On-board or old SB Live card

saintly · 6 Feb 2006 at 13:38

I have an AC97 sound on my Epox 9NPAJ-SLI at the mo. I do seem to get a few problems caused by sound in games, eg especailly FEAR, also Quake4. Stuttering generally.

all drivers up to date (using AC97 drivers, have tried the nforce ones too)

would I be better off sticking my old SB Live 1024 card in from my old system or will it just make things worse? I notice the last date for drivers for the Live card at Creative was 3/03!

MrMonkeh · 6 Feb 2006 at 15:25

I'd like to know the answer to this too! Although im currently working the other way round - I've got my old SB Live in at the moment, but im still getting sound related stuttering in all new games... I was wondering if I'd be better off using the onboard!

I know its sound related because if i turn off sounds in games they run perfectly. I've been looking into fixes for ages - I've got no IRQ conflicts, hard drive fully defragged, tried 3rd party drivers etc... but none seem to work

Im considering upgrading to an x-fi f4tality fps, but im going to be pretty upset if £150 doesnt cure this! :rolleyes:

saintly · 6 Feb 2006 at 20:45

OK. Maybe we've answered each others questions then :mad:

All games run very smoothly for me without sound too.
Maybe we both need new soundcards.

Curio · 7 Feb 2006 at 05:21

I went from on-board AC97 to a SB Live - mainly because the AC97 would randomly cut off the sound in games

The SB Live did me fine for around 18 months, until I upgraded to an X-Fi at Xmas. I would definitely go for the SB - better sound, more reliable/stable and doesn't hog any CPU juice like on-board.

badbob · 7 Feb 2006 at 13:20

I have the old Soundblaster Live (the digital I/O bracket) going to use that instead of AC97, although the optical out and onboard/front panel headphone socket will come in handy. Any way of connecting headphone output on the stacker front panel to the SB Live though?

saintly · 7 Feb 2006 at 22:08

Installed 3.82 AC97 drivers (was running 3.81). Quake runs sweet, not much difference in FEAR, Far Cry now reboots the PC after level loading is complete.
Uninstalled AC97 drivers, turned off onboard sound and put SB Live card in. Sound perhaps had more bass. Far Cry works.
FEAR still completely unplayable, probably worse than before.
Took SB out, put AC97 back on, installed 3.82 drivers again.
Far Cry reboots, FEAR not playable....
Xbox360 looking more attactive by the minute.