A computer components & hardware forum. HardwareBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » HardwareBanter forum » Sound Cards » PC Soundcards
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Games with advanced sound



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old January 2nd 09, 09:16 AM posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.misc
Antonio Huerta
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10
Default Games with advanced sound

I have stormed through Bioshock and through a part of Dead Space, and
enjoyed their sound-rich atmosphere. (By the way, are there any other
such games ? This appears to be the only games I get excited.) I used
onboard sound (Realtek HD, Azalia 1.0 spec). But now people tell me
that my experience with those games (and other games) would be much
richer if I used a sound card.

I did a search on the Internet. Here are my findings:

-- The main reason of having a sound card in gaming is the surround
sound. This gives one an opportunity to pinpoint the source of sound.
It is not clear to me yet whether onboard sound adapter can provide a
surround sound as well.

-- Sound quality from Realtek HD is almost as good as a sound card (we
are talking about gaming in here, not music or movies).

-- Games like Bioshock use EAX 2.0-5.0, which is a fancy way of saying
that the game engine generates directional sounds and pumps through
2-5 speakers. Quality of sound reproduction improves. (One of the
features of EAX is that the sound can reflect several time in a
corridor from a stone wall or other material, and one can hear that.)

-- There is a separate 5.1 standard (pumping sounds through 5
speakers) to play non-EAX games. The sound card should have a Dolby
surround sound for that; onboard sound cards apparently do not have
it.

-- Creative Labs is a manufacturer of sound cards, and they came out
with an "X-Fi", which is s set of sound technologies, one of them
being EAX effects.

-- Creative Labs is virtually a monopolist on the sound card market,
and they have an XtremeGamer card which is for the gaming (around US
$100). A recent contender is ASUS which came up with a Xonar line of
sound cards. The cheapest but able contender is the "DX" card (around
US$80) (and that's what I recently ordered).

It is still unclear to me whether one can get surround sound (via the
headphones) using only the onboard sound card. I need this function to
play the games such as Dead Space or TF2. It seems to me that the
onboard sound adapter provides such a capability, but I am not sure if
the sound cards have some additional sound technologies which provide
an enhanced sound experience (such as directional sound etc).

On the whole, I've come to the realisation that the immersion depends
heavily on sound atmosphere (gameplay), and this is likely to be the
direction of the development of the future games. Is anybody aware of
the new such games in development (so that I could look forward to
them) ?
  #2  
Old January 2nd 09, 01:09 PM posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.misc
Nonymous[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1
Default Games with advanced sound


"Antonio Huerta" wrote in message
...

-- Games like Bioshock use EAX 2.0-5.0, which is a fancy way of saying
that the game engine generates directional sounds and pumps through
2-5 speakers. Quality of sound reproduction improves. (One of the
features of EAX is that the sound can reflect several time in a
corridor from a stone wall or other material, and one can hear that.)


Another EAX feature is audio 'occlusion'... i.e., sounds coming through
some sort of barrier such as a wall sound are filtered such that the low
frequencies make it through the wall, but not the high frequencies. Stand
outside hangar's wall in BF2, for example, and you can hear the low muffled
rumble of grenade explosions and whatnot going off inside the hangar, but
not alot of the high-pitched popping of small arms fire.

  #3  
Old January 2nd 09, 10:44 PM posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.misc
Lou
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 19
Default Games with advanced sound


"Antonio Huerta" wrote in message
...
I have stormed through Bioshock and through a part of Dead Space, and
enjoyed their sound-rich atmosphere. (By the way, are there any other
such games ? This appears to be the only games I get excited.) I used
onboard sound (Realtek HD, Azalia 1.0 spec). But now people tell me
that my experience with those games (and other games) would be much
richer if I used a sound card.

I did a search on the Internet. Here are my findings:

-- The main reason of having a sound card in gaming is the surround
sound. This gives one an opportunity to pinpoint the source of sound.
It is not clear to me yet whether onboard sound adapter can provide a
surround sound as well.

-- Sound quality from Realtek HD is almost as good as a sound card (we
are talking about gaming in here, not music or movies).

-- Games like Bioshock use EAX 2.0-5.0, which is a fancy way of saying
that the game engine generates directional sounds and pumps through
2-5 speakers. Quality of sound reproduction improves. (One of the
features of EAX is that the sound can reflect several time in a
corridor from a stone wall or other material, and one can hear that.)

-- There is a separate 5.1 standard (pumping sounds through 5
speakers) to play non-EAX games. The sound card should have a Dolby
surround sound for that; onboard sound cards apparently do not have
it.

-- Creative Labs is a manufacturer of sound cards, and they came out
with an "X-Fi", which is s set of sound technologies, one of them
being EAX effects.

-- Creative Labs is virtually a monopolist on the sound card market,
and they have an XtremeGamer card which is for the gaming (around US
$100). A recent contender is ASUS which came up with a Xonar line of
sound cards. The cheapest but able contender is the "DX" card (around
US$80) (and that's what I recently ordered).

It is still unclear to me whether one can get surround sound (via the
headphones) using only the onboard sound card. I need this function to
play the games such as Dead Space or TF2. It seems to me that the
onboard sound adapter provides such a capability, but I am not sure if
the sound cards have some additional sound technologies which provide
an enhanced sound experience (such as directional sound etc).


I have on board Realtek HD audio and it has surround sound. I have a 5.1
surround speaker setup and when I test each speaker with the Realtek speaker
setup utility you can hear the sound from each speaker independently, that
is you hear the 5.1 surround sound working. It also works well with my
Zalman surround sound headphones that have four separate speakers, two front
and two rear (the center and subwoofer speakers sounds are simulated ). The
surround sound is good, but not having a subwoofer leaves out some of the
bass, but that's OK with me. I have read about other headphones with too
much bass.
Most other surround headphones have only two speakers and all the surround
sound is simulated. I believe that for a good simulated surround sound from
two speaker headphones, it need to be Dolby or maybe the X-fi. Some
headphones have USB and built in sound card with Dolby surround sound, that
way you don't need a sound card in the PC. I have read a lot of mixed
reviews on these other headphones and its hard to know if they work any
better than the Zalman for surround sound.

I have tested the surround sound in games also by standing near a constant
sound like a radio and then I turn around and hear it in all speakers. Works
well with both my 5.1 speakers and with the Zalman headphones.







  #4  
Old March 19th 10, 04:51 PM
basumarpo1610 basumarpo1610 is offline
Junior Member
 
First recorded activity by HardwareBanter: Mar 2010
Posts: 13
Default

try to search the hardware setup by searaching internet
  #5  
Old March 24th 10, 07:37 PM
mivpl mivpl is offline
Junior Member
 
First recorded activity by HardwareBanter: Jun 2009
Posts: 9
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by basumarpo1610 View Post
try to search the hardware setup by searaching internet
I have on board Realtek HD audio and it has surround sound. I have a 5.1
surround speaker setup and when I test each speaker with the Realtek speaker
setup utility you can hear the sound from each speaker independently, that
is you hear the 5.1 surround sound working.
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy Advanced HD Audio Clark Martin Dell Computers 4 May 1st 06 06:26 PM
Stuttering sound & games on a P4SGL-VM Tim Asus Motherboards 1 April 23rd 05 08:30 AM
Muddy sound all of a sudden from games timmons PC Soundcards 4 July 5th 04 01:18 PM
SOUND PROBLEMS IN ALL GAMES Orhan Gigabyte Motherboards 13 February 21st 04 09:00 PM
Configuring sound card to old games Sverre Johnsen PC Soundcards 1 February 12th 04 02:10 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 09:52 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 HardwareBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.