Sound Blaster 5.1 Live! Card

Heartless_King · 17 Apr 2006 at 19:16

Just pulled this out of a old computer.

Wondering if someone could give me feedback on it's value/performance?

Obviously it's not better than my audigy 2, but my lil brother currently using onboard sound on his MSI Neo-F.

Quick browse of the MSI site says that the onboard chip is a: 7.1 channel audio codec RealTek ALC850.

My bro only uses 2.1, so having a 5.1 is no prob. I was wondering is it worth putting this card into his rig? Will he see any increase in sound quality etc?

Thanks,
King

fish99 · 17 Apr 2006 at 19:37

The creative cards do hardware 3d sound mixing (the only cards that do sadly) so they do use quite a bit less CPU cycles than other cards or than onboard sound. It'll do EAX too. Sound quality wise, maybe a small improvement.

Can't hurt to try it.

Heartless_King · 17 Apr 2006 at 19:45

Any tests I can do?

Like do the tests now on his onboard, then after once installing card?

King

Phil99 · 17 Apr 2006 at 19:47

There are some tests where it'll compare CPU usage etc, but the best test is subjective, ie does it sound better to you or not.

Heartless_King · 17 Apr 2006 at 19:58

Alright thanks for that guys, appreciate it

Curio · 17 Apr 2006 at 20:59

The SB Live is a nice little card - I only upgraded from one to an X-Fi a few months ago. Much better than on-board in most cases.

Heartless_King · 17 Apr 2006 at 21:03

I can't believe it was in the comp I just stripped. I thought it was a just a cheapo card, then when I finally got it out of the case I was shocked

fish99 · 17 Apr 2006 at 21:03

Tests - listen to a few songs you know really well on both onboard sound and the Live. Bad speakers could mask any improvement though. Onboard sound generally uses the cheapest possible components though, so there should be an improvement with a Live I would say (not that I've ever used RealTek ALC850). The low cpu usage could help a little in games too.

Heartless_King · 17 Apr 2006 at 21:14

Ok need a little help with finding drivers for the card. Creative only provide "updates" for the card, need the full installation. Any help?

fish99 · 17 Apr 2006 at 21:34

Just had a look on my dads PC which has a Live, and I've got the driver/apps files stored on it which I downloaded from Creative a while ago. The filenames are - LiveDrvUni-Pack(ENG).exe and SBLIVEHOTFIX-031226.exe.

I'm pretty sure these are the only files you need, that they include the creative apps plus the drivers and should still be available.

Heartless_King · 17 Apr 2006 at 21:37

Cheers man, double thumbs up from me!

Behemoth · 17 Apr 2006 at 22:15

I've had several Live 5.1 card in my time, 3 in total lol They are great little cards, certainly a marked improvment over any onboard offering. Have to say I am over the mooon with my Audigy 2 ZS, best card i ever had.

THC_SsSsSnake · 23 Apr 2006 at 22:42

Ive never installed the SB live drivers or anything else with XP,does it make a difference?

fish99 · 23 Apr 2006 at 23:04

There will be more settings available with the proper software, and the creative drivers should perform better. The drivers that ship with XP are generic microsoft versions.

THC_SsSsSnake · 23 Apr 2006 at 23:37

thanks

Heartless_King · 23 Apr 2006 at 23:41

Thought I'd update by saying I installed the card with the drivers listed here (googled for them). Seems to be an increase over onboard, also less cpu work and creative software effects etc.

Thanks for helping me out

FatRakoon · 24 Apr 2006 at 20:55

I have a fairly silly range of Creative cards.

If you want a copy of the original CD, then EMail me and I will be happy to chuck one in the post for you.

I know you got the drivers done, but just on the off-chance you fancy a copy, just tell me the exact model of the card you have, and I will do you a copy of the CD.

Heartless_King · 24 Apr 2006 at 21:03

Thumbs up for that, cheers