Soundblaster PCI 512 Score: 85% Developer: Creative

Function: Creative's purpose with the Soundblaster PCI 512 is to provide a high value sound card for the devout gamer and PC musician. With combined multi-speaker support via FourPointSurround and a moderately low price (49.99), the SB PCI 512 can satiate the most hard-core audio person while assuring that he doesn't have to file a Chapter 13.

Performance: The Soundblaster PCI 512 was subject to a slew of tests on our part. It was first benchmarked using ZD AudioBench 99 available from www.zdnet.com. It tests a variety of things like how well it can handle multiple voices, CPU usage and multi-speaker output. I hooked up the sound card to the suggested 4.1 speaker package made by Creative. It passed the benchmark with flying colors! The Soundblaster PCI 512 can handle a bundle of voices at one time without sounding muddy or muffled. It doesn't place a lot of stress on the CPU, whether it's passing out sound to two or four speakers. When linked to only two speakers, you can run a '3D emulation' that sounds very good mimicking a 4-speaker system. When hooked to four speakers, the sound is crisp and well-balanced. The only thing that it didn't handle too well was a 'progressive' sound, if you will. I found that a sound like a passing train seems to blip in the middle when going from the front speakers to the rear speakers. Of course, it's nothing that is constantly audible, and I only picked it out because it was what I was specifically listening for. When subject to 'real' tests like games, it did it's part to insure that I felt like I was part of the action. Explosions rock, engines roar, and machine guns rat-a-tatted like I've never heard. Music was consistently good for the most part. A few mp3's I played back blipped a little bit, whereas other sound cards didn't. Again though, it's something very minor.

Features: On-board hardware acceleration. Enjoy incredibly immersive 3D audio in real-time with award-winning EAX. Connect easily to FourPointSurround and stereo speakers with 4-channel analog audio support. Take advantage today of the widest range of audio, game, and multimedia titles. 32-bit, 48kHz digital signal processing and a patented 8-point interpolation. Capable of accurately rendering 3D positional audio using only two or four speaker configurations.

Drawbacks & Problems:: The Soundblaster PCI 512 is easy to install and very easy to find drivers for. That is essential as newer Operating Systems continue to grow and change. Creative is very good about posting drivers, so a potential problem is definitely avoided because of their constant vigilance. Perhaps the only real issue I had was the sound card's software interface. It's easy to navigate, and it comes with some great effects (for which you can add to any MIDI recordings thanks to its MIDI line-in), but if you don't turn these effects off, or realize how to set them, then your sound is subject to that effect. I played some hard hitting audio games like Medal of Honor Allied Assault, Tropico and Deus Ex (which comes with the Soundcard - whippee!) On a few, I found that my game was swathed in Reverb because the default Reverb was turned up to 100 percent. I had to call on all my technical knowledge just to figure out how to turn it off. The manual is a great read for first time sound carders and technical gurus alike. Riot Rundown: For this kind of value, the Soundblaster PCI 512 is a great deal. It provides excellent output to a 2.1 or 4.1 system. It does have its limitations, but nothing that should be aggravating unless you are a 24-7 gamer, or using 7,000,000-dollar software to make music. It's a great deal for the cost, and is ultimately the cheapest great quality sound card out there. If you're in the market for a nice, little sound card that is no-hassle, then this is a great card. Yet, if you find that you want a little more from your sound card, you could put out some extra money for a Soundblaster Live 5.1 or a Hercules Fortissimo II.

-Sydney Riot, GameVortex Communications AKA Will Grigoratos

Minimum System Requirements: Pentium 133 or faster equivalent, Intel or equivalent motherboard chipset, 16MB RAM, Win9x, NT, PCI 2.1 compliant slot, headphones or speakers, CD-ROM.   Test System: Athlon Duron 1 GHz, compatible motherboard, 320MB RAM, Win XP Pro and Win 2000 Pro, PCI 2.1 compliant slot, Creative 4.1 surround speakers, CD-ROM.