This game doesn't rely on EAX but DirectSound. The only option available in the sound options are the number of voices and volume levels. So, here we can see what how 'run of the mill' games will behave on all these cards. While there are differences, the performance of the Live! 24 and both Audigy cards is identical (only within 1 fps of each other), regardless of whether you use 16 or 32 hardware channels in this game. Funny how the Audigy 2 Value is faster than the ZS, but that's probably nothing.
Unlike F1 Career Challenge, sounds in Nascar 2003 is ever present. Nascar also has an option to utilize 3D sound, so we tested both at default settings (2D audio, 12 channels) and highest quality settings (3D audio, 24 channels). So, we're seeing a slightly different picture with this game. The Live! 24 bit is around 5 to 6 fps slower (10 percent) than both Audigy cards when pushing 24 hardware channels in 3D. Looks like we've finally found the Live! 24 bit's Achilles heel.
This game is the only one in our test that supports EAX 4 Advanced HD. We did some test using EAX 4 Advanced HD and found no difference in performance and sound output. This just proves that using a higher version of EAX doesn't automatically provide better performance or gaming experience. Performance under default and highest quality sound setting is virtually the same on Live! 24 bit, Audigy 2 Value and Audigy 2 ZS.
Conclusion:
From the looks of things, it seems that the Live! 24 bit offers solid performance, even when compared to add-on cards such as the Audigy 2 Value and Audigy 2 ZS. If you're using the add-on version, you probably will only get 2 fps lower in most games. The onboard version comes with a bit of a bonus - faster transfer rate with other parts of the system. As you can see, this can help frame rates, particularly in games which are not system limited.For the budget conscious gamer, add-on cards may seem like a luxury but not for serious gamers who really want the best. Well, now with the onboard Live! 24 bit, even the budget conscious gamer can now enjoy much of the features and performance of more expensive add-on sound cards, without sacrificing sound quality - at least when gaming is concerned. If you're a serious gamer, you might want to reconsider your decision before buying an add-on sound card, particularly Creative's Audigy 2 series. It might be better to jump to X-Fi instead (but that's another article).
It's quite interesting to see that the onboard solution offer more performance, we noted earlier that this is probably because it can communicate faster with the other parts of the system (processor, hard drive). If this is really the case, perhaps Creative (and other sound card manufacturers) have to consider offering a PCI Express solution as well.
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