The cmi 8738 is really a nice chip. It sound as good( i think 4.1 is better than) my sblive and monster mx300. Also doesn't suffer from any bugs like my friend other cards.
No wonder why all the oem are it for their motherboards.
I have notice that its cpu usage is a bit higher (xp1500), like 2-3 % compared to my 0-2% on for sblive + aureal cards.
disabled onboard ac 97 on msi 6366 with gf3ti2 and cel 466 (no oc), run quake 3 on fastest... 92.3 fps
enabled, 52.6 fps
think this is a great deal -- sub $20 6 channel sound card
I have the C-Media sound chip on my old shuttle AK35GTR and my Asus AMD760MPX board and they both sound great. Alos you can get new drivers from windowsupdate.com
Anybody receive this specific card yet? Does it support SPDIF OUT?
C-media's website is confusing regarding features of the 8738 chipset.
They have a table with X's and O's. I'm not sure if the X means included or not.
This sound card beats the pants off of my old SB Live Value card. It's definetely worth the upgrade.
My Old Altec Lansing ACS45's sound like speakers now, instead of muddled sound.
This is a very good deal on a very decent sound solution. Anyone looking for an inexpensive replacement for software AC'97, or looking to replace an aging Soundblaster Live or earlier, would do well to pick up one of these.
I personally like grabbing the Montego II cards for around $10 on fleabay instead of this card. I ran into problems with my Iwill KK266a board which used this chip because it was high on the cpu usage but when I switched to the Montego II, all the problems with stuttering went away. I agree that it is better than the AC97 and SBlive (also VERY high in CPU usage and bloated software) so I like the Montego II.
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