Game Performance?

Jelic · Jun 21, 2005, 01:22 AM

Hello everyone!

Qucik newb question, my main reason for buying a SB Audigy 2 ZS was to imrpove game performance, since the ZS can do hardware rendering of sounds. This helps my FPS in games ofcourse. I had heard that the KX drivers did not take advantage of this hardware rendering and would still slow down my system since it'd take CPU cycles to process sound. I was wondering if there is a performance impact in games comparing Creative drivers and Kx drivers? Any insight would be appreciated, thanks!

Russ · Jun 21, 2005, 02:06 AM

If you are talking about EAX, then you are better off staying with the CL drivers as kX does not suppport EAX.

Jelic · Jun 21, 2005, 02:19 AM

I don't care if i have EAX support, personally I don't like it, it just makes everything sound all echoy right? I'm just atlking pure performance right now... i don't mind if I don't have EAX.

Russ · Jun 21, 2005, 02:36 AM

Well there are different levels of EAX you can use, but basically yes, it is just reverb desgned to try and make the sound effects/gaming environment sound more realistic (it is actually pretty good if you can set it right, and if your system can handle it, but often it is an FPS killer). Other then EAX, I do not think game performance should really be any different, and as such I would go with the kX drivers (but realize that it takes some time to figure out how to really use kX, so if you just want to play games and not really use kX for what it is designed for, then the CL drivers would probably be a better choice, as I do not think you are going to gain any performance one way or the other as far as FPS goes).

Jelic · Jun 21, 2005, 02:49 AM

Hmm so how exactly do you set it right? I'm playing CounteR Strike Source and I don't seem to have any EAX with that at all =/

Russ · Jun 21, 2005, 02:57 AM

I do not remember all the Creative screens and controls, and I think that different models use different options and configuration utilities, so I could not really tell you how to do it with your card. With my card you could go into AudioHQ, and choose a few different EAX presets, and you could also edit some of the parameters for those presets, and create your own, etc. Your card is most likley completely different, as it uses a newer version of EAX (EAX 4 I think), and has a lot more features, so I cannot really help you with that.

Rogacz · Jun 21, 2005, 05:35 AM

No problem with kX and games, despite some titles using surround system (Far Cry, Operation Flashpoint, UT2K4) in which sound positioning has bugs.
Despite this, driver works ok, and performance is very good.
You can always give'em a try, and if You don't like them, why don't use YouP Pax drivers based on Audigy 4 ones?

Jun 21, 2005, 01:22 AM	#1
Jelic DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	Game Performance? Hello everyone! Qucik newb question, my main reason for buying a SB Audigy 2 ZS was to imrpove game performance, since the ZS can do hardware rendering of sounds. This helps my FPS in games ofcourse. I had heard that the KX drivers did not take advantage of this hardware rendering and would still slow down my system since it'd take CPU cycles to process sound. I was wondering if there is a performance impact in games comparing Creative drivers and Kx drivers? Any insight would be appreciated, thanks!

Jun 21, 2005, 02:36 AM	#4
Russ DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 4,836 Rep Power: 41	Well there are different levels of EAX you can use, but basically yes, it is just reverb desgned to try and make the sound effects/gaming environment sound more realistic (it is actually pretty good if you can set it right, and if your system can handle it, but often it is an FPS killer). Other then EAX, I do not think game performance should really be any different, and as such I would go with the kX drivers (but realize that it takes some time to figure out how to really use kX, so if you just want to play games and not really use kX for what it is designed for, then the CL drivers would probably be a better choice, as I do not think you are going to gain any performance one way or the other as far as FPS goes). Last edited by Russ; Jun 21, 2005 at 02:45 AM.

Jun 21, 2005, 05:35 AM	#7
Rogacz Porcupine Floyd Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Poland Posts: 422 Rep Power: 0	No problem with kX and games, despite some titles using surround system (Far Cry, Operation Flashpoint, UT2K4) in which sound positioning has bugs. Despite this, driver works ok, and performance is very good. You can always give'em a try, and if You don't like them, why don't use YouP Pax drivers based on Audigy 4 ones? __________________

Jun 21, 2005, 02:06 AM	#2
Russ DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 4,836 Rep Power: 41	If you are talking about EAX, then you are better off staying with the CL drivers as kX does not suppport EAX.

Jun 21, 2005, 02:19 AM	#3
Jelic DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	I don't care if i have EAX support, personally I don't like it, it just makes everything sound all echoy right? I'm just atlking pure performance right now... i don't mind if I don't have EAX.

Jun 21, 2005, 02:49 AM	#5
Jelic DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	Hmm so how exactly do you set it right? I'm playing CounteR Strike Source and I don't seem to have any EAX with that at all =/

Jun 21, 2005, 02:57 AM	#6
Russ DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 4,836 Rep Power: 41	I do not remember all the Creative screens and controls, and I think that different models use different options and configuration utilities, so I could not really tell you how to do it with your card. With my card you could go into AudioHQ, and choose a few different EAX presets, and you could also edit some of the parameters for those presets, and create your own, etc. Your card is most likley completely different, as it uses a newer version of EAX (EAX 4 I think), and has a lot more features, so I cannot really help you with that.