[floppybootstomp]

In my main machine I use an Asus Xonar DX2 pci-e sound card and imo it's the best sounding card I've ever heard and used, it's brought most of my games alive, particularly the Call Of Duty series online.

Some of you may recall I had problems with it when it came to the two latest titles from Bethesda Games, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3. Basically, they just crashed after about ten minutes play.

This problem was widely acknowledged and discussed in many Forums and proved to be a disappointment with an otherwise excellent sound card.

The good news is that the last driver from Asus for this sound card appears to have resolved the problem.

I installed the driver and this evening re- installed Fallout 3 and applied the two patches up to V1.1.0.35.

I had left Oblivion installed.

I set Fallout 3 to all the graphic options maxed out (on the system shown in my signature) and have just played to about half-way through Level Three (Megaton City) with no problems whatsoever. The game runs fluid, looks gorgeous and this time I decided to play not only as a girl but a thoroughly nasty character as well.

I have the game installed on my AMD machine where I've been playing as a male and Mr Nice Guy (I swear I'm doing better as a horrible git, lol).

Then I played about half hour of Oblivion, side-quests as I've finished the main game, and again no problems.

I'm really rather pleased about this but it did take Asus almost a year to sort the problem out.

I must stress this sound card has had no problems with any other games or applications, just those two Bethesda titles.

So, if you'd been considering the Asus Xonar DX2 pci-e card, maybe this information is helpful to you.

I paid about £110.00 for my Asus card, it now only costs about £80.00 which is the same price as some of the higher end Creative cards. In my opinion a far superior alternative to the Creative cards now this problem has been sorted.

[TriplexDread]

What speakers are you using mate?

[floppybootstomp]

Originally Posted by TriplexDread

What speakers are you using mate?

Speakers that were only produced for a short time and are no longer manufactured, they're about 5 years old now.

Hercules XPS 5.100 Series, a 5.1 setup.

On a Soundblaster Audigy 2 they sounded lacklustre, on a Creative X-Fi Audio they sounded good and on this Asus card they sound quite incredible.

Which leads me to believe I may be better off upgrading to something better, top-end Logi's for instance.

On this Hercules setup the rear speakers are on floor stands seated at ear height, just to the rear of my ears.

[floppybootstomp]

I spoke too soon - ten minutes into play this evening Fallout 3 crashed again

Apart from this glitch I still like this Asus Sound Card but what do I do?

Sell it and buy something else?

I paid £110.00 for it, it now sells for £80.00 which means I'd only get about £40.00 for it.

Or do I just get resigned to the fact I'll just play it on my AMD machine (Creative X-Fi Audio and Win XP)?

I definitely don't want to buy a Creative card (moral and ethical reasons which I won't list here right now) so that leaves just the Auzentech range for gaming as far as I know.

Bloody frustrating

[Alf]

Its a shame that your drivers are causing the problem, or so it seems.

For a speaker recommendation, I suggest taking a look at Logitech Z-5500 speakers. They quite a bit of 'oomph' too them and they have been well received even 3 years later. I have a set an I don't even have to set them at half volume - they do get rather loud!

[Ian]

Does your motherboard have onboard sound Flops? If so, could you temporarily use that when you play Fallout 3 - as it seems a shame to have to spend so much money just to play a few games when it works so well for most.

[floppybootstomp]

Originally Posted by Ian Cunningham

Does your motherboard have onboard sound Flops? If so, could you temporarily use that when you play Fallout 3 - as it seems a shame to have to spend so much money just to play a few games when it works so well for most.

That's an idea isn't it?

I'm wondering though if I load the sound drivers and enable the sound in the BIOS will the Asus card automatically mute?

[floppybootstomp]

I've just searched the Asus site and there are no new driver updates for the card.

I also joined the Asus forum and posted this:

Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion both play for 10 to 30 minutes then the computer freezes with the sound card permanently oscillating. Call Of Juarez with the DX10 patch just won't run at all, it just crashes on opening.

Using the Xonar D2X pci-e soundcard with latest drivers 6.12.8.1765 from March 09 and the patch V1.0 from 16-06-09.

Brief system specs: Asus P5B Deluxe Motherboard Bios V1101 (Last non-beta version); BFG 9800GTX 512Mb video card; Intel Core 2 Duo 6600 CPU 2.4Ghz not overclocked; 4Gb Corsair DDR2 8400 Memory; Vista 32 Bit SP1.

The card works fine with these games, amongst others: Bioshock; Call Of Duty 4; Call Of Duty WAW; Orange Box (Half Life 2 series); Halo 2; Left For Dead Painkiller; GRID; GTR Evolution; Microsoft Flight Simulator X; Far Cry 2; Grand Theft Auto IV.

So it seems Asus have got it almost right but almost right isn't good enough is it?

The card, incidentally, sounds great (when it works) I'm using a 5.1 speaker system.

Is there any chance that Asus might pull their finger out and design a driver that allows me to play the two Bethesda game titles and Call of Juarez or do I bung the D2X on E-Bay and go back to a Creative X-Fi or an Auzentech card because this state of affairs is extremely frustrating.

Or does anybody here have any suggestions to make this card work properly? Would be extremely grateful for any suggestions. I have had a brief look round the forum and disabling GX made no difference to the problem.

There are lots of instances with people suffering the same problems as me and worse but nobody else seems to have mentioned Call Of Juarez.

I downloaded the latest sound drivers for Vista 32 Bit for my motherboard, unzipped them and I have a ROM file

What do I do with that then? Maybe Asus are assuming I already have onboard sound drivers installed and the ROM is an update to be applied within Device manager? Confusing.

Maybe I should just apply the drivers from the Mother board CD from November 2006 but I'm wondering whether they will work in Vista or not.

I also figured that if I use onboard sound I have to swap over the three 3.5mm jack plugs each time I want to play Fallout 3. Not really ideal

I'm loathe to use a Creative card, I just don't like Creative for various reasons and even the good Auzentech cards use an X-Fi chipset.

Hmm. Thinking, considering, wondering.

[Ian]

Originally Posted by floppybootstomp

That's an idea isn't it?

I'm wondering though if I load the sound drivers and enable the sound in the BIOS will the Asus card automatically mute?

I don't think it would auto mute, but you could create a clever batch file that enables your onboard sound card in device manager and disables the other when you load a game. Bit of a pain to do, but would be a good stop-gap solution

[floppybootstomp]

Funny you should mention a batch file, I went to make one the other day to play Quake in Win98 then realised I'd forgotten how to write one

I have some notes somewhere, in this notebook I made years ago, about DOS, including how to write a Batch file but can't find the damn thing...

Quake wasn't a problem actually, I just created a shortcut to the Quake .exe file and stuck it on the desktop.

I am going to find that notebook though

I actually just played another hour or so of Fallout 3, just visited the Super Duper Mart and am now on my way to find the Radio Station. But it crashed.

I think playing an hour or so, saving often, is probably preferable to constantly swapping out 3 jack plugs and enabling onboard sound.

Seriously leaning towards an Auzentech card though or I may even knuckle under and buy a Creative card

Hell, if it works, anything for an easy life...

Or I could even put my Creative X-Fi Audio card back but the Asus sounds so much better.