IRQ issues with Creative Audigy 4?

[gary]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.tech,microsoft.public.win2000.general (More info?)

Am contemplating upgrading to the Audigy 4 soundcard, am currently using an
old Creative Live 1024. The latter tends to stutter and clicks under Win2k
and Abit KR7a MB, which appears to be an IRQ sharing problem which I've been
unable to resolve.
I'd like to know if the Audigy 4 PCI boards are now much more tolerant than
the old Soundblaster cards when it comes to IRQ sharing, do they still
insist on IRQ5 to themselves?

TIA
Gary

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.tech,microsoft.public.win2000.general (More info?)

Gary <gary@deletethisbitfranklin49.nospamfreeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>I'd like to know if the Audigy 4 PCI boards are now much more tolerant than
>the old Soundblaster cards when it comes to IRQ sharing, do they still
>insist on IRQ5 to themselves?

PCI cards can't insist on an IRQ, they can't even request one. The BIOS
and/or operating system chooses an IRQ from whatever set of IRQs that
the motherboard allows for a card in that slot. The simplest way to
change the IRQ of a PCI card is often to put the card in another slot.
You can sometimes affect what IRQ gets choose by playing around with
BIOS setting or by using the Device Manager in Windows for force the
card to use a certain IRQ.

Getting a new soundcard isn't likely to change what IRQ is used, but it
might solve the stuttering problems for other reasons.

Ross Ridge

--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/u/rridge/
db //

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.tech,microsoft.public.win2000.general (More info?)

Go into the bios and turn off anything you do not use
like parallel and serial ports.
It will free up some IRQs.

I heard that the new Creative Labs X-Fi sound card can be a cheap as $80 for
OEM.
Or Audigy 2 value for $45.

"Gary" <gary@deletethisbitfranklin49.nospamfreeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
news:dfc4m7$m13$1@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk...
> Am contemplating upgrading to the Audigy 4 soundcard, am currently using
> an
> old Creative Live 1024. The latter tends to stutter and clicks under Win2k
> and Abit KR7a MB, which appears to be an IRQ sharing problem which I've
> been
> unable to resolve.
> I'd like to know if the Audigy 4 PCI boards are now much more tolerant
> than
> the old Soundblaster cards when it comes to IRQ sharing, do they still
> insist on IRQ5 to themselves?
>
> TIA
> Gary
>
>

 

[gary]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.tech,microsoft.public.win2000.general (More info?)

> PCI cards can't insist on an IRQ, they can't even request one.
Okay, for "insist" read: "unless they're using IRQ5 by itself, then you'll
almost certainly encounter problems"... ;-)

I'm aware of how IRQ allocation works and how to free up IRQs, my question
was as to whether the later Creative cards, such as the Audigy 4, are less
prone to such problems as their predecessors. I cross-posted to the Win2k NG
because I thought that might throw up more relevant replies.

Regards
Gary

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.tech,microsoft.public.win2000.general (More info?)

Gary <gary@deletethisbitfranklin49.nospamfreeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>Okay, for "insist" read: "unless they're using IRQ5 by itself, then you'll
>almost certainly encounter problems"... ;-)

While there's all sort of reasons why sharing interrupts can cause
problems, I've never heard of it actually mattering what IRQ number
a PCI card is assigned. However, even sharing interrupts is far from
certain to cause problems these days.

>I'm aware of how IRQ allocation works and how to free up IRQs, my question
>was as to whether the later Creative cards, such as the Audigy 4, are less
>prone to such problems as their predecessors.

Presumably the newer cards would have a newer drivers which would be less
likely to have bugs related to interrupt sharing, but that won't help
you if your problem is caused by bugs in your BIOS, operating system,
or motherboard.

Ross Ridge

--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/u/rridge/
db //

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.tech,microsoft.public.win2000.general (More info?)

I believe the IRQ sharing problem has been resolved with newer operating
systems (like Win XP).
and newer designs in bios (newer motherboards).
So I would say to hold off on a new sound card until you are ready to
get a new motherboard and use Win XP.
And yes, new sound cards are better at using different IRQ.

What are the reasons for switching to an Audigy 4?

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz's sound card will have less problems then a Creative
labs 1024 or Live card.
And you can get a used Santa Cruz off EBay for less then $20.

"Gary" <gary@deletethisbitfranklin49.nospamfreeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
news:dfc4m7$m13$1@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk...
> Am contemplating upgrading to the Audigy 4 soundcard, am currently using
> an
> old Creative Live 1024. The latter tends to stutter and clicks under Win2k
> and Abit KR7a MB, which appears to be an IRQ sharing problem which I've
> been
> unable to resolve.
> I'd like to know if the Audigy 4 PCI boards are now much more tolerant
> than
> the old Soundblaster cards when it comes to IRQ sharing, do they still
> insist on IRQ5 to themselves?
>
> TIA
> Gary
>
>

 

[gary]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.tech,microsoft.public.win2000.general (More info?)

"tod" <no_spam_i@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:HvKSe.6266$Wd7.1384@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> I believe the IRQ sharing problem has been resolved with newer operating
> systems (like Win XP).
> and newer designs in bios (newer motherboards).
> So I would say to hold off on a new sound card until you are ready to
> get a new motherboard and use Win XP.
> And yes, new sound cards are better at using different IRQ.

The stuttering I get is the same in XP. I thought XP was dreadful, hence I
use Win2k. Note that I didn't get the problem when using Win98, using the
same motherboard (Abit KR7A)


> What are the reasons for switching to an Audigy 4?

I require a fairly high spec audio section (good SNR and low distortion),
along with optical/firewire ports, low latency MIDI and good performance
with games. Therefore the Audigy 4 is a reasonable compromise.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.tech,microsoft.public.win2000.general (More info?)

FWIW, the NT operating system is more demanding on the hardware than the
DOS based Windows variants, and use completely different drivers. You
can try moving the card to a different slot so as to not use the same
PCI interrupt as another high demand piece of hardware.(read AGP card).
The SW IRQ's are only for legacy support and have nothing to do with the
hardware PCI interrupts (A,B,C and D).

Gary wrote:

> "tod" <no_spam_i@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> news:HvKSe.6266$Wd7.1384@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
>
>>I believe the IRQ sharing problem has been resolved with newer operating
>>systems (like Win XP).
>>and newer designs in bios (newer motherboards).
>>So I would say to hold off on a new sound card until you are ready to
>>get a new motherboard and use Win XP.
>>And yes, new sound cards are better at using different IRQ.
>
>
> The stuttering I get is the same in XP. I thought XP was dreadful, hence I
> use Win2k. Note that I didn't get the problem when using Win98, using the
> same motherboard (Abit KR7A)
>
>
>
>>What are the reasons for switching to an Audigy 4?
>
>
> I require a fairly high spec audio section (good SNR and low distortion),
> along with optical/firewire ports, low latency MIDI and good performance
> with games. Therefore the Audigy 4 is a reasonable compromise.
>
>