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Well according to its spec, the Gigabyte H61N-USB3 has Realtek ALC889 HD, and according to Realtek website, the ALC889 HD is compatible with EAX and Aureal 3D.

I'm going to use this board for my "legacy" Windows XP mini-ITX system. But pardon my stupid questions, since I've never bothered with Realtek for games before.

(1) Does the Realtek ALC889HS supports EAX in any motherboard? Including the Gigabyte H16N-USB3? I'm going to use Realtek R2.71 driver from Guru 3D as well as DTS Connect/Dolby Digital Live unlock, instead of using the default Realtek R2.71 driver from Gigabyte. Can I use EAX with R2.71 driver?

(2) How do I, uh, "activate" EAX from Realtek Audio Manager? Again, this could be a very stupid question, but my experience with Realtek is limited to AC97 codec on laptops. I've never bothered Realtek for games before, I usually use dedicated sound card for that. Does EAX/Aureal 3D needs to be "activated" from Realtek Audio Manager (using checkbox, etc) , or is it a "passive" feature, that doesn't need to be "activated", that will run automatically whenever I select EAX feature from a game?

Thanks.

So, um, help?

I seem to recall reading that the software-based EAX for Realtek did not work very well, and only supported older versions of the EAX standard. Probably not worth the trouble.

JBI wrote:

I seem to recall reading that the software-based EAX for Realtek did not work very well

My recollection was that it was completely broken, and basically didn't work correctly at all.

But yeah, it was years ago and it was only purported to support like EAX 1 & 2.

I'm with JBI, don't bother.

Ok. I went and looked real quick: http://techreport.com/blog/12449/eax-st ... io-drivers

just brew it! wrote:

I seem to recall reading that the software-based EAX for Realtek did not work very well, and only supported older versions of the EAX standard. Probably not worth the trouble.

Well, this is for a legacy system anyway - to max AA and AF in old games like WarCraft III and Hostile Waters, so I'm really interested to try out EAX on those old games. I wonder if EAX support is still broken in Realtek ALC 889.

Nonetheless, do you still need special modded drivers (like this one) to enable EAX, or would any driver do? I'll be using Windows XP for the legacy system, by the way.

If you're building a legacy machine to play legacy games, and you specifically want EAX to function as intended, there is no substitute for Creative hardware. It's coupled to horrendous software, but it *is* the reference standard.

I'd recommend an Audigy 2 ZS if you have a PCI slot to put it in. Something like an X-Fi if you need it to be PCIe.

Edit: Oh, just looked at your link. You will not be getting EAX. That's a bummer, but you will not be getting "real" EAX via software only. Might as well use WinXP in a VM on more capable hardware, the quality of emulation will be the same.

Forge wrote:

If you're building a legacy machine to play legacy games, and you specifically want EAX to function as intended, there is no substitute for Creative hardware. It's coupled to horrendous software, but it *is* the reference standard.

I'd recommend an Audigy 2 ZS if you have a PCI slot to put it in. Something like an X-Fi if you need it to be PCIe.

Edit: Oh, just looked at your link. You will not be getting EAX. That's a bummer, but you will not be getting "real" EAX via software only. Might as well use WinXP in a VM on more capable hardware, the quality of emulation will be the same.

So I'll only get EAX emulation, which is probably sub-standard. Yet I still wonder if EAX on Realtek only work in certain drivers or all drivers? How about R2.71?

PS: at worst, I could just an external sound card that supports both EAX an Aureal 3D, like Xonar U7.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

PS: at worst, I could just an external sound card that supports both EAX an Aureal 3D, like Xonar U7.

Friends don't let friends buy Xonars.

You heard it here first, folks.

I have no news on the U7 specifically (especially since if it worked right, it'd be perfect for me), but I have heard/felt about the D* series' drivers.