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Integrated audio vs integrated sound blaster audigy

post #1 of 10
8/31/06 at 7:17pm
Thread Starter 
Is the "integrated sound blaster audigy hd software edition" worth the $25 over the standard integrated audio? I am wondering if it's only a "software" feature and if I can get that in the future.
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post #2 of 10
8/31/06 at 7:47pm
SOme of the folks here have found it helps with some games such as BF2.

I got it, what the heck it was only $ 30.00
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post #3 of 10
8/31/06 at 8:00pm
I was wondering that myself. I ended up buying the SB card for my laptop. It worked out very nicely.
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post #4 of 10
8/31/06 at 9:21pm
Just get the standard integrated audio. If you decide you want the Sound Blaster software later, it's only $20 to upgrade if you buy it directly from Creative (instead of $25 or $30 from Dell).
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post #5 of 10
8/31/06 at 11:15pm
I ordered my laptop on Monday without this software. Apparently it just simulates certain features, such as surround sound and synthesizers. You know what that means? It would actually slow down your computer! I don't see how that would help with games. Maybe they would sound a TINY bit better but they would be slower because this software is running, capturing all audio and adding its filters before allowing it out of the system. In fact now that I think of it, it would probably even delay the audio from reaching your speakers, which could make an even bigger problem in games.

No, I didn't want that software in my computer at all. I might have gotten it if I knew I could easily remove it, but I also have the feeling that the software installs drivers and such so that it's very hard to uninstall and leaves behind pieces of itself.

But hey, this is just my opinion.
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post #6 of 10
8/31/06 at 11:27pm
It may slow down the system, but there is no way around that until Creative releases a ExpressCard audio card. All USB consumer sound cards use software mixing, but at least with the Creative ones the CPU cycles produce EAX 3.0 effects in games. If you only want the EAX effects for games, getting the Audigy software upgrade is more convenient than carrying an external device.
The reason to get it is because it adds support for positional audio. So, if a game supports DirectSound3D or OpenAL, the driver will be able to place the sound source in a virtual surround field. This creates a much more "natural" sound, especially with headphones. For me, games sound A LOT better with this headphone virtualization (called CMSS by Creative, just make sure to select Headphones in the Speaker Configuration if you use headphones). The same applies to speakers, but the improvement is less pronounced.
After all that, I don't think it'd worth $30, it should be free with the computer, just like EAX 2.0 support was free with the SoundMax in my old Compaq 700us.
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post #7 of 10
8/31/06 at 11:56pm
The audigy hd stuff makes my audio ouput a lot crackling and poping noise.
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post #8 of 10
9/2/06 at 1:47am
Try going into the volume control and set the 'Wave' slider low (10%), with 'Volume' on whatever's comfortable. This should fix most of the clipping issues.
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post #9 of 10
9/2/06 at 2:12am
Personally, I didn't find the Audigy drivers that superior to the stock ones. I ordered it for $25 a while after receiving my laptop, but I wouldn't do it if I knew about its performance before-hand. Games have always worked fine with my prior to this upgrade, so that was never a problem.

Whether the Audigy driver enhances your audio performance, it is hard to tell, but one thing is for sure, it is yet another resource to be running.

All in all, I don't think it was worth it, but tha's my $0.02...
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post #10 of 10
9/2/06 at 2:24am
If it was an actual integrataed chip then it would have been awesome but seeing as its just a software program that emulates sorround sound and such, i would recommend not getting it.
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