• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

is the sblive overated or something??? mine got some ugly background noise on line input + drivers g

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

Tomas

Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2001
is the sblive overated or something??? mine got some ugly background noise on line input + drivers g

When i bought a new mobo for some months ago i needed to buy a new soundcard since i dont got any isa slots on this so i decided to buy the sblive player5.1 after reading some good reviews about the soundquality of that board.

The first thing i noticed on win9x is that after i have installed the drivers i got some HUGE memory leaks, i got 512mb and its all used up after around 2hours + the resources. So after 3hours i cant even open the start button........ Its same on both win98,win98se,winME but however on win2k i dont got memory leaks, and yes i have done the minimal installation with drivers only.

And also use my computer alot for recording since i got a capture card!! But the sblive is really AWFUL on line in, i can hear some weak background noise and the sound isnt so clear as it used to be on my sb awe64 isa value card.

I hear a huge differences on videos recorded with the awe and the live card........ Even the integreated via ac97 card on my k6 has alot better quality.

Anyone have an solution??? What is F***ing wrong here???? When i bought it ppl told me it had better soundquality than most of the cards including the awe64 card.

What other cards is out there which is atleast as good as the awe64???? i aint rich so it must be in the same prize range.

My system is asus a7v133 [email protected] tbird.
 
is the sblive overated or something??? mine got some ugly background noise on line input + drivers g

you are using unprotected cables, replace them
 
is the sblive overated or something??? mine got some ugly background noise on line input + drivers g

im using the same cable + equipement as i did with the sb awe64 card. The cables where expensive and they are gold covered so they should be good enough.
 
is the sblive overated or something??? mine got some ugly background noise on line input + drivers g

I've been using my same SB Live card for some time now with no problems, but I use the latest drivers from their site. It's possible the card's defective, though not likely.

have you been in touch with their technical support? Is the card still under warranty? Have you considered selling it and buying the Turtle Beach santa Cruz card?

I noticed the same thing with my line in, very poor quality. This card is tops for the dollar for regular usage, but for music and what we push it to do, it doesn't seem to respond to any pressure.

Personally, I think the card's overrated, but then again, what do I expect for its features for around $80 new?
 
is the sblive overated or something??? mine got some ugly background noise on line input + drivers g

Hmm, I have an awe 64 gold. I like it. It goes good with my lansing speakers.
I just started upgrading and decided to get the Shuttle AK31, which doesn't
have an isa slot. That sucks. I will be in the section in the future looking for a
good sound card. I wish all mobos still came with 1 isa slot.
 
is the sblive overated or something??? mine got some ugly background noise on line input + drivers g

How does it sound otherwise? There are definite issues with the Via KT133A chipset and the SB-Live! However, there are some workarounds.
(1) Disable SB16 emulation (for crackling, bad sound in general)
(2) Adjust I/O voltages (ditto)
(3) Update BIOS and 4in1's
(4) Disable ACPI
(5) Turn off debugging in Direct X applet
It sounds like you may have a bad card considering the considerable line input noise
Have you tried using mic instead?
 
is the sblive overated or something??? mine got some ugly background noise on line input + drivers g

thestramel (Jul 25, 2001 08:16 p.m.):
How does it sound otherwise? There are definite issues with the Via KT133A chipset and the SB-Live! However, there are some workarounds.
(1) Disable SB16 emulation (for crackling, bad sound in general)
(2) Adjust I/O voltages (ditto)
(3) Update BIOS and 4in1's
(4) Disable ACPI
(5) Turn off debugging in Direct X applet
It sounds like you may have a bad card considering the considerable line input noise
Have you tried using mic instead?

the playback has "ok" sound atleast no crackling i have heard yet but i think the awe64 had a bit better sound on playback too.

acpi is disabled, io voltage is on 1.45 which is default on my board. if i turn it down too 1.33 i cant run it at 133fsb(266).
and i have updated the via 4-in1 drivers but havent turned off soundblaster 16 emulation, where and how do i do that?? will it help?

Also i tried unplug any cables too the line in and i can still hear the background noise. if i mute the line in it will dissapear!!

Also i have to have the line in volume at max to get the sound load enough but still a bit low??? I had it under half on my awe64 card.

Really bad that such an old + cheap card sounds alot better than this brand new sblive card:(

Also i need a solution to the odd memory leaks on win9x/me. Leaks memory as soon as i have installed the drivers.

And its still under warryanty. Also is the turtle beach any better?? plz provide some links for info about that board and where i can buy it.

Thx for the replys

Tomas
 
is the sblive overated or something??? mine got some ugly background noise on line input + drivers g

Tomas (Jul 29, 2001 10:49 a.m.):
Also i have to have the line in volume at max to get the sound load enough but still a bit low??? I had it under half on my awe64 card.

You just described my issues! It's the card. You'll have to buy another card, there's really no fix (I've recorded on 4 different systems now with different motherboards, and have had the same problem on all 4).
 
is the sblive overated or something??? mine got some ugly background noise on line input + drivers g

:( that sounds bad.......

Does anyone know how much the turtle beach soundcard costs, and does it got a decent quality on the line in?

or i might be forced to move back to my old abit kt7 card, so i can use my awe64 isa card.
 
is the sblive overated or something??? mine got some ugly background noise on line input + drivers g

Tomas (Aug 01, 2001 07:56 p.m.):
:( that sounds bad.......

Does anyone know how much the turtle beach soundcard costs, and does it got a decent quality on the line in?

or i might be forced to move back to my old abit kt7 card, so i can use my awe64 isa card.

Turtle beach costs about the same, available at TurtleBeach.com

As for the background noise, in a few months I might invest some more into my sound production , and will tell you then... until such time, mono input is working just fine.
 
is the sblive overated or something??? mine got some ugly background noise on line input + drivers g

686b chipsets and SB LIVE!s hate each other. As I understand it the fixes for the problem ( getting the right 4in1 drivers, etc) don't usually work properly on the 5.1 versions of the SB LIVE family. Go to viahardware.com, they have miles of stuff on this problem. Perhaps you'll find something. I wanted to go 5.1 for my A7V-E board before I found out about the problems. Needless to say I stayed with my old card (Creative Ensoniq64) for now. I went price and power comparing for non-creative labs 5.1 cards. I haven't bought anything yet but after downloading several manuals the Abit AU10 looks promising, 5.1 surround at a good price.

Hope this helps.
 
is the sblive overated or something??? mine got some ugly background noise on line input + drivers g

I too have been having issues with the 686B and the SBLive. Hissing, poor playback, all sorts of problems. I dumped it in favor of the onboard sound on my IWill KK266 which, even though it is only 4.1, sounds far better. Then again, I am a little hard of hearing so just about anything sounds good to me.

BTW, I found that the drivers used from the original CD were CRUD. If you are going to have any chance of fixing the problem, make sure you use the updated drivers from the website. They did not leak as much at least...
 
Back