|
Introduction:::...
There can't be many people
out there who haven't heard the name Gainward
at some stage, though for most of you
I'm guessing you immediately think of
high spec graphics tweaked for maximum
performance.
Gainward's GoldenSample
range of graphics cards captured the imagination
by taking the best graphics chips around
and then overclocking them right out of
the box. This, they claimed, was possible
because of their unique relationship with
NVIDIA which allowed them to hand select
the very best GPUs from each batch produced.
After a fairly quiet latter
half of 2003 by Gainward's standards,
I was completely taken by surprise when
they announced that they were introducing
a new product, and that this new product
was to be a 7.1 sound card!
After a while to come to
terms with the very idea of a Gainward
sound card, I pretty much convinced myself
that the NVIDIA tie-in was certain to
come into play and that what we were likely
to see would be some kind of stand-alone
SoundStorm product. I was wrong, and here's
why!
|
FEATURES
|
|
- Support speaker setup from 2-speaker
stereo up to 7.1 surround sound.
- 24-bit high fidelity resolution
of extreme audio performance
- Up to 96Khz analog audio playback
in 8 channels
- Up to 192Khz digital audio playback
through optical S/PDIF
- Optical digital output for MiniDisc
recorders and portable digital
devices
- Plug and Play installation
- Independent surround sound channel
volume control
- Support game surround sound
APIs such as Sensaura, DirectSound
- Microsoft Windows WDM drivers
- PCI 2.2 interface
|
VIA Envy24HT-S PCI Multi-Channel
Audio Controller
With the evolution of the Multimedia PC, audio has become
one of the essential features
of the personal computer. Whether
gaming, playing DVDs, listening
to MP3s, or talking to friends
over the internet, audio interfaces
provide the inputs and outputs
for the complete
media experience.
|
MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
|
- Intel Pentium II 450 MHz
or equivalent AMD CPU
- Motherboard with Intel/VIA
chipset
- 128MB of RAM
- One available PCI slot
- Microsoft Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP
operating system
|
|
|
The most immediate observation
here is the total lack of any kind of
EAX support. Love them or hate them, Creative
have a fairly hefty chunk of the market
sewn up with their impressive and improving
EAX technology, and their purchase of
Sensaura by Creative for a mere $6million
back at the beginning of December 2003
leaves some obviously huge question marks
over its future.
Let's look at the hardware!
|
