AC97 sound card issues related to Direct X ?

[VarsityHeretic]

Hi All,
I see there have been a number of threads reporting choppy sound with onboard AC97 sound cards. I was wondering if anyone could confirm if an incompatibility with Direct X 9b/c may be the source of the problem?

Now first off I know little about sound cards so excuse my naivity. I know I have a Realtek AC97 codecs on a SiS 7012 onboard card (???) When I got DoW I obviously installed direct X 9b. When playing the game the sound was choppy, so I did what the readme file said and updated all my drivers (sound, video, motherboard). The issue got no better. The thing is I have noticed the sound is also choppy in the Dxdiag program (especially when running the music test using the AC97 card). I have since downloaded Direct X 9c, and also tried a number of drivers including beta drivers for AC97, and drivers from SiS for the SiS 7012 card. All to no real improvment (the SiS driver worked a little better but still a problem

Direct X itself isn't detecting any problems with the AC97 drivers (and they are digitally signed), but is there any chance that Realtek don't have a driver yet fully compatible with Direct X 9 b/c.

Failing that does anyone else recognise what my problem could be? (Apart from being cheapskate and not forking out for a proper sound card :D )

[ÜberJumper]

You tried lowering the hardware acceleration slider in dxdiag?

[VarsityHeretic]

Yeah I tried that when I was doing the readme suggestions. If anything it makes matters slightly worse. Has anyone else with AC97 problems (there seemed to be a few) noticed if their dxdiag music test is choppy too?

If not any ideas why mine might be? A deeper problem beyond drivers? But then why what altering the driver (SiS vs. Realtek) change how bad the problem is (bad vs. real bad).

Any ideas are much appreciated - I'm beat.

[ÜberJumper]

You may have an IRQ conflict or something along those lines... perhaps there's some hardware settings you could change in your bios?

[VarsityHeretic]

I've checked for IRQ conflicts - no problems there. Dared I ask how I would go about changing hardware settings in my BIOS ???? (thx for ideas btw)

[Nazuel]

I too thought it was my AC97 being the culprit. So I threw in a SB Live into my box and really no change. Well I cant say that, being that using high audio settings caused performance hits, and the SB live card stops that. Still, it wasnt the AC97 =(

[Moe]

Nazuel, did you uninstall the AC97?

[Rootaah]

I'm using the beta driver from Realtek's site for the AC'97 onboard. No sound problems here. I don't have a SIS chipset though, I have a Giga-Byte GA-7VAX board.

Is this where you are getting your AC 97 drivers?

REALTEK DRIVERS (http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/dlac97-2.aspx?lineid=5&famid=12&series=8&Software=True)

[VarsityHeretic]

@ Nazuel. Did you find that the sound test in Direct X was choppy too? Also what chip set was your AC97 running on?

@ Rootaah. Yep that is where I tried all the drivers from. No real difference in the quality of audio between any of the Realtek drivers. Guess my problem might be related to the AC97 running on a SiS chipset

I have also contacted Realtek about this but they're being slow, and I don't hold out much hope.

[Enkrypted]

I too use the onboard ac 97 with an Abit sg-72 series. It runs off the SIS chipset. Curious, I always though it was the problem. I tried completely disabling hardware acceleration and it fixes the problem but my sound doesn't work. I got my drivers from that posted website above as well... but to no avail. I'm glad somone found a common denomenator (sp?) though. It gives us something to focus on.

The sound (when testing) was not choppy in direct x - just the game. I wonder if it's the way the buffer is processing the information from the game?

[VarsityHeretic]

@Enkrypted. Yeah its reassuring others are having the same problem. When you tested sound in Direct X how long did you listen to the music test for? I found the sound test is fine on all channels with software and hardware buffer. The problem came in the music test (plays that annoying ditty). When I tested on Microsoft synthesiser the music played was fine, but when I tried using the Realtek AC97, it starts fine, but if I listen for a minute it gets choppy and slowly deteriorates. Wierd huh?

Also in the test it almost sounds sometimes like the music is suddenly speeding up, and thats when it gets choppy. I really can't explain it.

[Nazuel]

@ Moe: No, the driver comes unified with all my other mobo/chipset drivers (nforce2 board). I disabled the AC97 in my bios however.

@VarsityHeretic: No, I recieved no problems while doing the DirectX tests. My ac97 is controlled by the southbridge on my mobo.

[tEM]

My DxDiag Music gets choppy sometimes when I'm using the AC97 codec. Odd... I'm on a laptop and I have upgraded my drivers.

I have a Laptop:
AMD 64 3000+
512mb RAM
AC97 Codec Sound
ATI Radeon Mobility 9600 64mb

EDIT:

I ran DxDiag - under the sound tab, when I rand the DirectSound test, it informed me that my sound "card" does not support Hardware Buffering, only Software Buffering. Could this have anything to do with it? Does this mean no hardware acceleration is available?

Also - my sound device is listed as:
Realtek AC97 Audio (Emulated)

Any idea what that "emulated" means?