Have you actually looked up anything yourself before asking this question?

There's tons of info on the SB0060 / SB Live 5.1 on this forum alone (well, actually in the Marvin \ Sound subforum), not to mention many other resources elsewhere.

That aside, as you don't explain what you mean by "best" (best at what? under which OSs?) or "SB Live!" (do you mean only cards with "SB Live!" in the name, or would you also consider other cards in the same technical series - in which case, look up 'Audigy') there's no definitive answer without clarification from your side.

dionb wrote on 2024-07-24, 23:33:

Have you actually looked up anything yourself before asking this question?

I've already asked him to read ESR's most famous article first.

It certainly has the best bundle if it's the X-Gamer one.

Cursed Derp wrote on 2024-07-24, 20:58:

Heyyyyyyo,
I want to know if SB0060 is considered the best sb Live! card. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Yes

Lol, just wanted to start the topic.

I received this exact sound card a few days ago and I'm trying to get it to work somehow. Despite the original driver CD, I can't really do it. Highlights would be, for example, SB16 music output in slow motion in Duke Nukem 3D and a few other games. I guess you need a suitable combination of hardware, software (games) and drivers, and something isn't right for me.

This sound card is driving me crazy. At the same time there are endless errors and still in places the best PCI sound I know. That is too much for me. 😉

I have enough retro PCs with ISA, I just wanted to test it for fun.

I seem to remember Phil’s Computer Lab talking about the 0060 alongside the 0100. And sure enough, on his site he has a section devoted to it along with a video. Hope it helps. I think I have an 0060 myself.

https://www.philscomputerlab.com/sound-blaster-live.html

See https://dosdays.co.uk/topics/sb_live.php

I have a CT4760 and a SB0060. Given that I'm just using two speakers in my setup, I don't really care about the 5.1 angle and so I just end up using the CT4760. I kind of dig the gold-colored autio jacks on the 4760

Demolition-Man wrote on 2024-07-25, 06:32:

Lol, just wanted to start the topic. […]
Show full quote

Lol, just wanted to start the topic.

I received this exact sound card a few days ago and I'm trying to get it to work somehow. Despite the original driver CD, I can't really do it. Highlights would be, for example, SB16 music output in slow motion in Duke Nukem 3D and a few other games. I guess you need a suitable combination of hardware, software (games) and drivers, and something isn't right for me.

This sound card is driving me crazy. At the same time there are endless errors and still in places the best PCI sound I know. That is too much for me. 😉

I have enough retro PCs with ISA, I just wanted to test it for fun.

If you're using a SB Live for MS-DOS games, the FM synth emulation is not very good as you've found. Switch the music type to General MIDI, and you can use the card's wavetable MIDI synthesis which is really quite good. It ends up being a pretty capable DOS sound card when used that way, as it does true Sound Blaster 16 sound for games that take advantage of the higher quality audio and lets you use high quality MIDI music. And, as you've found, in Windows 95/98 it actually works pretty well as a sound device and sounds better than a lot of its contemporaries did!

Nice!

Can`t get it to work in WIn 98 DOS or DOS mode. Only diretly from WIn 98 SE.
Maybe i need a different driver or something?

Or the cpu is too fast (XP 2400+)?

Some game need pure dos, so no chance to play them. Some other games need way more conventional memory.

So a good WIndows sound card, and a nice try with dos. But if you want a PC for DOS gaming you need an ISA slot. It`s quite simple.

Edit: Maybe its the VIA Bug? SB Live 5.1 + VIA = no good? Remebering something from the Phils Computerlab video.

Demolition-Man wrote on 2024-07-26, 16:02:

Can`t get it to work in WIn 98 DOS or DOS mode. Only diretly from WIn 98 SE. Maybe i need a different driver or something? […]
Show full quote

Can`t get it to work in WIn 98 DOS or DOS mode. Only diretly from WIn 98 SE.
Maybe i need a different driver or something?

Or the cpu is too fast (XP 2400+)?

Some game need pure dos, so no chance to play them. Some other games need way more conventional memory.

So a good WIndows sound card, and a nice try with dos. But if you want a PC for DOS gaming you need an ISA slot. It`s quite simple.

Edit: Maybe its the VIA Bug? SB Live 5.1 + VIA = no good? Remebering something from the Phils Computerlab video.

Go into Device Manager and change its IRQ, DMA and Address to match what’s in your autoexec.bat

It`s A220 I5 D1 H5 T6 everywhere. Of cource emulated from IRQ 10.
The strange part is that SBEGO, the test program, almost always works.

Sometimes it works (games), sometimes it doesn't. I can't see any pattern. I found an alternative driver from this site. Nothing changed but maybe the text files will help someone.

Demolition-Man wrote on 2024-07-26, 21:59:

It`s A220 I5 D1 H5 T6 everywhere. Of cource emulated from IRQ 10.
The strange part is that SBEGO, the test program, almost always works.

Sometimes it works (games), sometimes it doesn't. I can't see any pattern. I found an alternative driver from this site. Nothing changed but maybe the text files will help someone.

If A220 I5 D1 is set to automatic in Device Manager then every time you reboot the settings can change thus breaking DOS mode sound. If your autoexec.bat is configured to IRQ 5 then the IRQ in Device Manager must be set to 5 as well. FYI, Don’t change your autoexec.bat to match your Device Manager settings.

Thx. I never use the DOS-Mode anyway.
Trying go get a boot menu to work.

I don't know why, but it works for now. Some things. Actually stable games like Wing Commander III and IV crash. Also, there is no CD audio in games, such as Descent 2. It's all very strange, even without Windows 98 being directly involved.