Audigy to support A3D 2.0?

[Reverend Maynard]

Howdy all. The creative rep stopped by work Saturday spouting the glories of the Audigy, but the only question I had he couldn't answer (suprise suprise).

The only way I will pick up an audigy is if it has A3D 2.0 support is the reason I am curious. If it doesn't I'll just pick up an old aureal card somewhere.

[Gurm]

Does it matter which 3D sound API's it supports if it lacks support for WINDOWS?

- Gurm

[Reverend Maynard]

LOL. Good point. Well I could always, ah, use it as a paperweight.

[Jammrock]

Already ripping on the product before anyone has a chance to use it. Maybe...just maybe it'll work. After all, the new Windows XP drivers work without pops and crackles doesn't it?

Jammrock

[Reverend Maynard]

I've never had an ounce of trouble with creative cards. Not even when I had a Live card in the same mobo as a Via 686b, so I'm really not worried about compatability. I just want A3D, and it looks to be a fairly nice card.

[Gurm]

Jammrock - not on SMP systems.

- Gurm

[Johnny Ray]

Here's some nuggets on the Audigy from the Creative website:

"Games may not work optimally under Windows 2000."


"Windows® 98, 98SE, NT® 4.0, 2000, or Me (when available, Windows XP and other future driver releases will be available from www.soundblaster.com)"

Hmm....I see a problem here. I'd save my money until the reviews are out.

John

PS I loved A3D, but I doubt Creative will ever do anything about it. EAX? No way.

[Reverend Maynard]

That's certainly not the brightest start. Though, does anything work optimally under win2k?

I still rue the day I went from the 2k beta to the proffesional version, never has worked quite right.

[Nuno]

Well, it can´t be worse than Live! drivers (LW 3.0) under Win2k: that stuff NEVER has been officially updated, I´m using beta 3300a drivers leaked from God knows where that fixed a random lockup on CollinMcRae 2 with looping sound.

Now that audigy is out I´m sure that they NEVER will update the drivers again.

Sound card market now is a monopoly. Other chips have some advantages, but most of them also have crappy win2k drivers.

I might as well get the audigy player (or whatever they call the European X-gamer version) if it has Giants and DeusEx bundled. Two games I´ve been looking forward to buy, and if their on the bundle, I migh as well bring the Audigy as an extra

I´m currently reading this review, take a look...

http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/reviews/AudigyEI/Audigy.html

[Jammrock]

I've been looking for some reviews! Thanks, Nuno.

ANyone else seen some reviews for the Audigy?

Jammrock

[Wombat]

Damn damn damn. What timing on my part.

Audigy X-Gamer: $99
includes Deus Ex GotY edition, and Giants: Citizen Kabuto.

I just bought Giants about two weeks ago for $20, and I bought Deus Ex (original, not the $50 GotY edition) for $20 on Saturday.

That's almost half of the card. Grr.

[Nuno]

Well, at the end of the review, I got mixed feelings. Their drivers are still pure garbage. They´ve got to be kidding.

And of course, europeans are screwed as always. 1 less full game and $16 more expensive for the gaming version. How do you americans manage that?

[Johnny Ray]

Most of you won't find this too surprising:

From http://gamespot.com/gshw/filters/pro...534552,00.html

"There is one serious downside for those who own Athlon systems. The Audigy card has the same occasional difficulties with motherboards with certain VIA chipsets as the Sound Blaster Live! before it. Our initial installation on an Athlon PC with an Abit KT7A motherboard resulted in audio and system hangs as well as audible pops and burps. Most of the common patches and BIOS adjustments for this problem did not work, and only upgrading the motherboard BIOS finally fixed the problems, but this sort of tweaking is beyond most PC owners."

Also I've seen some mention of problems with the Audigy and GameVoice.

John

[Jammrock]

Yet another Audigy review at FiringSquad:

http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardware/audigy/

For those of you who have used the SB Live! with VIA chipsets that sport the 686B southbridge, you'll be glad to know that the Audigy doesn't come with any of problems that plagued the Live! Also, the Audigy seems to play nicely with SMP systems and those that have more than 256MB of RAM. We've tested the Audigy with a dual Athlon MP system containing 2.5GB of RAM with no issues.

Beware though, this is a loooooong read.

Jammrock