I have two systems, a p4-1800 I use for everything and an older Micron system p2-400 that I've been using for xcom (CE windows version, both systems have win98se). I would use my newer system for xcom as well but the sound on it is distorted and odd. It's difficult to describe. Actually it's more the music that's distorted. Certain sounds are muffled, other specific 'instrument sounds' seem enhanced or louder. At times it almost seems just plain different. My older system has built in crystal audio and everything sounded normal. My newer system with the distorted sound has a Creative SB Live. Well just today my older system died on me. When I push in the power button I get no response at all. I'm not sure if it's the switch itself, or the power supply, or what. I'm not prepared to really spend much if any money on it seeing as how I don't really need it for anything (other than a nice sounding xcom). Any help or suggestions as to how I could (a) easily figure out and fix the problem with my older system or (B) fix the sound on my newer system. I'm tempted to buy another sound card (non creative SB) and try that. Can anyone recommend a decent but cheap non-SB soundcard ?

well, you could probably fix your old pc for the same ammount it would cost you to buy a new sound card.

if *nothing* happens when you press the button, then its probably the psu....

You could also go hunting for second hand computers. If you look hard enough, you can usually find some good bargains, particularly from overseas students attending nearby academic instituitions who're going back home and want to rid themselves of the computers they bought. Some newspapers and other publications should carry notices for second hand computer goods. In fact, you might find a spare power supply unit that way.

If the price is equal or slightly less than the cost of repairing your PSU, then perhaps a second hand computer wouldn't be so bad. Just a matter of transferring all the goodies from your old computer like the RAM, the hard drive and any other additional expansion cards you've installed. Heck, even the processor and motherboard too if they're compatible. In the end all you'll be changing is the power unit.

As for the difference in sound between your computers -- that's mostly due to the differing synthesiser wavetables different soundcards have for playing midi files. They sound awful on some, and they can sound like a live orchestra on others.

You could take out the old soundcard in your p400 and install it in your current one. I don't know how DirectX will be able to handle two soundcards (unlike dos where you could fiddle around with the set blaster command and the irq and dma settings for your soundcard in the sound setup for your game), but I guess it's possible. An additional bonus would be that, with the extra soundcard, you can install another cd-rom in that computer as well.

- NKF

The Crystal audio sound of my older system is built into the motherboard, so there's no soundcard I can remove and put into my newer system.

A little update - I've since fixed the problem with my older computer so things are fine, although I'm still curious as to why my sound isn't the same on my newer system. I'll try to update drivers or something and see if that helps.