin up for a Cobra!! Hehe!!

 

[Guest]

From someone who struggled with the SB Live 5.1/Via 686B issue for a few weeks, I would suggest a different soundcard. Believe me I tried everything to fix the issue on my A7M266; changing PCI slots, BIOS fixes, 4-in-1 patches, etc. and nothing fixed the problem until I just broke down and got a Philips Acoustic Edge soundcard. It has worked flawlessly and sounds great (includes 5.1 sound also).

I know a bunch of people will think that I didn't do something right or flame me because it works on their system, but I know from experience that all of the SBlive!/Via 686B problems have not been worked out. The funny thing is that my SBlive Platinum 5.1 worked fine for a couple of months, with only one episode of drive corruption with an old TNT2 Ultra. When I switched over to a Hercules 3D Prophet III (Geforce 3 model) was when the corruption really got bad (like every day or two). From searching around on some of the boards and FAQs (www.viahardware.com was helpful) it appears that having an nVidia card sometimes seems to amplify the corruption problem between the SBlive! and the Via chipset. It's very odd and flakey and appears to occur somewhat randomly while playing games. Who knows, my Adaptec 2930CU SCSI card may not have helped the problem either. Between it busmastering, the IDE working on DMA, the SBlive working through DMA, and the graphics card being bandwidth hungry, I ended up with a nasty brew that was nothing but headaches. Like I said, though, going with a different sound card cured all of it instantly.

I've used Soundblaster cards for over ten years and will still suggest them for people with Intel based systems. I know they are the "reference standard" but I also know my experiences with them. Even people with Intel systems have sometimes reported DMA problems with the SBlive like stuttering or crackling during game play. My feeling toward Sblive! cards and the Via 686B problem is that it is like a time bomb waiting to happen. A change in video cards caused it to appear on my system.

I've also heard several good reports from people using the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz card which is also supposed have really clean sound.

My 2 cents anyway.



Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please. - Mark Twain<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by DesertCat on 07/06/01 00:14 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Bud]

I'm running SBlive with Abit Kt7a and have had NO problems.
However, mine was retail (a rarity for me) and I heard someone here say that the "value" card has sucky drivers that might have problems with the via 686b south bridge.
I do believe the driver issue can be solved with the proper
version...unfortunately, I can't remember which version that is.

I recall that when in PCI slot5 (which has only one dedicated IRQ), there can be an IRQ conficlt.


I'm not in touch with my feeings, and I like it that way!