Hans Tork wrote on 2025-02-16, 06:37:

SB Audigy SE SB0570

Everything here looks great except for that sound card. Per this Wikipedia page, its EAX capabilities are entirely software based, so it might actually make your games slower.

If possible, replace it with an X-Fi card. Even the cheap SB0730 model would work much better as it has hardware accelerated DirectSound3D and EAX processing.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-02-16, 08:35:

its EAX capabilities are entirely software based, so it might actually make your games slower.

Yeah, but at this point does it even matter? It's a ridiculously overpowered PC for XP era games. Theoretically you could easily sacrifice a full CPU core to deal with EAX emulation without losing frame rate.

I mean take that i5, disable 2 cores and it's probably still faster than any Core2 Quad.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-02-16, 08:35:

Hans Tork wrote on 2025-02-16, 06:37:

SB Audigy SE SB0570

Everything here looks great except for that sound card. Per this Wikipedia page, its EAX capabilities are entirely software based, so it might actually make your games slower.

If possible, replace it with an X-Fi card. Even the cheap SB0730 model would work much better as it has hardware accelerated DirectSound3D and EAX processing.

Thanks for pointing that out. I did not know that it was a software based card. Honestly I should have looked up sound cards a bit more. I only got the card as it was ultra cheap on ebay. Guess you get what you pay for.

Hans Tork wrote on 2025-02-16, 10:24:

Thanks for pointing that out. I did not know that it was a software based card. Honestly I should have looked up sound cards a bit more. I only got the card as it was ultra cheap on ebay. Guess you get what you pay for.

Yeah, Creative's weird marketing strategy from that period sometimes made it difficult to distinguish genuinely good cards from cut-down, software based models.

In general, give Audigy cards with the SE/LS suffix a wide berth, and avoid "Xtreme Audio" when shopping for X-Fi cards. Even so, it's always best to look up the exact model number to be sure what you're actually getting.

While I agree the software based cards are less then ideal.
I'm of the same thinking as RandomStranger on this where if you have plenty of cpu grunt to spare then probably not that bad

Any X-Fi isn't necessary. But neither is an GTX960. There are a few XP era games that can use EAX 5.0.

And yes avoid the Xtreme Audio, when in doubt just check Wikipedia entry for the model number. The Extreme Gamer and Extreme Music are fine.

SScorpio wrote on 2025-02-17, 02:21:

There are a few XP era games that can use EAX 5.0.

Around 30 by my last count. See the updated list which can be sorted by column. Here are a few highlights:

• Battlefield 2
• Battlefield 2142
• BioShock
• Colin McRae: Dirt
• Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers
• Gears of War
• Mass Effect
• Prey
• Quake 4
• Race Driver: Grid
• Sacred 2
• TimeShift
• Unreal Tournament 2004
• Unreal Tournament 3

But that's not the point. X-Fi cards have 128 hardware voices, more advanced SRC and improved CMSS functionality. Even games which use older EAX versions will sound better on an X-Fi compared to an Audigy due to the aforementioned features. For example, here's how the increased number of hardware voices affects Prey. This also applies to Doom 3 and other games which implement EAX via OpenAL.

Yes, that certainly will make for a very powerful XP machine. I have the parts for a similar build (though with i7 3770k and GTX 980 Ti), but, to be honest, my GTX 750 Ti system plays most XP games with ease.

RandomStranger wrote on 2025-02-16, 09:47:

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-02-16, 08:35:

its EAX capabilities are entirely software based, so it might actually make your games slower.

Yeah, but at this point does it even matter? It's a ridiculously overpowered PC for XP era games. Theoretically you could easily sacrifice a full CPU core to deal with EAX emulation without losing frame rate.

I mean take that i5, disable 2 cores and it's probably still faster than any Core2 Quad.

So aside from the performance penalty imposed to the CPU, is there any other real differences between software-accelerated cards and lets say... a "real" Audigy? (will the sounds will come out perfect or flawed?)

Best regards

Interesting choice of parts, great cable management

Bruno128 wrote on 2025-02-17, 17:43:

Interesting choice of parts, great cable management

Sorry for the cables. I sometimes end up shifting parts between my 98 and XP systems so it is a bit messy. As for the parts I took inspiration from Phil, Joseph_Joestar`s build and also the fact that it is the OS and software I wanted and not the period correct expensive hardware itself.

My next goal is a Win 95 system(OSR 2). One which is preferably fast and stable but does not require me to give up an arm and a leg.

xelizor wrote on 2025-02-17, 11:16:

RandomStranger wrote on 2025-02-16, 09:47:

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-02-16, 08:35:

its EAX capabilities are entirely software based, so it might actually make your games slower.

Yeah, but at this point does it even matter? It's a ridiculously overpowered PC for XP era games. Theoretically you could easily sacrifice a full CPU core to deal with EAX emulation without losing frame rate.

I mean take that i5, disable 2 cores and it's probably still faster than any Core2 Quad.

So aside from the performance penalty imposed to the CPU, is there any other real differences between software-accelerated cards and lets say... a "real" Audigy? (will the sounds will come out perfect or flawed?)

Best regards

I guess you may get sound delays or quality issues if the CPU is under heavy load? but can't really see that been an issue in this case.

Hans Tork wrote on 2025-02-16, 06:37:

I can triple boot with XP, Win 7 and Linux Mint but I mainly use it for the XP gaming nostalgia trip. Honestly, after the nightmare that was the Dimension 3000 build(turned parts of it to a Win 98 build) this was some much needed relief.

with those specs it would be fine as a main machine with Linux mint online and play just about any game up until more recent and most demanding titles (if willing to give up a few graphical features and pixels)

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-02-16, 10:31:

Hans Tork wrote on 2025-02-16, 10:24:

Thanks for pointing that out. I did not know that it was a software based card. Honestly I should have looked up sound cards a bit more. I only got the card as it was ultra cheap on ebay. Guess you get what you pay for.

Yeah, Creative's weird marketing strategy from that period sometimes made it difficult to distinguish genuinely good cards from cut-down, software based models.

In general, give Audigy cards with the SE/LS suffix a wide berth, and avoid "Xtreme Audio" when shopping for X-Fi cards. Even so, it's always best to look up the exact model number to be sure what you're actually getting.

The only other card that I have is a Dell CT602 SB0460 X-Fi card. I got it cheap and it was meant for the Dell Dimension build which I nuked after I got the parts for my current XP build. I thought since it was a Dell sound card it might have driver issues and be inferior to the SB0570.

I think I had seen the drivers for this on the Dell website but do not know if is better than the SB0570.

Hans Tork wrote on 2025-02-19, 03:02:

I think I had seen the drivers for this on the Dell website but do not know if is better than the SB0570.

That's a good card, and a much better choice than the SB0570.

As for the drivers, just go to Daniel_K's website and download his latest X-Fi support pack. Those should work fine with it, regardless of the Dell branding. Afterwards, install EAX Unified and OpenAL as per my guide (ignore the drivers there, they are for PCIe cards), and you're good to go. You can test EAX using the game demos linked there.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-02-19, 03:14:

Hans Tork wrote on 2025-02-19, 03:02:

I think I had seen the drivers for this on the Dell website but do not know if is better than the SB0570.

That's a good card, and a much better choice than the SB0570.

As for the drivers, just go to Daniel_K's website and download his latest X-Fi support pack. Those should work fine with it, regardless of the Dell branding. Afterwards, install EAX Unified and OpenAL as per my guide (ignore the drivers there, they are for PCIe cards), and you're good to go. You can test EAX using the game demos linked there.

Oh good to know that I can use the other one. I definitely try the sound card and report back.

Hans Tork wrote on 2025-02-18, 00:13:

Bruno128 wrote on 2025-02-17, 17:43:

Interesting choice of parts, great cable management

My next goal is a Win 95 system(OSR 2). One which is preferably fast and stable but does not require me to give up an arm and a leg.

Win95 (any OSR) doesn’t boot on 350MHz or faster CPUs but there are patches.
It is very fast on any Pentium with 32MB RAM and it’s pretty snappy on 486DX4-100 with 16MB RAM.
At the moment of writing cheapest hardware to fall into these categories are socket7 boards that have Dallas RTC which people tend to avoid. If soldering is your thing the value can be good but there are also a lot of poorly documented noname models as well.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-02-19, 03:14:

Hans Tork wrote on 2025-02-19, 03:02:

I think I had seen the drivers for this on the Dell website but do not know if is better than the SB0570.

That's a good card, and a much better choice than the SB0570.

As for the drivers, just go to Daniel_K's website and download his latest X-Fi support pack. Those should work fine with it, regardless of the Dell branding. Afterwards, install EAX Unified and OpenAL as per my guide (ignore the drivers there, they are for PCIe cards), and you're good to go. You can test EAX using the game demos linked there.

I managed to get the X-Fi working. I can get EA4 on games like Mediveal 2, Star wars and Open Al on the Quake demo.

Hans Tork wrote on 2025-02-20, 05:28:

I managed to get the X-Fi working. I can get EA4 on games like Mediveal 2, Star wars and Open Al on the Quake demo.

Nice!

Have fun revisiting your favorite WinXP games on that system, and playing them at max audio and visual settings. For me, that's the best part of having a powerful retro rig.