Terratec DMX 6Fire: best card for both making music + playing games?!

Hi,

Could anyone please tell me which is the best dual-purpose soundcard, so
a card that is good for both making music and playing games?!

So, for music making, it would need things like good ASIO 2 drivers with
low latency for using VST instruments in Cubase, etc.. and for gaming it
would need to support all the standards that are being used in today's
games, like those from EASports which I play the most! And ofcourse I
would want a card that runs perfect and doesn't give any annoying
problems or whatever. Low CPU usage is also a good thing ofcourse. I
will install it in a new Pentium 4 running Windows XP in case this info
matters regarding drivers, OS related issues, etc..

Would the Terratec DMX 6Fire 24/96 be my best choice then, or is it
still best to get an Audigy since it has full game support and also has
an ASIO driver? What's the latency time with the ASIO driver of the DMX
6Fire by the way? To how low could I get it with a recent Pentium 4? I
believe I've read an article that said that the Audigy had lower ASIO
latency time then the DMX 6Fire? Is that correct? Or do you perhaps
recommend another soundcard?..

NOTE: Is it true that the DMX 6Fire, as opposed to the Audigy, doesn't
have Direct3DSound or something, which can give problems in games?!
Anybody can please clarify this?

PS: does the DMX 6Fire have those small line out connectors on the back
of the card to connect desktop monitors or does it only have the kind of
outputs that you find on a hifi stereo equipment?

Thanks in advance for all good feedback!!

Mike.

on Sun, 07 Sep 2003 06:37:20 GMT in news: told
the world:

> Would the Terratec DMX 6Fire 24/96 be my best choice then,
I would certainly wait until Terratec is able and willing to produce
drivers that work...

--
m i l e s

On this day of our lord, Sun, 07 Sep 2003 08:37:20 +0200,
ps quilled:


>Thanks in advance for all good feedback!!
>
>Mike.
I think the Directsound3D hardware acceleration applies to their
M-Audio Revolution and not the one you are looking at. Which is
strange considering the M-Audio is geared more towards the mass
market. I remember reading reviews for the M-Audio saying it doesn't
support hardware accelerated DS3D but maybe that has changed in more
recent drivers. I don't know.

http://www.hardwarezone.com/reviews/sound/dmx/dmx.htm
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/terratecdmx6fire/

Ah, yes, I just found this chart and I am right. It is just the
Terratec M-Audio Revolution that doesn't provide hardware Directsound
or Directsound3D. Big oversight on their part as I would have bought
one otherwise. The DMX you are looking at does provide hardware
acceleration so you are fine in that area. Look at the chart in the
middle of this page.

http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2...v/index.x?pg=1

Brian Jones wrote:

>Terratec M-Audio Revolution (...) doesn't provide hardware Directsound
>or Directsound3D. Big oversight on their part as I would have bought
>one otherwise. The DMX you are looking at does provide hardware
>acceleration so you are fine in that area. Look at the chart in the
>middle of this page.
>
>http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2...v/index.x?pg=1


Hi Brian,

I have not had a look at the URL, but, while Terratec is indeed the
maker of the DMX Fire, I can tell you for sure that Terratec does not
make the 'M-Audio Revolution' USB card.

Instead, the manufacturer of the Revolution is the company 'M-Audio'.
M-Audio creates pretty sophisticated Audio recording cards/equipment,
and more, like midi controllers (labeled 'midiman') etc. The Revolution
is one of their latest and cheapest products.

Terratec has its own line of external USB sound cards.

Regards,
Fred

--
the gloomy future of computing: TCPA/TCG/Palladium/NGSCB/DRM FAQ

- english (original) http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html
- deutsch (transl.) http://moon.hipjoint.de/tcpa-palladium-faq-de.html