Any other sound cards than SBlive?

[Carbon]

I have noticed that almost every person that posts having big problems with the G400 series cards is using a SoundBlaster Live variant. I can't help but wonder if the SBLive and the G400 don't get along that well. I am rather new with the Matrox scene but I was just noticing a trend. Doesn't anyone with a G400/MAX use an Vortex/A3D based card. Just curious...

[DarkSyd]

I'm using mine with a Diamond MX300...I can't attribute any problems I've had to the soundcard.

DS

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Cel 366@550 (monster FDP32...love it!) on Asus P2b (1011), 128MB PC133, OEM G400/16 (PD5.41), Fujitsu 5.25gb, Maxtor 4.3gb, Asus SC200 PCI SCSI card, Pioneer slot load 32X SCSI, Yamaha 4416s burner, MX300 (Aureal 2040), Intel EtherExpress 16, Sycom 300va UPS, Grey Cat, Orange Cat (still MIA)

Where's my 500e?

[mkaresh]

I'm using the OEM Aureal Superquad Digital. Sometimes the sound icon doesn't show up on the sys tray at boot, and I have to reboot to get it, but otherwise no problems.

One possible problem from the Aureal, but I think the SB does this too, is I can't get DMA enabled on the UDMA33 ports on my MB. Have to attach it to the built-in Highpoint UDMA66 controller ports. I've read that with SB this is caused by the DOS emulator, which takes IRQ 5 and DMA 3 on my system. Maybe, maybe not. I haven't tried disabling it. It's not really a problem for me unless I need to put a lot more drives in the box.

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PIII 500e @667
Soyo SY6BA+IV
Iwill Slotket II
G400 32MB Max
Nokia 445Xi 21"
and POS 14"
Aureal Vortex Superquad
128MB PC133
IBM DPTA 20.5GB 7200rpm
Toshiba 8/40 DVD

[Finberg]

I'm using a MX300 and haven't had any problems with it and my G400 Max. However, I did have some problems with it and my be6-ii, but then I figured out what I was doing wrong (wrong slot and driver installation) and everything runs great now

[Rags]

However, I did have some problems with it and my be6-ii, but then I figured out what I was doing wrong (wrong slot and driver installation) and everything runs great now

Well, this pretty much summarizes 99 percent of the problems people have with SB Live! and G400's. This can happen with any busmastering sound card/pci card.

Rags

[Livius]

I have run G400 with both Live! and Vortex2 cards. Generally the Vortex2 is more stable and prone to work with "difficult" configurations (e.g. VIA chipsets, SCSI cards). But if your system is not very crowded and if you have a motherboard with an Intel chipset the Live! should be just as fine.

Also give the Guillemot Maxi Sound Fortissimo (Yamaha YMF744 chipset) a look. At only $40 (retail, with software bundle) it sports 2xStereo outputs, SPDIF in (which the Live! Value no longer has), Digital Out (TOSLINK), Yamaha's XG midi, 32 Direct3DSound streams (with drv. 2013 and later). It has excelent 2D quality and works on even the most difficult mainboards. 3D is great on 4 speakers (Sensaura has a superb 4-speaker HRTF algoritm, better than the Live! - A3D 2.0 only has 2-speaker HRTF), and good on 2 speakers (poorer than A3D 2.0 but better than the Live!). The EAX (2.0 supported) is acceptable but does not compare with the Live! (reverb is toned down too much).

I have installed the Fortissimo with a G400 on an Expox 3VBA mainboard (VIA Apollo Pro). Unlike the Live!, it worked flawlessly.

[IceStorm]

I've got an Athlon 550 loaded out with 7 IDE drives (meaning a second IDE controller), 4 PCI cards and a G400 MAX, one of those PCI cards being a Live!. Motherboard's an MSI 6167.

I have never had a problem with my Live! card. Even when it was back in my decked out PIII-450 with the G400. Motherboards for that rig were a Soyo 6BA+ rev III, then a rev IV.

I should point out that I never load the drivers the way you're "supposed to" out of the box, meaning I've got the base drivers on the system and some of the control functions, but none of that liveware docking bar junk.

[Le Bodge]

I've got a Max and one of the first Live! (full retail) cards. Any problems I had (which were just installation ones on my NT partition) were resolved with the later Live! Drivers.

[ncfoster]

I also have a G400 (non-Max) with an MX300 and have had no difficulties whatsoever on an ABIT BH6 motherboard.

[Unam]

I've used a couple of different sound cards with the G400. I've tried the PCI 64, an old AWE 64 (Still sounds great IMHO), and a PCI 128 with no problems. I have fixed several clients systems that have the SBLive (or variant thereof) installed in them. Usually driver or installation problems. There are several threads that have come up in the past that detail these problems. If you are concerned about this problem try searching through them.

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Primary system, Asus P3B-F1, PIII 600B, 128Mb PC133 RAM, 18.2Gb KA drive, HP CDRW & Travan drive, SB64PCI, Intel EPro+ PnP NIC, G400 and a ViewSonic 17" monitor.

Secondary system, ASUS P3B-F1, C366 OC'd to 550, 128Mb PC100 RAM, 10.2Gb DMPlus, 5x CL DVD Kit, ZIP Drive, AWE64, Intel EPro+ PnP NIC, CL TNT(1) and a Sceptre 17" monitor.

[Jorden]

The high-tech soundcard in my P3-450 with G400 is my old trusty ISA SoundBlaster 32 PnP.

It still plays all I want, and has never given me a problem, unlike some PCI128 and SB Live's I tried and returned

Jorden.

[Guyver]

Allways been using the Live! either the original value or the Retail. No problems with any of them from this corner...

Guyv...



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OK, Here's the rig...

ABIT BE6
PC Power & Cooling 425W ATX
PIII650E@866 (1.65V) with Alpha P3125S Cooler and 2 27CFM 4500RPM+ Fans
2xVantec Slot Coolers (40CFM each)
2x128MB PC133HSDRAM
2xQuantum Atlas 10K Ultra160/m 18.2GB Drives
Adaptec ASC-29160 Ultra160/m controller
Matrox G400MAX (not OC'd)
SBLive!Retail
3Com 3CR990-TX-95 NIC
3Com USRobotics 56K Voice Faxmodem Pro (USB/Serial)
HP Deskjet 895CXi (USB/Parallel)
HP 6200Cse Scanner (USB/SCSI)
Iomega ZIP 100 ATAPI, HP 8200i ATAPI
Matshita 3X DVDROM ATAPI
Kenwood 52X TrueX Ultra SCSI
Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500 Dolby Digital Sound System

Did I get too much? No!
Did I spend too much? (Total package about 5.5KUSD) - I'd say that's a Yes!
Am I having too much fun? Absolutely!

[CrazyBee]

Not any problems with my Live! either. Nor, have any of my friends who have a Live! have had any problems.

But, we all have been playing with computers since, well since, a long time ago! My first one being a Tandy 1000SX, in 1982?? Hmmm...

Any ways, considering the amount of different chipsets, different CPUs, different sound cards, BIOSs, etc. the fact that it all works as "smoothly" as it does is quite amazing.

Usually, problems with PCI conflicting with an AGP device is a mobo or driver problem. I love my Live! and my G400 and neither will go..

Actually, I have been very lucky. I have never had a problem installing hardware or software aside from trying to get a PCI IDE caching controller work. And, considering that controller is no longer made any more.. I assume it was the controller and not me.




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Abit BX6 Rev.1
Celeron 366A PPGA @ 566, 2.1v
192 meg RAM, CAS2
13.0 gig Maxtor 4320 HD
6.0 gig Maxtor (in removeable drive bay)
HP8110i 4x2x24
Pioneer DVD-104
SB Live! 1024
USB ZIP 100
G400 32MB DH 5ns RAM
Two KDS 17" Trinitron monitors

[merchant2112]

i had a vortex 2 xitel card. it locked the comp up every so often. now have a live that for the first 3 months no problems. no lockups. but then i installed win98se and windows started locking up. formated again and used a difrent 98se disk (not upgrade version) and lockups went away again.) so its hard to say. witch is better it may be a windows thing cuasesing your problem or the cards (more than like ly its a driver issuee.

[mynx]

I bought a Live! platinum a couple of months ago. I had no problems installing it. And have none caused by it. I have a lot of stuff on a via chipset. My machine is very stable. 24/7 for weeks at a time.

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Mine: Epox EP-MVP3G5, Matrox G400 32mb DH + RRG, K6-3/450, 128mb PC133, WD 10.2gb ATA66, Pio 32x CDROM, LS-120, Adaptec 2940U2W, Yamaha CDRW4416, Pio DVD-303, Scsi Zip 100, SBlive platinum, Linksys 10/100, HP 712c, HP 6200
Hers: Epox MVP3G-M, G200+TVout+DVD, K6-2/450 504@112, 128mb PC133, WD 8.4gb, Pio 6x DVD, Zip 250, Diamond S90, Linksys 10/100