Well yesterday I upgraded from a creative labs 5.1 card (maybe 4 or 5 years old) and a 2.1 Altec Lansing speaker setup (which were alright) to a Creative Labs Audigy2Zs (oem) http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?...il.php&DisplayProductID=5349&SID=44709 and a Logitech 5300e Speaker set http://www.memoryexpress.com/index.php?...il.php&DisplayProductID=5105&SID=44709
The install of the new card went smooth and the drivers on the CD got me rolling at least to setup and configure the card (after I remembered to change my sound settings from a 2.1 to a 5.1 setup
) I updated to the most recent drivers from the logitech site which include EAX 4.0 support. After the restart with the drivers, I had a few error messages after the PC rebooted about certain files not found. The sound worked fine and the drivers were updated... I rebooted again to see if the problem would persist but the errors no longer occured (probably something in the 'run once' bit of the registry that was removed after the drivers were installed... it seemed like a minor issue)
The logitech 5300s seemed like a pretty decent build. All the speakers / sub etc. seemed quite durable, the satelites can be on a desk, or by pivoting the base can be wall mounted without any extra brackets etc. Pretty slick. My only grievance with the setup is the length of cables (both front and rear) the rears in particular. My computer room isn't very large, maybe 12' x 12' but the rear speakers just barely make it to the side of me when I'm sitting at the desk (and they're on the floor to boot). A trip to radio shack for a couple male / female RCA cables is definitely in order to set them up properly... for the cost of cable, it's a shame logitech didn't make the cables another 8 or 10' longer. I'm undecided yet on the remote... it is great to have if you're playing a game and want to adjust the volume, base etc. but the LEDs on it (which I recall another thread about the general use of leds...) are abnormally bright... the red ones are almost like lasers if they catch your eye.
The sound, A W E S O M E - I only had time to try out a few games, the older one neverwinter nights (which has full eax 5.1 > 7.1 support), BF2 which was absolutely jaw dropping when the choppers fly over top or a det pak goes off near you and lastly CIV 4 which sounded the same as my old setup I may have just been more surprised at the 5.1 than the actual bits or sampling rates of the card etc. but none the less, when buying things computer related, it is nice to be able to notice the effects of an upgrade and oh boy is there ever a difference
Total price after taxes etc. was about $280.00 CDN but well worth it. My last live card lasted me 4+ years, I suspect this setup will last another 4.
The install of the new card went smooth and the drivers on the CD got me rolling at least to setup and configure the card (after I remembered to change my sound settings from a 2.1 to a 5.1 setup
) I updated to the most recent drivers from the logitech site which include EAX 4.0 support. After the restart with the drivers, I had a few error messages after the PC rebooted about certain files not found. The sound worked fine and the drivers were updated... I rebooted again to see if the problem would persist but the errors no longer occured (probably something in the 'run once' bit of the registry that was removed after the drivers were installed... it seemed like a minor issue)The logitech 5300s seemed like a pretty decent build. All the speakers / sub etc. seemed quite durable, the satelites can be on a desk, or by pivoting the base can be wall mounted without any extra brackets etc. Pretty slick. My only grievance with the setup is the length of cables (both front and rear) the rears in particular. My computer room isn't very large, maybe 12' x 12' but the rear speakers just barely make it to the side of me when I'm sitting at the desk (and they're on the floor to boot). A trip to radio shack for a couple male / female RCA cables is definitely in order to set them up properly... for the cost of cable, it's a shame logitech didn't make the cables another 8 or 10' longer. I'm undecided yet on the remote... it is great to have if you're playing a game and want to adjust the volume, base etc. but the LEDs on it (which I recall another thread about the general use of leds...) are abnormally bright... the red ones are almost like lasers if they catch your eye.
The sound, A W E S O M E - I only had time to try out a few games, the older one neverwinter nights (which has full eax 5.1 > 7.1 support), BF2 which was absolutely jaw dropping when the choppers fly over top or a det pak goes off near you and lastly CIV 4 which sounded the same as my old setup
I may have just been more surprised at the 5.1 than the actual bits or sampling rates of the card etc. but none the less, when buying things computer related, it is nice to be able to notice the effects of an upgrade and oh boy is there ever a difference Total price after taxes etc. was about $280.00 CDN but well worth it. My last live card lasted me 4+ years, I suspect this setup will last another 4.
Facebook
Twitter