Gameguru Mania

ggrobot · Elite Member Joined: 28 May 2004 Posts: 53594

With the launch of
Windows Vista just around the corner, both gamers and game developers are asking questions about audio compatibility with
OpenAL.
This article is ed to address the issues. Here's a taster:

With Microsoft's decision to remove the audio hardware layer in Windows Vista, legacy DirectSound

Read more...

Source: GGMania headlines
GGMania.com - Daily Gaming and Tech news

devilhood · Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 3:16 pm Post subject:

Creative have really started to pick up the pace with producing good cards, and it all started from the Audigy ZS range.
One thing that bugged me though, was the small jump they made from the Audigy ZS Platinum Pro to the X-Fi Elite Pro.
The X-Fi Elite Pro had minimal improvements which are mostly driver related, the external module was made slightly thinner and looks shiny.
Now all I can get for my ZS Platinum Pro on eBay is a mere 60 to 70 quid maximum and both cards only have a 5... maybe 10% difference in quality output. Funny that.
At least the driver updates are unified for both cards now.

xxxx · Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 8:11 pm Post subject:

Yeah and the X-Fi was supposed to handle a lot more MIPS yet still games stutter and the chirping and stuff is all still there. But to say it was a small jump tells me you aren't quite understanding that the X-Fi is completely revamped. Totally new CPU and handles sound tasks in a totally new way. This is the majority reason Linux has no drivers for X-Fi.. but again, hilarious all the old problems are still there.

Creative accusing nVidia of stealing the bandwidth etc has never seemed to go much further. Or I haven't heard of a counter-argument from nVidia.

I still think Creative should sell off more of their tech so others more interested in providing support could take over. Their forums are a disaster of complaints.

Safer · Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 9:18 pm Post subject:

I'm sorta with XXXX on this one - due to god damn aweful driver support of their cards and near to non in-house testing on diffrent platforms it's no wonder they try to pull of the scape-goat called "It's the nForce4's fault! Seriously!".

But I love their cards, the hardware can't be compared to anything else WHEN it works like it should. Thankfully I haven't got the problems some of the techsupport customers I have with their equipment.

devilhood · Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 4:04 pm Post subject:

XXXX, I was aware of the CPU in the card, I just failed to mention it in my ranting Razz

and even though the new CPU sounded great on paper, it is nothing too spectacular to rave about.
The revamped card still has negligible differences in real-world game performance and the price tag didn't sway me either.
Sure, it has 127 voice capability, a slightly better noise ratio, but the cpu utilization is only marginally better when compared to the Audigy ZS Platinum Pro.
The fiasco with Creative's ability to write good drivers for their cards was on-going for so many years before the release of the X-Fi, I remember those god awful SB Live! days still, heheh those were interesting times. I'm so glad they have managed to pull their weight and actually get a good driver release out.
I'll probably wait until they release their new set of cards before updating mine, unless Vista starts being iffy with the Audigy's OpenAL support of course.