I'm going to be upgrading my gaming rig, I was wondering if it is worth it to get a discrete sound card with Vista. If so, which card should I go with?
Yes, but I thought I had heard that Vista bypasses the X-Fi card unless you implement a software workaround?
Openal games isnt effected. MS took out the hardware hal out of Direct sound. You have to use Alchemy for Direct sound games. It convert them to openal so you get back your eax and 5.1 back.
Hmm, I've never been able to get Alchemy to work on my current vista rig, and I can't install the control panel either. It always says there is a .bin file missing.
if you actually care about sound quality do both of the following... standalone soundcard avoid Creative's products like the plague (excluding the Prelude)
@nosferatu: The Prelude isn't a Creative product, only the X-Fi chip is. The Auzentech X-Fi Prelude is the best sound card there is, basically. It has the best quality components [sound], plus the features of X-Fi [EAX, Crystallizer, CMSS3D, etc etc]. Plus, Auzentech is writing its own drivers for it, due Q1 2008, so we can ditch the Creative POS that they call drivers.
Sounds great!! I think I will sell my current X-Fi card (which I have been having issues with) and buy that card instead.
I know that... I'd recommend anything from Auzentech. I love the X-Meridian but good luck finding one. So go with the Prelude or any soundcard with the CMI-8788 chipset and you can't go wrong.
I'd go discrete. Even though Vista does the DSP and crap with the CPU, the leg between the CPU to the motherboard's audio out jack is a very important step in maintaining audio quality. This is where sound cards improve over on board audio. They use better DACs, ADCs, opamps, and some even look to reduce emf noise. Good quality sound is more than just audio "processing." The physical design is a important key in getting good audio (from components used to board layout). If you only use digital output and have a good receiver, then you might as well just use the motherboards digital output. It's just that I find that some cheap surround receivers can't handle the DAC (process not just chip) as well as some good sound cards.
you get 5.1 and cmss anyway.whether your using eax or not.if its not working with the drivers alone ,then its a config problem.if you want to use cmss and have surround in everything garunteed no matter what setting, then just set vista to 2channel and the x-fi panel to 5.1 and cmss will take over and upmix everything from 2 channel. for authentic 5.1 channel audio set both vista and the x-fi console to 5.1, and from there cmss can be adjusted via x-fi panel for when you run into the occasional "2 channel only" sources. like others are saying alchemy is only for directsound games and some media players, meaning if you want eax effects and reverb to be processed fully on the card in lets say, half life2 or painkiller, then alchemy is a must use. if you dont care if eax effects and reverb are being processed on the card or care not if thier present at all, then you dont have to use it and still have good vista multichannel audio using just the fatal1ty and prelude x-fi drivers for vista. almost all of my games i play are openal,(doom3,all quake's,stalker,bioshock,all unreal's,ghost recon etc) so i dont use alchemy because imo those games actually sound worse with more of a -flat- presentation in multichannel.although i may try it again and play around with it more because ive been playing some hellgate london lately which isnt openal.
I was just wondering if there is a source that says what api a game uses. With Vista out, I'm curious. Are most openal or some other custom thing?
Pre-Vista games were mostly DX but this is changing because OpenAL is easier to port between PC and other platforms. I came across an OpenAL list of games here. As for X-Fi cards I have been using Sound Blaster X-Fi card since 2005 and this is a great piece of hardware. When I got it was very expensive stuff now with all the competition in sound cards prices went down. If you feel like forking out 4 times more for a Prelude card instead sure it has better circuitry. If you could tell a difference and have speakers that allow you to actually hear it - go ahead, get it and enjoy. But as for a gaming rig, at the moment, nothing beats X-Fi Xtreme Gamer in terms of value for money. It is, what, 50 bucks from newegg or similar.
i remember the day the x-fi was released. i got to best buy early and bought the "cheaper than the elite model" x-fi xtreme music for 139 bux that day,and its basically the same thing capability-wise. so yes, id agree thats very cheap for that chip. btw i installed the latest alchemy and tried it again and i must say with the latest vista64 drivers and the latest alchemy, things have come a long way over the past 4 months , it didnt make my native openal games sound worse at all,and hellgate sounds instantly better.so creative actually does fix issues and listen to consumers apperently.
