I hope you fellow AnandTech readers will excuse yet another post on this subject, but I just have to know that I'm making the right soundcard choice here. Less than a month ago, I bought a SBLive! Platinum 5.1 for my KK266-R-based system, and I'm really down on the fact that it seems like I flushed the money down the john. 
According to some, I shouldn't be having any problems at all. I don't run Win2k (just ME and Red Hat 7.1), I have the newest 4-in-1's from VIA, and I have the newest BIOS for my motherboard. But the damn thing has just never been stable, and that is something I can't deal with. I'm willing to put down more money for a better soundcard, but I want to have as good an idea as possible what to expect ahead of time.
The TB Santa Cruz and the GameTheater XP seem like the best alternatives. I'm leaning toward the GTXP because of the breakout box; if I must sacrifice the Live!Drive, I want the best available alternative. But there appear to be subtle differences in codec support and driver maturity/stability between the two. Is this the case? Things which are most important to me are: 5.1 DVD playback (via my 5.1-ready amplifier), 3D sound for games (doesn't have to be 5.1), and of course system stability.
If anyone thinks it might be possible to rehabilitate my system without ditching the Live! 5.1, I'm willing to listen. Any help you can give will be appreciated. Thanks!
According to some, I shouldn't be having any problems at all. I don't run Win2k (just ME and Red Hat 7.1), I have the newest 4-in-1's from VIA, and I have the newest BIOS for my motherboard. But the damn thing has just never been stable, and that is something I can't deal with. I'm willing to put down more money for a better soundcard, but I want to have as good an idea as possible what to expect ahead of time.
The TB Santa Cruz and the GameTheater XP seem like the best alternatives. I'm leaning toward the GTXP because of the breakout box; if I must sacrifice the Live!Drive, I want the best available alternative. But there appear to be subtle differences in codec support and driver maturity/stability between the two. Is this the case? Things which are most important to me are: 5.1 DVD playback (via my 5.1-ready amplifier), 3D sound for games (doesn't have to be 5.1), and of course system stability.
If anyone thinks it might be possible to rehabilitate my system without ditching the Live! 5.1, I'm willing to listen. Any help you can give will be appreciated. Thanks!
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