What gives? P-II plays better than P-III???

bkimball1 · 13th May 2000, 10:09

I have WinAmp 2.62 installed at home and at work on 3 Intel-based PC's (all OEM equipment, not proprietary systems like dell, gateway, compaq, etc). Two of them are running Pentium III processors, and neither can run WinAmp audio well. Compare to the other PC running a Pentium II processor. The P-II runs WinAmp beautifully, without fail. Why???

More Info (stats):

PC1 (good WinAmp performance)- Pentium II, 128 Megs RAM, AGP ATI Rage II video, Sound Blaster Live! Value 256 audio, LAN access to the internet (no modem).

PC2 (bad WinAmp performance)- Pentium III, 256 Megs RAM, AGP Matrox Millenium G400 (Dual-Head 32-Meg) video, Sound Blaster Live! Platinum audio, LAN access to the internet (no modem).

PC3 (bad WinAmp performance)- Pentium III, 128 Megs RAM, AGP ATI Rage II video, Sound Blaster Live! 256 Value audio, LAN access to the internet (no modem). -- This machine is pretty much a clone of PC1, except it has a P-III processor.

I have experimented *heavily* with the information available in the FAQ, and on other related Preferences panels in WinAmp. I can make WinAmp sound *worse*, but not much better -- not good enough. I just cannot get WinAmp to play well on either P-III box, even with all other background programs terminated, and little-to-no video activity. Yet, the P-II just powers ahead. I can run almost any assortment of program while WinAmp runs smoothly, no skipping, no distortion, just good clean music.

What gives? How can I get WinAmp to perform on my P-III boxes? Anyone?

19th May 2000, 10:57

It may very well be that Winamp doesn't work well with the Pentium III processor itself.
Just like a DirecX upgrade may DEGRADE performance sometimes because older drivers don't communicate with the new DX in a normal way.
Just a thought. I'm not an expert on this field. Which is why I can't offer a solution.

Mr. Ice · 19th May 2000, 11:07

i am running a system that is basically your PC2, except i have a g400 MAX. i have no problems with winamp. what problems are you having? sound quality or excessive cpu usage? i didn't see a specific problem, just that winamp doesn't "run well." also, upgrading your DirectX will not cause problems because they are backward compatible. i happen to be running DirectX 7.0a without a single problem.

Ragnarok_X · 19th May 2000, 11:16

Are you really sure and every single option is the same on the sound blaster live! because I have Sound Blaster live and my winamp sounds really good. It could be the speakers that make it sound junk or good.

bkimball1 · 19th May 2000, 18:44

To clarify "sounds bad" or "poor performance":

The sound is "warbled", per say. If I back down the various setting in Preferences, the sound will (expectedly) become very choppy, cutting in and out to become utterly unusable. If I completely max the settings, the sound plays through without chopping, but consistanly warbled, creating a distasteful effect.

I record all of my own mp3 files using MusicMatch software. I can verify that the mp3 files are 100% fine by playing them successfully (and flawlessly) on my P-II and on other P-II's as well. So, the song files themselves are not the problem.

On the surface, it seems the WinAmp decoder is flawed, or the data threading to the sound device is being poorly managed or corrupted. I am frustrated with this problem and don't know where to look for a fix. Drivers? DirectX? WinAmp? Intel? Other?

Thank you all for your feedback. It will be appreciated if we can figure this out.

20th May 2000, 05:44

Are you refering to lots of "pops" and "cracks"? If so, then I think the problem is with the SBLive driver. WinAmp used to play flawlessly here as well until I replaced my Celeron 433 with a P3 600E. Then I started getting a lot of "pops" in my audio as soon CPU usage or my USB modem started doing a lot of work. The same problem occur if using MediaPlayer to play the same mp3, that's how I determined the problem would be related to the SBLive drivers themselves.

The SBLive drivers are rather quirky when running on a PIII, even using the latest update from Creative's website. Shame.

20th May 2000, 06:55

hmmmmmm.....sounds like PIII's suck for their cost. Just a thought. Glad i bought an Athlon

bkimball1 · 20th May 2000, 07:44

No, I am not referring to "pops" or "clicks" or any other such "immediate" effect. I'm talking about an "instability" effect where the sound seems to compress, then smooth out, then compress again, and repeat. This has the effect of playing a damaged tape in an old tape deck.

However, note that I have recorded the mp3 files myself using good software, and have confirmed that these files are fine by testing them on P-II computers.

Again, I believe there is something wrong with WinAmp when run on a P-III processor, and that the code should be recompiled or tweaked to run on this processor. I dunno... maybe I'm reaching. But, the current playback quality is not quality at all and I need a fix.

Thanks again for your help.

20th May 2000, 08:03

My dad has a PIII processor at his place and when i run mp3's on it AND run the CD rom at the same time (loading stuff) i get this effect where it sounds like a wobbly cassete tape in a crappy tape player. The song goes "doo doo doooerrrrrrroooooo doo doo". Is that the effect you are getting also?

bkimball1 · 20th May 2000, 08:17

Ummm... I have some new news since my last post. I have rid myself of the warbling effect. No, it is not any kind of stuttering effect that I'm referring to when I say "warbling". Imagine a flute playing a sustained high-C note. When at the end of his/her breath, you can hear the breath of the artist fluctuate in the tone s/he holds, which slightly shifts the note repeatedly, slightly above and below the perfect C. That's what I'm talking about.

Anyway, here's the fix: I peeked at the soundblaster.com web site thinking I should check for driver updates. I found that my drivers are already updated, but noticed a silly advertisement for the Lava! software, which I don't normally use. Well, I tried it. Guess what? When loading the soundblaster MP3 player with Lava!, it reconfigured the "Mixer". Result?

Flawless mp3 playback using the soundblaster player. So, I thought, hmm... this software works perfect. I wonder if the Mixer reconfiguration happened to also fix WinAmp's playback? Guess what.

Now, WinAmp is playing on my P-III JUST *FINE*! When browsing to this very site to post this message, WinAmp stuttered only a couple times. Now, I'm listening to it with flawless playback.

Go figure.

Thanks much everyone! Hope this note helps anyone else having this problem.

justinl · 25th August 2000, 08:02

I'm having a similar problem... just installed an ASUS K7M motherboard and Athlon 600 processor.

Winamp worked just fine until I installed the new motherboard and processor. I tried various sound cards, but to no avail. mp3's and twin vq files continue to play with skips and pops. These are the same songs (files) I had with the former motherboard and cpu (Intel SE44BX-2 and PII/350).

A programmer friend suggested it had something to do with the winamp decoder not calling the proper instruction set from the processor. Or the instruction set being incompatable.

Any ideas on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated as I'm not all that excited about converting all my mp3's and vqf files to wav format.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

13th May 2000, 10:09	#1
bkimball1 Junior Member Join Date: May 2000 Location: Gardnerville, NV, USA Posts: 6	I have WinAmp 2.62 installed at home and at work on 3 Intel-based PC's (all OEM equipment, not proprietary systems like dell, gateway, compaq, etc). Two of them are running Pentium III processors, and neither can run WinAmp audio well. Compare to the other PC running a Pentium II processor. The P-II runs WinAmp beautifully, without fail. Why??? More Info (stats): PC1 (good WinAmp performance)- Pentium II, 128 Megs RAM, AGP ATI Rage II video, Sound Blaster Live! Value 256 audio, LAN access to the internet (no modem). PC2 (bad WinAmp performance)- Pentium III, 256 Megs RAM, AGP Matrox Millenium G400 (Dual-Head 32-Meg) video, Sound Blaster Live! Platinum audio, LAN access to the internet (no modem). PC3 (bad WinAmp performance)- Pentium III, 128 Megs RAM, AGP ATI Rage II video, Sound Blaster Live! 256 Value audio, LAN access to the internet (no modem). -- This machine is pretty much a clone of PC1, except it has a P-III processor. I have experimented heavily with the information available in the FAQ, and on other related Preferences panels in WinAmp. I can make WinAmp sound worse, but not much better -- not good enough. I just cannot get WinAmp to play well on either P-III box, even with all other background programs terminated, and little-to-no video activity. Yet, the P-II just powers ahead. I can run almost any assortment of program while WinAmp runs smoothly, no skipping, no distortion, just good clean music. What gives? How can I get WinAmp to perform on my P-III boxes? Anyone?

19th May 2000, 10:57	#2
Chromed_Dragon Guest Posts: n/a	It may very well be that Winamp doesn't work well with the Pentium III processor itself. Just like a DirecX upgrade may DEGRADE performance sometimes because older drivers don't communicate with the new DX in a normal way. Just a thought. I'm not an expert on this field. Which is why I can't offer a solution.

19th May 2000, 11:07	#3
Mr. Ice Captain Moderator Join Date: May 2000 Location: USA Posts: 763	i am running a system that is basically your PC2, except i have a g400 MAX. i have no problems with winamp. what problems are you having? sound quality or excessive cpu usage? i didn't see a specific problem, just that winamp doesn't "run well." also, upgrading your DirectX will not cause problems because they are backward compatible. i happen to be running DirectX 7.0a without a single problem.

19th May 2000, 11:16	#4
Ragnarok_X Junior Member Join Date: May 2000 Posts: 2	Are you really sure and every single option is the same on the sound blaster live! because I have Sound Blaster live and my winamp sounds really good. It could be the speakers that make it sound junk or good.

19th May 2000, 18:44	#5
bkimball1 Junior Member Join Date: May 2000 Location: Gardnerville, NV, USA Posts: 6	To clarify "sounds bad" or "poor performance": The sound is "warbled", per say. If I back down the various setting in Preferences, the sound will (expectedly) become very choppy, cutting in and out to become utterly unusable. If I completely max the settings, the sound plays through without chopping, but consistanly warbled, creating a distasteful effect. I record all of my own mp3 files using MusicMatch software. I can verify that the mp3 files are 100% fine by playing them successfully (and flawlessly) on my P-II and on other P-II's as well. So, the song files themselves are not the problem. On the surface, it seems the WinAmp decoder is flawed, or the data threading to the sound device is being poorly managed or corrupted. I am frustrated with this problem and don't know where to look for a fix. Drivers? DirectX? WinAmp? Intel? Other? Thank you all for your feedback. It will be appreciated if we can figure this out.

20th May 2000, 05:44	#6
RMerlin Guest Posts: n/a	Are you refering to lots of "pops" and "cracks"? If so, then I think the problem is with the SBLive driver. WinAmp used to play flawlessly here as well until I replaced my Celeron 433 with a P3 600E. Then I started getting a lot of "pops" in my audio as soon CPU usage or my USB modem started doing a lot of work. The same problem occur if using MediaPlayer to play the same mp3, that's how I determined the problem would be related to the SBLive drivers themselves. The SBLive drivers are rather quirky when running on a PIII, even using the latest update from Creative's website. Shame.

20th May 2000, 06:55	#7
TheSilence Guest Posts: n/a	hmmmmmm.....sounds like PIII's suck for their cost. Just a thought. Glad i bought an Athlon

20th May 2000, 07:44	#8
bkimball1 Junior Member Join Date: May 2000 Location: Gardnerville, NV, USA Posts: 6	No, I am not referring to "pops" or "clicks" or any other such "immediate" effect. I'm talking about an "instability" effect where the sound seems to compress, then smooth out, then compress again, and repeat. This has the effect of playing a damaged tape in an old tape deck. However, note that I have recorded the mp3 files myself using good software, and have confirmed that these files are fine by testing them on P-II computers. Again, I believe there is something wrong with WinAmp when run on a P-III processor, and that the code should be recompiled or tweaked to run on this processor. I dunno... maybe I'm reaching. But, the current playback quality is not quality at all and I need a fix. Thanks again for your help.

20th May 2000, 08:03	#9
TheSilence Guest Posts: n/a	My dad has a PIII processor at his place and when i run mp3's on it AND run the CD rom at the same time (loading stuff) i get this effect where it sounds like a wobbly cassete tape in a crappy tape player. The song goes "doo doo doooerrrrrrroooooo doo doo". Is that the effect you are getting also?

20th May 2000, 08:17	#10
bkimball1 Junior Member Join Date: May 2000 Location: Gardnerville, NV, USA Posts: 6	Ummm... I have some new news since my last post. I have rid myself of the warbling effect. No, it is not any kind of stuttering effect that I'm referring to when I say "warbling". Imagine a flute playing a sustained high-C note. When at the end of his/her breath, you can hear the breath of the artist fluctuate in the tone s/he holds, which slightly shifts the note repeatedly, slightly above and below the perfect C. That's what I'm talking about. Anyway, here's the fix: I peeked at the soundblaster.com web site thinking I should check for driver updates. I found that my drivers are already updated, but noticed a silly advertisement for the Lava! software, which I don't normally use. Well, I tried it. Guess what? When loading the soundblaster MP3 player with Lava!, it reconfigured the "Mixer". Result? Flawless mp3 playback using the soundblaster player. So, I thought, hmm... this software works perfect. I wonder if the Mixer reconfiguration happened to also fix WinAmp's playback? Guess what. Now, WinAmp is playing on my P-III JUST FINE! When browsing to this very site to post this message, WinAmp stuttered only a couple times. Now, I'm listening to it with flawless playback. Go figure. Thanks much everyone! Hope this note helps anyone else having this problem.

25th August 2000, 08:02	#11
justinl Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: High Prairie, AB, Canada Posts: 1	I'm having a similar problem... just installed an ASUS K7M motherboard and Athlon 600 processor. Winamp worked just fine until I installed the new motherboard and processor. I tried various sound cards, but to no avail. mp3's and twin vq files continue to play with skips and pops. These are the same songs (files) I had with the former motherboard and cpu (Intel SE44BX-2 and PII/350). A programmer friend suggested it had something to do with the winamp decoder not calling the proper instruction set from the processor. Or the instruction set being incompatable. Any ideas on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated as I'm not all that excited about converting all my mp3's and vqf files to wav format.