Jaron wrote on 2022-12-05, 16:11:

Another small consideration is that it seems far more PCI audio cards include game ports, and thus far I don't see a single PCIe card that does.

I don't really see a use case for having a gameport on a WinXP computer. There are plenty of USB joysticks and gamepads which are more suitable for WinXP era games.

And connecting an external MIDI device to any sound card newer than the SBLive can sometimes be finicky. I've had hanging note bugs and other weird issues when I tried that with an Audigy 2 ZS.

I have a few USB gamepad controllers, but the only joystick I have is a 3D Pro.

PCI vs PCIe doesn't matter when loading any SoundFont onto the SB X-Fi, I used to have the PCIe version and there was no noticeable difference on that regard.

As Joseph_Joestar said, USB joysticks and gamepads are more suitable for Windows XP and later unless you want to use legacy devices. Same goes for using any external MIDI device which the Roland UM-ONE USB MIDI interface (and similar devices) can handle with ease.

None of the SB X-Fi models ever had a gameport.

Gmlb256 wrote on 2022-12-05, 16:51:

None of the SB X-Fi models ever had a gameport.

The early PCI ones did.

theoretically no difference but were dealing with MS and creative. 1 hand MS changed the way sound cards worked when going from XP to vista by eliminating hardware acceleration. 2 creative re-engineering cards and drivers to make them vista compatible and calling then the same thing. If you don't want to worry about it, than just get a Original PCI X-FI and you wont have problems.

Jaron wrote on 2022-12-05, 17:07:

Gmlb256 wrote on 2022-12-05, 16:51:

None of the SB X-Fi models ever had a gameport.

The early PCI ones did.

Nope. The pins aren't compatibles even if it resembles one.

I've used both a PCI based Audigy 2 ZS and a PCIe based X-Fi card under Windows XP. I did not notice any differences in terms of latency or other audio issues/support.

Shponglefan wrote on 2022-12-05, 17:22:

I've used both a PCI based Audigy 2 ZS and a PCIe based X-Fi card under Windows XP. I did not notice any differences in terms of latency or other audio issues/support.

Same.

I had zero issues with my PCIe X-Fi Titanium over the years. It has been rock solid under both WinXP and Win7 for me.

Warlord wrote on 2022-12-05, 17:15:

theoretically no difference but were dealing with MS and creative. 1 hand MS changed the way sound cards worked when going from XP to vista by eliminating hardware acceleration. 2 creative re-engineering cards and drivers to make them vista compatible and calling then the same thing. If you don't want to worry about it, than just get a Original PCI X-FI and you wont have problems.

No, not so much a worry, just trying to get any relevant information. The transition time between XP and 7 is probably the weakest in my tech knowledge, so I'm just checking for any weird hardware conflicts or tendencies from the time that I'm not aware of. And yes, I know about the change in audio hardware support in Vista and 7, and I know of the Daniel K drivers. I'm looking at various X-Fi cards and Auzentech's that use the EMU chip ( Prelude and Forte ). Right now this is just a WinXP machine. I might decide to dual boot it with Win7 to work with most of my GOG library too.

I got the flagship Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion PCIe because I wanted the "top dog" card for my XP build and have not regretted it for 1 second.
Although I have a 2nd XP build with a X-Fi SB0770 OEM PCI from a parted out PC at work years ago and honestly apart from cosmetic differences in the driver I can't tell any difference
(well the PCIe card is better looking but thats not a technical difference)

I'm not sure if its placebo effect or not but I think I can tell the difference between the X-Fi and Audigy 2. I can't between the Audigy 2 and Live!

The Live! is also limited to EAX3, Quite a few big name games did come with EAX 4 so that may be another excuse to upgrade (the X-Fi's EAX 5 not so much)
https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/List_of_ … ith_EAX_support

Overall I'd say get a 20k EMU based card but the model or interface doesnt really matter so choose whichever has the features most important for you.
I'd assume XP compatible USB to Joystick adapters exist but have never had the need myself so never looked into this.

chinny22 wrote on 2022-12-06, 10:31:

I'm not sure if its placebo effect or not but I think I can tell the difference between the X-Fi and Audigy 2. I can't between the Audigy 2 and Live!

X-Fi cards have a significantly improved resampling algorithm. This is particularly useful when playing older games, some of which used 22 KHz sound samples even during the early 2000s.

The Live! is also limited to EAX3

The SBLive tops out at EAX2 actually. It was the original Audigy which first introduced EAX3. Creative made a pretty big deal out of it too, calling it EAX Advanced HD for a while.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2022-12-06, 10:45:

The SBLive tops out at EAX2 actually. It was the original Audigy which first introduced EAX3. Creative made a pretty big deal out of it too, calling it EAX Advanced HD for a while.

You are right of course, I was getting mixed up with the Liveware version numbers.