Turning Down Hardware Sound Acceleration

[Leonard M. Wapner]

Greetings:

I'm running XP home with 512 RAM and a 128 MB sound card. To work around a
known issue re sound problems in MS Flight Simulator 2002, MS suggests I run
dxdiag, go to the sound tab and set the hardware sound acceleration slider
to zero. If this fixes the sound problem, I should raise it, by increments,
to the highest possible level without recreating the sound problem.

Two questions -

1) Is the MS suggested procedure the same as going through the Control
Panel to Advanced Audio Properties -> Performance
and turning down the hardware acceleration here?

2) Assuming this solves (or works around) the sound problem, what am I
giving up by turning down the acceleration? Will I lose
sound quality in other applications?

Thanks,

L

[John Ward]

Hi Leonard,

The answer to your first question is yes - exactly the same thing.

To answer your second question - yes, it is a "global, system-wide"
change that you would be making, but, do you run any applications where this
would matter, mate?

You wouldn't hear anything different in other apps, or even playback of
mp3 music files..., but I suppose it might make a difference if you use your
PC to create audio/music files, and such.

I'm not sure what effect it would have, if any, if you also use your PC
to create videos, but others here will probably have some more replies for
you.

Regards, John Ward
"Leonard M. Wapner" <lwapner@roadrunner.com> wrote in message
news:cuadnYNOl8S6N6LanZ2dnUVZ_oSnnZ2d@adelphia.com ...
> Greetings:
>
> I'm running XP home with 512 RAM and a 128 MB sound card. To work around
> a
> known issue re sound problems in MS Flight Simulator 2002, MS suggests I
> run
> dxdiag, go to the sound tab and set the hardware sound acceleration slider
> to zero. If this fixes the sound problem, I should raise it, by
> increments,
> to the highest possible level without recreating the sound problem.
>
> Two questions -
>
> 1) Is the MS suggested procedure the same as going through the Control
> Panel to Advanced Audio Properties -> Performance
> and turning down the hardware acceleration here?
>
> 2) Assuming this solves (or works around) the sound problem, what am I
> giving up by turning down the acceleration? Will I lose
> sound quality in other applications?
>
> Thanks,
>
> L
>
>
>

[TheSmokingGnu]

Leonard M. Wapner wrote:
> 2) Assuming this solves (or works around) the sound problem, what am I
> giving up by turning down the acceleration? Will I lose
> sound quality in other applications?

Turning down the acceleration limits how DirectX can handle, modify, or
play back sounds. Many of the issues that arise are due to how a sound
chip (for on-board sound solutions) or sound card use their hardware
buffers to store sounds and edit them for environmental effects (like
doppler shifting). Many sound chips don't have a buffer at all, and use
system memory instead, or emulate a buffer and work on the data dynamically.

Using a lower acceleration tells DirectX not to allow the sound
chips/cards to use their hardware buffers, instead falling back on the
DirectX software buffers which usually work just fine. You may notice a
slight drop in quality of playback, loss of environmental effects, and
in some cases slightly reduced performance (as the sound processing will
be done by the system memory and CPU, rather than by a dedicated
processor; if you were using an on-board sound chip, the sounds were
already being processed by the CPU/system memory). For all but the most
demanding anal-retentive audiophiles or cantankerous bastards, there
won't be a practical difference to be noticed. It is mainly the concerns
over performance that dictate the choice of hardware buffers over software.

TheSmokingGnu

[RandyL]

Hi Leonard,
It sounds like this is the right procedure.

As for sound quality, it all depends on the quality of the sound system
that you have hooked up to your computer. If you just have a set of small
self-powered PC speakers hooked up, then you should be able to turn down
your quality settings quite far before you hear any difference. But if you
have your computer connected to a expensive Dolby 5.1 or higher digital
Pro-Logic surround-sound amplifier, and a set of high-end surround sound
satellite speakers with sub-woofer, then turning down the sound quality even
a little may make a noticeable difference. It all depends on the quality of
the device that is driving your speakers, and the quality of your speakers.
You may have to fiddle around with it and make a compromise between sound
quality, and program performance.

Randy L.
--
"When making an emergency off-field landing at night,
turn on your landing light just prior to touchdown.
If you don't like what you see, then turn off the landing light."


"Leonard M. Wapner" <lwapner@roadrunner.com> wrote in message
news:cuadnYNOl8S6N6LanZ2dnUVZ_oSnnZ2d@adelphia.com ...
> Greetings:
>
> I'm running XP home with 512 RAM and a 128 MB sound card. To work around
> a
> known issue re sound problems in MS Flight Simulator 2002, MS suggests I
> run
> dxdiag, go to the sound tab and set the hardware sound acceleration slider
> to zero. If this fixes the sound problem, I should raise it, by
> increments,
> to the highest possible level without recreating the sound problem.
>
> Two questions -
>
> 1) Is the MS suggested procedure the same as going through the Control
> Panel to Advanced Audio Properties -> Performance
> and turning down the hardware acceleration here?
>
> 2) Assuming this solves (or works around) the sound problem, what am I
> giving up by turning down the acceleration? Will I lose
> sound quality in other applications?
>
> Thanks,
>
> L
>
>
>