Sound Card - help 40

placidarc · Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 1:39 am Post subject: Sound Card

Hi.
Am running XP Pro SP2. Celeron 2.4. 2Gb RAM. I talk quite a lot (on Skype) to my 4 children (2 in USA and 2 in Australia). When it is just myself and 2 children the sound quality is excellent, when a 3rd one is brought in the sound starts to break up. When the 4th is brought in the sound completely breaks up. Is it the fault of the sound card, I don't know what type it is or how to find out, short of opening the case. Any assistance appreciated.
placidarc.
PS Am on broadband 1.5 Gb d/l speed

davolente · Joined: Oct 04, 2003 Posts: 361 Location: Kent, UK

Wouldn`t have thought it was anything to do with the sound card, as such. Sounds like your system can`t cope with that number of people on a conference call. (I presume that`s what you`re doing! Very Happy

). I know Skype uses P2P-type technology, so it may also be be gobbling up all your bandwidth, as upload speeds are invariably a lot lower than download, although I`m no expert on that. Might also be worth shutting down any programs running in the background that you don`t need (except for security stuff, of course), especially ones that may have internet access at the same time as you`re using Skype.
Notwithstanding the Skype use, there are benefits in stopping extraneous running services that you don`t need, anyway. Useful info. about that on
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
I also have my own lowly machine set to "best performance" in the properties (i.e. no fancy graphics , etc), which gives a noticeable performance boost, despite it looking more like Windows 95/98! Perhaps someone else will come in on this.

drwho07 · Joined: Nov 29, 2007 Posts: 2240 Location: Central FL, USA

Nothing specific, but in the most general terms, I agree wholeheartedly with Davolente.

Many things we do on our computers would work 100% better if that function or program had 100% or as close to that as possible, of your CPU and RAM.

For years I've known this and I use a little utility called "End It All" to shut down all running programs before I do my HD maintenance and before ever running my CD/DVD burning software.

Redundant services take a huge toll on CPU time. Some don't even show up in the task manager. Shutting down all those things you don't need, can not help but improve system performance.
I run a little script to shut down about a dozen un-needed services on every PC I work on. Performance improves markedly.
I shut down even more on my own PC. Then I tweak the registry to optimize memory and HD usage.

I tried Skype on my own computer with 512mbps download speed and it was so bad I could scarcely understand anything. I never got past the sound test. I deleted the whole thing.

Good Luck,
Doc

davolente · Joined: Oct 04, 2003 Posts: 361 Location: Kent, UK

I also use Skype on a 512 connection, as that`s the most I can have due to my distance from the local telephone exchange and I find it a bit marginal. I do get occasional break-up, although when it`s good, it`s very good. I`m not sure how much effect contention ratio may have as well. I notice that placidarc says they have a 1.5 gig connection (phone line or cable?) but, as we all know, this is normally ISP hype and the reality is likely to be far less than this, depending on distance. This could also have an impact on a Skype conference call. Might also be advisable to run one of the various speed optimisation programs that are around that change settings on the PC to make sure that you are at least getting the most out of the system that you possibly can, within the limitations of the connection.
Do a speed check initially using
http://speedtest.net
This site has had favourable reviews and I`ve used it myself.

keyblvd · Joined: Jul 30, 2004 Posts: 5

placidarc, are all users (you and your children) using a webcam with Skype? If so, I'd try disabling the webcams, especially if you're going to have 3 or 4 of your children online at the same time. The webcams are going to gobble up a lot of bandwidth.

placidarc

Hello to all Respondants
Thanks for all the advice.
Re Speed Test. Have tested my D/L speeds and they are close to my ISP's guarantee. Although I would like more speed I cannot obtain it at present.
Re Black Viper. I have even more services closed down than they recommend.
Re Skype. No we don't use web cams. Skype only allows web cams on a 1 on 1 basis.
I have just installed a CPU meter and I think CPU usage is the problem. With Skype running the PC constantly peaks at 100%. I am running an Intel Celeron 2.4 which I'm told is no better than a 2.0 Pentium 4. I am thinking of upgrading to a 3.0 Pentium 4. Is this a good idea.
Regards.
placidarc

goretsky

Hello,

I suspect it may be a problem with the computer have to act like a bridge and transcode the audio for five users, however, it could be bandwidth-related, too.

Does it make any difference in which order the other parties are brought onto the call?

Do you have either a faster computer or a faster Internet connection (perhaps a friend's) you can try making a conference call on for testing purposes?

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

placidarc

Hi Goretsky.
No, sadly I do not have access to a faster computer. It doesn't seem to matter which of my children comes on 1st. The problem seems to be the number of people. 1 on 1, 1 on 2 also (3 in all). 4 causes some breakup in sound and 5 is not possible.
Regards.
placidarc

pbp33411 · Joined: Dec 01, 2006 Posts: 30

I don't know a lot about Skype, but I do know that they used to limit conference calls to 5 parties because beyond that you were likely to have insufficient CPU power left. I also know that they came out with a new version some time back (a long time, I think) that raised that limit from 5 to something more. Check which version of Skype you are using.

pc7wizard

Re: Faster CPU - Check your MoBo for the support of the faster CPU before spending the cash, also might want to increase your RAM to faster memory as well. I don't use Skype, but the problems you are having are similar to graphics editing/drafting programs with the same issues, and faster CPU/DRAM fixes them.

Good Luck, mate!

Cheers!

goretsky

Hello,

You may wish to investigate a faster Internet connection (perhaps sign up for a month of faster service and then cancel) to help determine if the problem is either network or computer related.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

placidarc

Hi goretsky
1.5 Mb is as fast as I can get at present. Our local exchange isn't yet set up for ADSL2
placidarc