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Which Philips Card?? -or- Suck It Creative!

GoodRevrnd

GoodRevrnd

Diamond Member
I bought my girlfriend some Altec Lansing 621's for her listening pleasure (since she has no seperate mini system or anything). However, I need to replace the sound card because A) it is crap, and B) it causes all sorts of lockups and errors on her comp. I've decided on a Philips card, but which one should I get? I obviously don't need 5.1 so I can go all the way down to Rythmic edge in that regard, but is there a difference in quality? I'd also prefer to keep this at or below $50.

EDIT:
Is there a difference between the RYTHMIC EDGE II PSC70317 at MWave and the RYTHMIC EDGE PS703 SC-PCI 3D 4CHANNEL WAV I see everywhere else?
 
i don't have much experience w/ the philips cards. sorry.

but for a little more you could snag a "turtle beach santa cruz". they're really nice cards. on a budget i'd recomend a Live!.
 
Yeah, but the Philips card is a vastly better gaming card than the Santa Cruz (I have both). The Acoustic Edge is the top dog, but for all practical purposes, the *new* Seismic Edge is probably the best all-around sound card of the Philips line. It now sports the same Thunderbird Avenger DSP as the Acoustic Edge only without all the fancy bells and whistles.

The only thing I don't like about my AE is that it's got a noticably higher CPU overhead than either my Santa Cruz or Audigy, but then again if you have a fairly fast computer, you'd probably never miss it.

 
The Philips cards are nice. I had the Acoustic Edge until last week. I'd recommend it. If mine didn't
crap out, I'd still be running it.

Now running the Turtle Beach card. I'd recommend this card as well. I actually like this card better
than the Philips, although both are great cards.

Personally, I avoid SB's, but mainly because I've had problems running them in Via based mobo's.

I've seen reviews on the cheapy Hercules card (about $30, I think). You get what you pay for, but
the review I saw also noted it was the most bang for the buck. Never heard one, or known anyone that
had one, so you are on your own with that particular card.
 
Is there a difference between the RYTHMIC EDGE II PSC70317 at MWave and the RYTHMIC EDGE PS703 SC-PCI 3D 4CHANNEL WAV I see everywhere else?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure, but I believe they're the same card. The Rythmic Edge to avoid is the older PS702, which does NOT use the TB Avenger sound chip. I have a two of the Herc Muse XL's in a couple of my back up machines. They're good cards for the money (under $20), but these C-Media based cards are not in the same class as the Santa Cruz, Audigy, or upper echelon Philips cards. I had a Herc Fortissimo II at one time also. This card (CS4624) uses a stepped down version of the CS4630 sound chip used in the Santa Cruz and Herc GTXP. Not a bad card for the price either, but I think the SC sound a bit better.
 
So all 3 of the *new* Philips cards use the Thunderbird Avenger chip and will produce the same sound over 2.1 channels? This will not really be used for gaming. Music only.
 
I have the Audigy and I simply love it. A lot of the crap that is spewed about Creative's supposed "bloatware" or being required to install the CD software first before you download the drivers is just plain false.
 
Originally posted by: BFG10K
I have the Audigy and I simply love it. A lot of the crap that is spewed about Creative's supposed "bloatware" or being required to install the CD software first before you download the drivers is just plain false.
Click to expand...

Nothing personal, but I have an Audigy Gamer and simply hate it! 🙂 Some have no problems with it, while others do. It's too bad really, for the audio clarity is very good, but the glitches I have are inexcuseable(sp).
 
current seismic owner here..

and i love it. mine is pcs705 .. today i've seen new philips card for $24 at bestbuy.. for $50 for new ... XXXXXXXXedge.. i forgot name.. model was pcs605..

good luck
 
I used a 706 Acoustic Edge and a 705 Seismic Edge. I sold off my Acoustic Edge a little while ago and picked up an Audigy OEM because it had firewire and I didn't feel like dedicating another slot and IRQ to a firewire card -- BAD decision. The Audigy has been mediocre at best. Creative's driver support is horrible; you're lucky to get an updated release every 6-12 months. Plus they only release upgrades to existing drivers. That means that during a fresh install you'll need to dig up your original driver CD, install it, and then patch it with the latest update. As if that wasn't enough, you have to wait in line to download drivers from Creative's site (a la FilePlanet). And when you're done waiting in line, you're lucky to get 10k/sec for the download speed. I could go on and on.

On the bright side, I was able to score a Seismic Edge for around $15 a month or two ago (thank you AT hot deals 🙂) and installed it in my dad's computer. Great card. Drivers are top notch and it works flawlessly in his VIA setup. I'm now in the process of looking for an Acoustic or Seismic Edge to replace my Audigy. Whatever you do, stay away from Creative.
 
Seismic Edge gets my vote. I was able to get one of the "new" models for $29 - delivered from an E-Bay auction. I pulled out my dying Sound Blaster Live! - and never looked back.
 
In the past two months or so I replaced my SB Live! with an Acoustic Edge. Wow, what a difference. I don't care what anyone says, the AE blows away the Live! in terms of positional audio and music playback. The Rhytmic Edge and Seismic Edge both use the same DSP, so I assume sound quality is the same. I think the only difference between the RE and SE is the S/PDIF In is not on the Seismic Edge, or something along those lines. It simply lacks some of the connectivity of the other card. However, it sounds like it will be perfect for your purposes.
 
Would any of these be a decent upgrade for my Diamond Monster MX300? I use 2.1 sound only...mostly music while I work, some games.
 
Nothing personal, but I have an Audigy Gamer and simply hate it! Some have no problems with it, while others do. It's too bad really, for the audio clarity is very good, but the glitches I have are inexcuseable(sp).
Click to expand...

2 years with my SBLive in my old VIA board (KT133) & no problems,1 year now with my Audigy and VIA (KT266A)Epox board & no problems period,I do game a lot everyday as well,I`ll say the Philips sound cards are great and very good choices,with Philips I would go with the Seismic Edge ,infact it`s the same card as the Philips AE apart from no SPDIF input(both have SPDIF output).

🙂

 
Originally posted by: alkemyst
Would any of these be a decent upgrade for my Diamond Monster MX300? I use 2.1 sound only...mostly music while I work, some games.
Click to expand...

Depending on your speakers, yes/no. I had an Aureal SQ2500(slightly better than the MX300, but essentially the same) that I never had problems with(in Win98). When I replaced it with my Audigy, the most notable thing was the increased clarity. So, if you have good speakers, you'll likely get better sound with an upgrade, but poor speakers probably won't get better quality sound.
 
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