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Soundblaster in MacPro

Yes, it has been confirmed in another thread, I believe 5.1 sound under Windows Gaming section, that this exact card does work in a Mac Pro IN boot camp only. Doesn't work in OS X, but does not cause problems either.
 
Yes I have this in my Mac Pro rigged up to Logitech z5500 5.1 speakers but OS X simply ignores it. Works as you would hope for in bootcamp though ;)
 
cool, bummer it doesn't do anything in Os X. that means i'd have to switch cord everytime i boot. hmm. decisions, decisions.
 
Not necessarily...what speakers do you have? The sound card has optical and the orange,green,black so there are two different kinds of connections.
 
I have a creative 5.1. amp and inputs are on back of sub. Not sure the model number, i'll check when i get home. What are you thinking as a work around?
 
Rankrotten said:
Yes I have this in my Mac Pro rigged up to Logitech z5500 5.1 speakers but OS X simply ignores it. Works as you would hope for in bootcamp though ;)
Click to expand...
Why would you rig z5500 speakers into the soundcard, when you can plug them into the TOSLINK port in the Mac Pro?
 
Toslink only carries bitstream sound - Dolby Digital and DTS - or stereo. Games have 5.1 discrete sound which is output by the analog jacks into the z5500 which can process these signals into multichannel positional audio.
 
Rankrotten said:
Toslink only carries bitstream sound - Dolby Digital and DTS - or stereo. Games have 5.1 discrete sound which is output by the analog jacks into the z5500 which can process these signals into multichannel positional audio.
Click to expand...

agreed. which is why have the sound card is so important. MacPro's have the toslink, but doesn't do much good for games, well, the majority of them anyway, there's probably a handfull of pc games with DD.
 
amtctt said:
agreed. which is why have the sound card is so important. MacPro's have the toslink, but doesn't do much good for games, well, the majority of them anyway, there's probably a handfull of pc games with DD.
Click to expand...

Pardon my ignorance, but without such a card as the Sound Blaster X-Fi, is it otherwise impossible for the Mac Pro to output descrete 5.1 sound in most games? That is to say, is the stock model of the Mac Pro unable to produce descrete 5.1 sound straight out of the box for most games (provided, of course, you already have the Logitech Z-5500s or similar type speakers to connect to)?

EDIT: Sorry, I should have been more specific; I meant while playing games with boot camp. I understand this card isn't compatible with Mac OS.
 
agkapsner said:
Pardon my ignorance, but without such a card as the Sound Blaster X-Fi, is it otherwise impossible for the Mac Pro to output descrete 5.1 sound in most games? That is to say, is the stock model of the Mac Pro unable to produce descrete 5.1 sound straight out of the box for most games (provided, of course, you already have the Logitech Z-5500s or similar type speakers to connect to)?

EDIT: Sorry, I should have been more specific; I meant while playing games with boot camp. I understand this card isn't compatible with Mac OS.
Click to expand...

correct. no additional sound card=no 5.1 for games (typically). Up until recently there have been few options. I have a USB creative sound device that works ok, but i think the PCI express cards work better, so that's why i'm interested in this one.
 
Wow that sucks, I was about to purchase some z5500s so that I can have surround sound on my mac pro w/o an additional sound card. I may just stick with my Klipsch speakers for now. Would purchasing a M-Audio Revolution fix the problem?
 
amtctt said:
I have a creative 5.1. amp and inputs are on back of sub. Not sure the model number, i'll check when i get home. What are you thinking as a work around?
Click to expand...

Not really a work around...just having the green,orange,black connection hooked up for bootcamp, and toslink for os x. 2 different connections, so there would be no cable switching depending on which OS
 
Question...
that card has a very small connector compared to a standard PCIe slot.
How does that work?

Btw, does that card support EAX?
 
It is a PCIe connector, albeit a very short one but it seats ok in the slot and works fine in bootcamp. It does support EAX which is enabled through the Creative software supplied with the card.
 
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