Sound cards post-WinXP

[Krusty]

Creative Labs may have made some iffy cards over the years, but my fallback for good quality sound has always been the Audigy 1, the SB Live!, the SB16, etc, going back through the years.

With post-WinXP Windows versions no longer using the old sound API, I'm under the impression these cards no longer work.

In several other threads I hear folks mentioning off-brand (to me) sound cards, and in some other webpages folks mention companies I didn't even KNOW made sound cards! Asus? Apparently they make a sound card!

So a couple of questions:

- What is the major name in good audio in Win7 these days? I don't hear the name Creative Labs tossed around anymore.

- I'm assuming none of these older PCI cards will work at all in Win7?

- What about integrated sound chips? Are they getting better nowadays? The integrated chip notwithstanding, do they give good audio, or does the quality suffer like it did a few years back?



Oh, and a bonus question just because I'm talking about Win7: Does Win7 32-bit still have the same < 4GB memory limitations, meaning if you want more RAM you need to go 64-bit?

[gyrene81]

Oh, and a bonus question just because I'm talking about Win7: Does Win7 32-bit still have the same < 4GB memory limitations, meaning if you want more RAM you need to go 64-bit?

Yes.

I'm using a Realtek 5.1 chip on my mobo...with no problems but from what Skuzzy says they take system resources and having them at full hardware acceleration can cause problems, especially in AH. There are others.

I believe the later versions of Soundblaster Audigy cards do work well with Win7 but you don't have the control that WinXP used to give by default. The only other sound card I can think of that you might hear about is Turtle Beach but they are far from "off brand"...at one time they were primarily high end for use in sound editing/mixing. I haven't used one myself but someone around here is with good results.

http://www.turtlebeach.com/products/mtgoddl/home.aspx

http://www.turtlebeach.com/products/riviera/home.aspx

Creative Labs Win7 driver availability chart
http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?url=http://ask.creative.com:80/srvs/cgi-bin/webcgi.exe/,/?st=273,e=0000000000242129124,k=5840,sxi=3,varset=ws:,case=61105

[Krusty]

Very interesting info about Win7 compatibility with those existing sound cards! Thanks! 

[Chalenge]

I think the best card is the HT Omega Striker and I think you would be surprised how clear the audio is and how low the additional load on the CPU is (if there even is a load). The number one thing that bugs me about SB is the incompatibility with system chips and video cards but also Creative always loads a bunch of bloat programs on your system and probably you will never run a single one of those anyway. And then theres CPU load.

You can buy MUCH better sound like M-Audio but I dont know how well the M-Audio cards sound in games.

[Chalenge]

If there is a firewire solution that does not load the cpu at all or very very little that would be something that would probably be a really really good thing.

[BaldEagl]

I think the best card is the HT Omega Striker and I think you would be surprised how clear the audio is and how low the additional load on the CPU is (if there even is a load). The number one thing that bugs me about SB is the incompatibility with system chips and video cards but also Creative always loads a bunch of bloat programs on your system and probably you will never run a single one of those anyway. And then theres CPU load.

You can buy MUCH better sound like M-Audio but I dont know how well the M-Audio cards sound in games.

The solution is really very simple... don't load the bloatware, just the drivers.  And the X-Fi's place 0 load on the CPU which is why I bought one.

Admittedly even a driver only installation places the help file and the registration nag in the start menu but they are easily turned off.

[Chalenge]

Not every X-Fi is 0 cpu load and I think all of them have some load but its still not a solution if you have any one of the many components that are in conflict with it.

EDIT: I just checked... depending on the situation X-fi uses from 1.5 to 14.24%.

[doc1kelley]

I think the best card is the HT Omega Striker and I think you would be surprised how clear the audio is and how low the additional load on the CPU is (if there even is a load). The number one thing that bugs me about SB is the incompatibility with system chips and video cards but also Creative always loads a bunch of bloat programs on your system and probably you will never run a single one of those anyway. And then theres CPU load.

You can buy MUCH better sound like M-Audio but I dont know how well the M-Audio cards sound in games.

Thanks Chalenge, I just ordered an HT Omega Striker to replace my Xfi-Extreme Audio PCIE card.  I haven't had any problems with it in my dual-boot rig (xp pro and winblows7 x64), but it's definately not as good sounding as my old X-FI Extreme Music that my daughter and grandkids have in their system that I passed on to them.  I'm looking for a little more clairity in my old age.

All the Best...

    Jay

[Krusty]

Hrm... looks like a nice card. However, as a pilot that still uses a MS Sidewinder 3D Pro Plus (it is not compatible with USB adapters like other MS Sidewinders), I'm also keen on cards that have the admittedly obsolete MIDI/gameport plug.

Opinions on a card that still has this?

Or has it gone the way of the do-do on any new sound cards?

[gyrene81]

Hrm... looks like a nice card. However, as a pilot that still uses a MS Sidewinder 3D Pro Plus (it is not compatible with USB adapters like other MS Sidewinders), I'm also keen on cards that have the admittedly obsolete MIDI/gameport plug.

Opinions on a card that still has this?

Or has it gone the way of the do-do on any new sound cards?

Here you go Krusty.

http://www.turtlebeach.com/products/riviera/home.aspx

[Krusty]

Thanks

[Chalenge]

Krusty I bought one of those and I didnt use it but maybe an hour or so. Unfortunately I cant remember what it was that made me decide to pull it out of the computer but I do know I didnt like it.

[Krusty]

The turtle beach, or the gameport joystick?

[Chalenge]

The Riviera specifically. I wasnt even trying to get it to work with AH. I was using it to replace a sound card in a system that I was sending to the PI and I just could not do that (give that crap) to family. Its possible it just didnt get along with the MB (Asus A8N-32 SLI) or something I dont remember anything specifically other than how disappointed I was that a 'Turtle Beach' sound card was that bad.

[Skuzzy]

Turtle Beach does not make sound cards anymore.  They re-package stuff.  It could be Yamaha, or C-Media, or Realtek, or anyone else wanting to put a chip on a card.

They are not the company they used to be.