Creative charging for Vista drivers

[Rilla927]

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=7926

[lodore]

isnt that a bit of a ripoff?
i know that is only £5 but its not our fault that microsoft redesigned the sound stuff.
lodore

[lucas1985]

That's why I banned Creative hardware for ever.

[lodore]

-{ Quote: "That's why I banned Creative hardware for ever." }-
Hi lucas1985,
but what other decent soundcard can you get?
lodore

[lucas1985]

-{ Quote: "but what other decent soundcard can you get?" }-
There are plenty of excellent soundcards (with Linux drivers) as long as you don't care for positional audio in games (EAX, EAX HD)
A long-time favourite of audiophiles on the cheap is the Chaintech AV-710, but its supply is scarce nowadays.

[Close_Hauled]

I have been using Alchemy v1.0 for a few weeks with Vista 64. I downloaded it for free from Creative and it works fine. I have no idea what this article is referring to because you can still download it for free. It works fine with F.E.A.R., Guild Wars, Doom 3, Prey, and others.

The latest version of Alchemy is 1.00.04 (18.73 MB), released 5 Jul 07.

Creative updated the X-Fi drivers as well on 30 May 07.

Alchemy seems to be a great product. It consumes no extra resources when games are not running. It does what it promises to do, and does it well.

I must admit that I have not been happy with Creative lately as well. I have been doing a lot of tinkering with Vista 32 and Vista 64, and gaming on them. With Vista 32 I had relatively few problems and got all of my favorite games to run at 2560x1600 native resolution and use EAX as well. With Vista 64 I had problems with games randomly locking up or crashing. I also had problems installing the nVidia drivers, where the system would freeze on reboot during the install procedure. I pulled the Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty and the all of the problems went away. All of my games run fine now on the embedded sound card.

Creative really needs to get their act together. Vista has been out for too long for them to still have problems.

[rpsgc]

-{ Quote: "I have no idea what this article is referring to because you can still download it for free." }-

Sound Blaster Audigy 4
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS notebook
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 SE
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum Ex
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum
Sound Blaster Audigy 2
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value
Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum Ex
Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum
Sound Blaster Audigy

You have a X-Fi... :dry:

[Rilla927]

I'm investigating what other sound cards are out there too for a upcoming build. Auzentech is another that I know of but Creative will be suppling the drivers, now whether Auzentech adds any of their own coding I don't know.

People may run into the same situation.

If anyone knows of any other sound cards please share the info.

I came across this article last night and thought I would pass it on so don't shoot the messenger.

If the drivers are free then I don't have a clue as to what they are talking about.

Thanks

[WSFuser]

-{ Quote: "Sound Blaster Audigy 4
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS notebook
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 SE
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum Ex
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum
Sound Blaster Audigy 2
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value
Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum Ex
Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum
Sound Blaster Audigy

You have a X-Fi... :dry:" }-
phew! I was worried that Id have to buy these drivers when I get my sound card for my next machine. Thankfully Ill be getting an X-Fi.

[Close_Hauled]

-{ Quote: "Sound Blaster Audigy 4
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS notebook
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 SE
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum Ex
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum
Sound Blaster Audigy 2
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value
Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum Ex
Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum
Sound Blaster Audigy

You have a X-Fi... :dry:" }-
Sorry, missed that bit. Here is where you can purchase it if you wish:

http://www.soundblaster.com/alchemy/

[lucas1985]

Creative owns the gaming soundcard market, period.
Auzentech will make a card (X-Prelude) based on the X-Fi processor. Auzentech already has a soundcard (X-Meridian) based on the C-Media Oxygen HD chipset.
However, there's a "workaround" for this nonsense. (http://www.ngohq.com/news/11368-creative-sells-alchemy-audigy-edition-9-99-a.html)

[WSFuser]

@Rilla927 - Turtle Beach is another company that makes sound cards though I think Auzentech's are better.

[Rilla927]

Thanks WSFuser, I will check that as well.

I found this in my collection of bookmarks. I forgot I looked at this last year.

http://www.bgears.com/b-Enspirer.html

Here is the review I originally read about this card.

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=975