MODEL- SBPCI16 VENDOR- CREATIVE LABS FEATURES- Sound Blaster 16 PCI PCI 32-voice Wavetable Sound Card. 16-bit full duplex CD-quality audio with 32-voice wavetable synthesis; allows for use of headphones or speakers. Supports 2MB 4MB or 8MB wavetable sample sets utilizing system memory. -- SPECIFICATIONs --------------------------------------INTERFACE- 32-bit PCI SOFTWARE - Creative Multimedia Deck Creative SoundOLE Audio Mixer Audio Configuration Utility. MANUFACTURER WARRANTY: 1 YEAR
1 An effective basic soundcard
I keep a lot of computer equipment at home, due to the fact that I am an A+ technician working to complete my MCSE (microsoft certified systems engineer) credentials. I bought a pre-owned computer from ebay last month in order to practice setting up computer networks at home. This particular computer is a business-class desktop, designed more for the office environment rather than the typical entertainment PC that we would normally have at home. I decided to add DVD capability to this system, in order to enjoy a movie at my work desk whenever the mood strikes me to take a break from work (which happens quite frequently). I added a Sony DVD player, this particular Soundblaster soundcard, and a pair of Cambridge Soundworks speakers. Within thirty minutes, I was watching The Lord of Rings.
Now, about the Soundblaster. This is a very good Soundcard for its intended purpose. Which is to provide basic sound functionality to a desktop computer. The sound quality is good enough to enjoy listening to stereo sounds from music CDs and DVDs. But please, do not expect this card to provide you with theatre-like surround sound quality. This is definitely the wrong price range if you need that kind of quality.
I compared the sound quality of this office system to my primary home system. My home system is a Dell Dimension 8200, with a Turtle Beach Soundcard and the Altec Lansing surround system. I switched the mode of operation of the Altec Lansings from surround to stereo for comparison purposes between the two systems. Subjectively, you can definitely tell the difference between the two.
I can recommend this Soundblaster to anyone who is simply looking to add stereo sound to his or her desktop computer. It is inexpensive and easy to install. It will require the use of one of your PCI slots. For your information, I installed this card on an IBM 300PL desktop PC. The system has a Pentium III processor and 128 MB of RAM. It is running an evaluation copy of Windows 2000 Advanced Server. The DVD player is a Sony DDU1621 and the Monitor is a KDS 17 inch flat screen CRT. If you are interested, I wrote reviews on the KDS monitor and the Sony DVD player, here at Amazon.
2 Drivers are unreliable
I installed this card in a new home built computer. When I got Windows XP installed the sound came on and sounded fine with the generic drivers provided by Windows XP. I then proceeded to install the drivers that came with the sound card. After installing the Creative drivers I discovered the sound on some of my games was distorted. I rolled back the drivers to the generic XP drivers and the sounds returned to normal. The only problem is I have no access to the advanced features in the audio control panel. I can adjust volume control but I have no way to adjust the treble or bass or other effects. If I reinstall the Creative drivers those functions return but then so does the distortion.
3 Be careful what is written on the box
I purchased the Creative Sound Blaster 16 PCI card to replace my built in sound engine. The installation was simple, typical of a pci card. The inclosed directions to install the card were ample to do the job. They sell these items at Walmart so I took a look at the box before coming back to Amazon and buying at a better price. It does say on the box this card is Windows XP compatible. It will work but the drivers on the installation disk are not Microsoft "signed" which means you must force the driver installation. Again, not a big thing, Windows XP took the drivers and the card worked fine. Typical of using any software or hardware in Windows XP, it is a good idea to go online immediately for an XP compatable/updated driver. That I did, found one from Creative's website; downloaded and installed it. Here is where you must be very careful. My very latest version of Windows XP/SP1 loaded this latest driver and then the sound system promptly shutdown. No sound at all came from the speakers. I rebooted a couple of times thinking the reset would correct the problem. It didn't nor did XP indicate a problem with the hardware or driver in the system/hardware file. Fortunately XP allowed me to go back to the earlier driver and the sound was back on. So if you have Windows XP and this card, be sure not to destroy the installation cd because Creative's new driver does not work on XP, at least not on mine.
The sound from the card is just fine. I don't really see much of a difference between this card and my original onboard AC97 engine but I spent the money so I'll keep it. Maybe a new set of speaks will help.
4 Terrible performance! No way to uninstall!
Even though this is a very low end card, I expected performance at least on par with the integrated sound. Unfortunately, I was disappointed to find that the sound stuttered badly, especially in games and during playback with Windows Media Player. I wasn't upset, however, until I tried to uninstall the drivers (for the purpose of installing my higher end sound card), when I discovered that all uninstall efforts crashed my computer. I have tried to uninstall several different ways (with the help of 2 different Creative technical support folks and the Creative knowledge base), and the drivers are STILL installed! Needless to say, if I ever get these drivers off, I will be purchasing a sound card from a different manufacturer.
5 not bad
basic entry level card. has mic/line-in ...and sterio out. good value if you ask me...
6 Not impressed
I had alot of problems with this card. The legacy drivers provided are worthless. I had crashes and automatic reboots all the time. The customer support at Creative Labs is laughable. They provide driver updates and there's no documentation provided. I updated my card and it REMOVED my legacy drivers. I could no longer hear sound, at all, in my older applications. No warning, no explanation, nothing. The sound quality was good, with newer games and CD's, but nothing special. The documentation provided was sparse and not very detailed. I took this thing back to the store and exchanged it for the "Turtle Beach: Santa Cruz" sound card. Huge difference. My advice is to just spend the extra money and buy the Santa Cruz. You wont be sorry.
7 Good low-end, no-hassle card
This is a basic sound card. Nothing fancy. The thing that seperates it from the rest is that Creative is a huge company and has drivers available for all Windows (the Linux/BSD world probably supports this thing, I haven't checked). This is as close to plug and play as you can get.
That guy who ranted about this card crashing his system needs to buy a clue and check his IRQs, not to mention dump Windows ME (which *Microsoft* doesn't even stand by).
8 Ok for the price and basic functions
This is a basic low-end sound card. It puts out pretty good sound for most things you do on your computer. It comes with some ok software and all the cables to connect to your cd-rom drive so you can rip your cds directly from the cd-rom. The drivers are included for all windows including xp.
Why you wouldn't want this card
If you are a gamer or listen to high quality mp3 (over 128 bitrate), 128 or less will sound fine with this card
I don't understand people having driver support because creative labs is the biggest sound card company on the market and one thing you will not have to worry about is driver support with any current or future versions of windows
9 Don't even bother...
I have a new system with Windows ME, and I might as well unplug the speakers. This sound card is worthless unless you're running a system from five years ago. The problem doesn't end there, this sound card crashes games and locks the computer up. I've tooled around with other generic cards from companies that are now out of business, and they ran better. Worthless.
10 Creative Soundblaster PCI16
Perfectly satisfactory, but I immediately realized I needed a more intricate,expensive sound card for my purposes.
11 Easy as pie
Popped it into a Win98 refurb that came without a soundcard. No problem with this card and just a little bit with the software; may have been the operator. A few minutes later, installed everything else that came on CD, then it all went together perfectly.
12 Still Won't Work
I have installed, uninstalled and reinstalled the CT4740 numerous times and it still does not work properly in a Win98 environment. Customer support is minimal at best. Would not recommend it to anyone.
13 Terrible performance
From the very first time I put this in my PC it didn't work as it should. Tech support was useless. DO NOT purchase this junk!!
14 OK
This is an inexpensive peice of hardware with decent support. However, I had trouble getting the system to see it is the beginning, though I am not sure if it was trouble with the card, or Win98...
For the price, it is ok.
15 This won't replace the old SB16 ISA
This card will never replace the old ISA sound blaster cards since the OPL chip is absent, it uses wavetable synthesis for midi instead, that means that when playing a midi file you'll hear "real" instruments instead of that cheap and artificial midi sound from the old ISA soundcards in general. That's a good point, but I think any PCI card can do wavetable. So what's the problem with this card? The problem is when you want to play old DOS games that are compatible with the old Sound Blaster 16. Voices will sound as good as in the old ISA card, but midi music is affected, badly affected, what you'll hear in most cases is a real disaster made by instruments mismatch and misbalance. Just try playing PC games like X-com UFO, Golden Axe, King's Quest series and all you can download from the internet. If the OPL is not there, you may want to turn down the volume... Conclusion: If what you want is a nostalgic date with DOS games, then try to get the old ISA card, if not, get a PCI128 or an Ensoniq which is cheaper than this one, and it's from Creative too.
16 Why do they still sell this junk?
Way overpriced, way under-useful. I would give it NO stars, but that doesn't seem to be an option. In the past few decades that this card has been available (only a slight exageration) there have been great improvements made that this old piece doesn't have. You want to get a different card unless you have no desire to play any sounds besides MIDI files.
17 Excellent Budget Card
Excellent budget priced sound card you won't go wrong with this product. Also very easy to install @ setup.
18 Not a good option
I recently bought a SB16PCI and have not been pleased with the product. After upgrading to a new CLUS2 I815 board, I realized my old ISA soundcard was not going to fit into the new system. Since I had spent a lot of money upgrading the computer already, the SB4740 seemed like a good option for a basic card.
However, try and find support for this product is nearly impossible. Windows 2000 professional drivers are non existant and Windows ME drivers do not seem all that stable. For a basic product that has been around for years, you'd expect better refinement.
Finally, the audio quality is OK. Pretty much what you'd expect from a low end sound card. Save yourself the trouble and move up to one of the better soundcards.
19 Easy to Use, Almost everything you could want
This sound card doesn't reproduce MP3 or WAV files any differently than a more expensive card would. Creative Labs has always made great cards and drivers. The only thing this card doesn't give you that the more expensive card do is the 3d sound effects when playing video games, and true Dolby 5.1 for DVD playback. However, I doubt many people are setup for this situation, and many people do not watch DVD's or play games. If this is you, this card is perfect for you. If you are a gamer then this card will work perfectly fine. I personally find the 3d effects annoying, and prefer to play on a card like this. I highly recomend this card.
20 Bathtub
Essentially, this is the entry-level, 16-bit audio Creative Labs sound card. It has a built-in mock '3D' stereo effect, a 128-voice MIDI wavetable, and it can sample at up to 48khz in 16-bit stereo, and that's about all there is to it. Whilst it doesn't do anything wrong in itself (it's plug-and-play, so if you're using Windows it should work out of the box), the Soundblaster Live isn't much more expensive, and offers environmental audio.
If you only dabble with music and don't play many new games it's a perfectly adequate solution, however.
21 great basic soundcard
I bought this card for my kid's computer and it was excellent. Easy to install and haven't had any problems
