Iamyourzero

quote: Originally posted by FooF: its not the same card at all. lacks eax 2.0 support and the control panel doesnt even have bass/treble controls. its going back to the store Wow, didn't know that...sorry you had to find out the hard way. Are you going to spring for the Acoustic Edge or go for another card? ------------------ CPU: AMD Thunderbird 1.33 GHz 266fsb AXIA / Mobo: Iwill KK266-R / Memory: 256MB Crucial PC133 CAS2 / Video: Elsa Gladiac 32MB GeForce 2 GTS / Hard Drives: Twin 30.0 GB IBM Deskstar 75GXP 7200rpm ATA100 (not running RAID at the moment) / CDRW: Plextor PlexWriter 16x/10x/40x, Plextor PlexWriter 8x/4x/32x / Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer / Monitor: Sony G400 19" Trinitron / Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400's (400w of THX-certified goodness) / Printer: Lexmark Z52 Professional Printer / NIC: Linksys 10/100 NIC / Modem: Viking 56k external (They keep telling me "DSL will be here in a few months...") / Mouse: Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical (the new, 33% faster one) / Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro (w/2 additional USB ports)

I'm waiting for LCD monitors to become cheaper and better. They are currently doing both. I've heard a lot of bad about the early LCD's, but apparently they are getting much better. But even the newer ones have their problems and are still kinda pricey. I want to know 3 things about LCD monitors: 1) Is it reasonable to conclude that an LCD monitor will last longer than a CRT screen? CRT monitors can get pretty darn warm, and heat is one of the causes of the death of electronics. LCD screens supposedly run MUCH cooler than a CRT, so there is really no heat present to kill the unit. And you won't get the harmful heat up/cool down cycles that harm computer components and CRT monitors. Or is there reason to believe that a CRT monitor would last longer? 2) Will the picture quality of an LCD monitor degrade over time? I remember reading that if a CRT monitor lives a long life, it will get faded, blurrier, less bright and crisp than when it was new. Since there is no electron gun or supporting wires in an LCD screen, will an LCD that's 8 years old look like one that's brand new? Also, a lot of LCD screens I've seen that are fairly old always have defects. In portable gaming devices, calculators, and electronic organizers there are common defects over time such as dead pixels, dead rows of pixels, and pixels that seem to stay illuminated no matter what. Will LCD monitors also develop these defects or are they much higher quality and immune to such problems? 3) With CRT monitors, it seems like brand matters very little when comparing similar tubes (except in the case of a KDS Trinitron... ). That is to say, if you buy a monitor with a Diamondtron tube, it doesn't matter if it's a Samsung or a generic monitor since they use the same tube because both will look nearly identical (though one may have more features). Is this the same with LCD monitors, or does quality vary greatly by manufacturer? Would a Viewsonic LCD be much better than a KDS, or would they both be equal in terms of reliablity and image quality? Thanks much to all that can help. I'd really like to learn more about these.

I'm waiting for LCD monitors to become cheaper and better. They are currently doing both. I've heard a lot of bad about the early LCD's, but apparently they are getting much better. But even the newer ones have their problems and are still kinda pricey. I want to know 3 things about LCD monitors: 1) Is it reasonable to conclude that an LCD monitor will last longer than a CRT screen? CRT monitors can get pretty darn warm, and heat is one of the causes of the death of electronics. LCD screens supposedly run MUCH cooler than a CRT, so there is really no heat present to kill the unit. And you won't get the harmful heat up/cool down cycles that harm computer components and CRT monitors. Or is there reason to believe that a CRT monitor would last longer? 2) Will the picture quality of an LCD monitor degrade over time? I remember reading that if a CRT monitor lives a long life, it will get faded, blurrier, less bright and crisp than when it was new. Since there is no electron gun or supporting wires in an LCD screen, will an LCD that's 8 years old look like one that's brand new? Also, a lot of LCD screens I've seen that are fairly old always have defects. In portable gaming devices, calculators, and electronic organizers there are common defects over time such as dead pixels, dead rows of pixels, and pixels that seem to stay illuminated no matter what. Will LCD monitors also develop these defects or are they much higher quality and immune to such problems? 3) With CRT monitors, it seems like brand matters very little when comparing similar tubes (except in the case of a KDS Trinitron... ). That is to say, if you buy a monitor with a Diamondtron tube, it doesn't matter if it's a Samsung or a generic monitor since they use the same tube because both will look nearly identical (though one may have more features). Is this the same with LCD monitors, or does quality vary greatly by manufacturer? Would a Viewsonic LCD be much better than a KDS, or would they both be equal in terms of reliablity and image quality? Thanks much to all that can help. I'd really like to learn more about these.

Can I make a suggestion? I've been reading extensively about the 2 cards you suggested, because I own a VIA KT133a board and I too was tired of my SB Live causing lockups and crashes. Both sound like really great cards. It sounds like one thing putting you off about the Hercules is the cost. Did you know that the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz is basically the same card as the Hercules Game Theater XP (it just doesn't include the external rack of connectors, which is what drives the Herc's price toward $150)...so if you don't need the rack, which I'm assuming you don't since you're considering the Acoustic Edge, you could just get the Santa Cruz and have the same sound card as the Hercules... Just a thought!

Get the 4.1's...that way if you ever have the extra room, you'll have the extra speakers. ------------------ CPU: AMD Thunderbird 1.33 GHz 266fsb AXIA / Mobo: Iwill KK266-R / Memory: 256MB Crucial PC133 CAS2 / Video: Elsa Gladiac 32MB GeForce 2 GTS / Hard Drives: Twin 30.0 GB IBM Deskstar 75GXP 7200rpm ATA100 (not running RAID at the moment) / CDRW: Plextor PlexWriter 16x/10x/40x, Plextor PlexWriter 8x/4x/32x / Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer / Monitor: Sony G400 19" Trinitron / Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400's (400w of THX-certified goodness) / Printer: Lexmark Z52 Professional Printer / NIC: Linksys 10/100 NIC / Modem: Viking 56k external (They keep telling me "DSL will be here in a few months...") / Mouse: Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical (the new, 33% faster one) / Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro (w/2 additional USB ports)

quote: Originally posted by d3vi0s: I got an AE, and it by far beats anything in sound quality. To show you how much better it really is. I basicly had to delete any of my 128 kbit mp3's and get at least 192kbit encoded one's. I could literally tell the diffrence between the two in sound quality. Ehhh...I can do that with my SB Live! X-Gamer. Not knocking the AE at all, it's a great card. I'm just saying, don't say that it beats everything in sound quality before you've compared it side-by-side to a SoundBlaster Live!, a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, a Hercules Game Theater XP, etc... But, glad you are happy with the Philips card. I'm considering buying one myself. ------------------ CPU: AMD Thunderbird 1.33 GHz 266fsb AXIA / Mobo: Iwill KK266-R / Memory: 256MB Crucial PC133 CAS2 / Video: Elsa Gladiac 32MB GeForce 2 GTS / Hard Drives: Twin 30.0 GB IBM Deskstar 75GXP 7200rpm ATA100 (not running RAID at the moment) / CDRW: Plextor PlexWriter 16x/10x/40x, Plextor PlexWriter 8x/4x/32x / Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer / Monitor: Sony G400 19" Trinitron / Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400's (400w of THX-certified goodness) / Printer: Lexmark Z52 Professional Printer / NIC: Linksys 10/100 NIC / Modem: Viking 56k external (They keep telling me "DSL will be here in a few months...") / Mouse: Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical (the new, 33% faster one) / Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro (w/2 additional USB ports)

quote: Originally posted by kleggatt: At half volume my v.2-400's are uncomfortably loud. Mabye you got a bum set. I listen to these things below quarter volume. Ditto. ------------------ CPU: AMD Thunderbird 1.33 GHz 266fsb AXIA / Mobo: Iwill KK266-R / Memory: 256MB Crucial PC133 CAS2 / Video: Elsa Gladiac 32MB GeForce 2 GTS / Hard Drives: Twin 30.0 GB IBM Deskstar 75GXP 7200rpm ATA100 (not running RAID at the moment) / CDRW: Plextor PlexWriter 16x/10x/40x, Plextor PlexWriter 8x/4x/32x / Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer / Monitor: Sony G400 19" Trinitron / Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400's (400w of THX-certified goodness) / Printer: Lexmark Z52 Professional Printer / NIC: Linksys 10/100 NIC / Modem: Viking 56k external (They keep telling me "DSL will be here in a few months...") / Mouse: Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical (the new, 33% faster one) / Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro (w/2 additional USB ports)

Philips Acoustic Edge, or Hercules Game Theater XP. http://www.gamersdepot.com/hardware/sound_cards/hercules/game_theater_xp/001.htm http://www.gamersdepot.com/hardware/sound_cards/philips/acoustic_edge/001.htm

Thanks Paragon. Yeah, I saw somewhere on a site where AMD might make the Thunderbirds all the way up until 1.533 GHz, and start the new Palomino core at either 1.4 or 1.5 GHz. My next system will almost certainly be a Palomino if there are no problems with them, as they should run MUCH cooler than Thunderbirds. I have even heard that they can run with just a heatsink and no fan is required. That would truly rule because these 7k Delta fans sound like small hairdryers! I see you have the FOP38 also. I'll probably put the Palomino on a DDR board. I would have gone DDR for this new system but I wanted to wait and see which of the 3 major DDR chipsets came out on top. The AMD 760, the ALi MAGiK chipset, and the VIA KT266 chipset all seem to have their ups and downs, but one major downside is they don't overclock very well at all (the KT133a's are the champs) and are still fairly buggy. So I'll wait it out until the DDR stuff matures. ------------------ CPU: AMD Thunderbird 1.33 GHz 266fsb AXIA / Mobo: Iwill KK266-R / Memory: 256MB Crucial PC133 CAS2 / Video: Elsa Gladiac 32MB GeForce 2 GTS / Hard Drives: Twin 30.0 GB IBM Deskstar 75GXP 7200rpm ATA100 (not running RAID at the moment) / CDRW: Plextor PlexWriter 16x/10x/40x, Plextor PlexWriter 8x/4x/32x / Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer / Monitor: Sony G400 19" Trinitron / Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400's (400w of THX-certified goodness) / Printer: Lexmark Z52 Professional Printer / NIC: Linksys 10/100 NIC / Modem: Viking 56k external (They keep telling me "DSL will be here in a few months...") / Mouse: Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical (the new, 33% faster one) / Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro (w/2 additional USB ports)

*boingy* ------------------ CPU: AMD Thunderbird 1.33 GHz 266fsb AXIA / Mobo: Iwill KK266-R / Memory: 256MB Crucial PC133 CAS2 / Video: Elsa Gladiac 32MB GeForce 2 GTS / Hard Drives: Twin 30.0 GB IBM Deskstar 75GXP 7200rpm ATA100 (not running RAID at the moment) / CDRW: Plextor PlexWriter 16x/10x/40x, Plextor PlexWriter 8x/4x/32x / Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer / Monitor: Sony G400 19" Trinitron / Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia v.2-400's (400w of THX-certified goodness) / Printer: Lexmark Z52 Professional Printer / NIC: Linksys 10/100 NIC / Modem: Viking 56k external (They keep telling me "DSL will be here in a few months...") / Mouse: Microsoft IntelliMouse Optical (the new, 33% faster one) / Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro (w/2 additional USB ports)

I know many of you will say Hercules simply because of the hype lately but I find that a huge reason many people buy this card is because of the cool external rack it comes with. It's a thoughtful and useful addition, but let's just compare the bare cards here. Which produces better quality sound and is more compatible? I read reviews of both on www.gamersdepot.como and the Acoustic Edge got a 5 1/2 while the HGTXP got a 5. Both look like truly kickass cards but I want the one that will give me better quality sound. What are the ups and downs of each? The Herc XP seems to support more API's but the Acoustic Edge has plenty to brag about too. Philips Acoustic Edge What can I say? This is the best consumer-level sound card Ive run into, knocking the SoundBlaster Live! from the lofty perch its sat on for years now. The technology used in this card to simulate and to enhance surround sound is revolutionary, and other card manufacturers will be hard-pressed to come up with something this good. Hercules Game Theater XP Where the XP really shines is in gaming. Thanks to its support of all the major APIs, and the addition of Sensaura audio enhancements, the XPs surround effects were spectacular and very well done. Using our reference Klipsch 4.1 gaming system, we heard sound placements done with very good precision and accuracy. Its rather apparent that Hercules took the time to listen to the needs of gamers and deliver a product that makes a very good choice for both the hardcore and casual gamer who are looking to add a new level of ease-of-use, and great sound quality to their existing system and want excellent game compatibility. With so many choices hitting the market, begging for your hard-earned dollar, the Game Theater does a nice job of separating itself from the competition by offering a very robust hardware and software package that makes for an incredible value at under $150.00.

What was wrong with your first set? You ARE talking about the 4.1's, not the v.2-400's, right?

That's crazy. I could buy a nice car for that much money. There's a guy near me who spent around $80,000 on a new home theater setup. He sent the projector unit for his projection screen to Ferrari for a custom paint job that cost a few grand as well... For 80k, I think I'd rather have a nice home or a Dodge Viper. Of course, he probably already had both...

He's offering $250 for the P3-866 and the CUSL2 motherboard. I paid about $259 for the chip and $150 for the mobo a few months ago. I will be taking a loss of course but that's just the way it is when you sell computer parts. They depreciate in value so quickly and so much (especially CPU's and graphics cards). I paid $300 ea. for 2 12MB Diamond Monster 3D Vooodoo2 cards a few years ago and recently sold them for $70 for the pair...man I couldn't believe it. But, I've been wanting an AMD system for a while, so I guess it's about time I hopped on this huge bandwagon. Everybody is dissing Intel due to their higher prices so I'm going to see what AMD has to offer and if I can be satisfied with them. It seems that with AMD you pay less for the same performance but you have to do more to get everything to work right. My Intel setup ran like a dream after I built it. The first time I powered it on, it ran flawlessly. I hope I can say the same when my AMD parts arrive later this week.

Yeah...just posted my stuff on there, got a bunch of emails, and picked the guy that I thought was most serious and gave me a good offer.