Vista 5.1 Soundcard

[crazyfool]

Hey all,
Just been playing around with vista on my computer to try and make it louder as at full volume it isn't as loud as xp and i realised its to do with vista not supporting 5.1 or something as my speakers are 5.1. If i set it up as 5.1 i can get sound from all speakers but it is still too quiet and there is no bass, whereas with stereo it seems to be louder but only 2 speakers work. therefore i am looking into buying a new sound card which will allow 5.1 playback through vista properly. Right now i am using the sound card which cam with my striker extreme. Not looking to spend too much tho 30ish quid at the most. Any suggestions on what card i should buy?

[Agent]

Vista supports 5.1 fine.

If the only issue you have is the volume being quieter in 5.1, the chances are its fixable.

[Uriel]

Firstly - where are you having problems? Games, movies or general usage?

Some soundcards have problems with Vista and surround sound in older games. Microsoft changed the way DirectSound3D is implemented. For anything other than games it shouldn't be a problem.

For movies, you will require a 5.1 decoder. This can either be software based (e.g. with some versions of powerdvd, windvd etc), perfomed by your soundcard hardware, or you can sometimes pass the signal to an external decoder (such as an AV amp). You might find that you have some software installed in XP that you don't have in Vista that allows surround sound.

If it's games you're having problems with, Creative X-Fi and Audigy series cards have a program called Alchemy that restores the surround sound functionality. Many people have had problems with Creative cards and Vista, myself being one of them. I'd steer away from using them, although an Audigy series of X-Fi Xtremeaudio might get your surround sound working for the price. Alternatively, I'd say save your money for now and save up to get an Asus Xonar D2 or DX (depending on whether you need PCI or PCI-E).

[MarkyP]

it sounds like a driver issue to me have you tried to update the sounds drivers?