First post, by mothergoose729
I am putting together some parts for a retro XP build - targeting 2003ish-2007 games. I am looking into sound blaster support, and according to this list I want to get a card with EAX 5.0 support to have the best audio for the most games.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_EAX_support
Later cards also improved the sampling on certain sources in addition to new features, so it seems like I want one of these cards
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mu_20K
The most affordable cards on ebay are the Xtreme music, and OEM versions of the X-Fi like the SB0770. These have 2mb of dedicated memory instead of 64mb of memory, but otherwise they support all of the same features, is that correct? I am going to be using a faster single core CPU (Celeron G407, which is based on sandy bridge), so I don't think I'll be missing the 3 fps accelerated audio gives, but would I also be losing out on other features?
I am going to be using a simple 2 channel setup with some Roland monitors, nothing too fancy, and what I want more than anything is just good compatibility with XP and XP era EAX games. Should I pay more for something like an X-Fi Titanium or a Auzen Prelude, or are these cheaper cards like the SB0770 X-Fi and Xtreme music PCI cards just as good for games?