Buying a sound card

raoul_1101 · 10-31-2007, 11:27 PM

I've been thinking about investing in a sound card for some time now, and finally I have the money to do so. After reading the sticky, I didn't find too much information that would help me pick one out so I started a thread.

I pretty much use sound for all kinds of things. I'd like to have a digital out so I could watch movies surround sound via my other system with a digital input. I also am looking for quality that would support me being a musician, for i like to record drums/guitars on free time. And finally, I would like a card that would increase the quality of sound for playing games and listening to music. I would not like to spend more than $140, and I'm looking for a moderate-high quality card. What should I look for? Any recomendations?

PC eye · 11-01-2007, 02:47 AM

Patching from the out of one sound card into some card on another system probably would fail due to feedback and other problems. Sdound cards offer digital inputs and putputs for devices like stereo receivers and feeding audio in from camcorders and other small external devices. For gaming the two brands looked at now are Creative and Diamond for popularity and sound quality there.

The Creative XtremeGamer can be looked over at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102006

M-Audio is another brand with digitial and optical output on some of their models. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829121006

It will also depend on where you plan to order from.

raoul_1101 · 11-01-2007, 06:15 PM

Would this be good http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...632&CatId=2771 or should i go for the fatality version? and why?

diduknowthat · 11-01-2007, 10:40 PM

the xtreme gamer fatality version has 64megs of xram onboard. But as of now, they dont help much.

PC eye · 11-02-2007, 12:06 AM

The card seen at TigerDirect is the exact same as seen on the link at newegg. But newegg carries it for almost $20- less pricewise. That's something to consider there. The actual model selected as far as the fatality and the higher price there would be the additional capabilities for what you are planning there. Both models have the optical input and output jacks.

raoul_1101 · 11-02-2007, 01:14 AM

ok, thank you

PC eye · 11-02-2007, 03:32 AM

Are you running XP or Vista at present? There's one thing to know about Creative's support site if you are running XP lately. The latest updates even when selecting XP as the version of Windows being will actually be a set of Vista drivers.

When going to the MS update site there and choosing the custom option to see what optional hardware and software updates were available Vista drivers were again downloaded by MS onto XP. The auto updater you see when installing from the software disk will connect to download the latest web updater for Vista. The idea is to use the no answer to prevent anything but the drivers on the disk(XP) from being installed.

raoul_1101 · 11-05-2007, 06:17 PM

im running vista 64-bit

PC eye · 11-06-2007, 02:15 AM

Creative has driver sets for the X-Fi models for both 32 and 64bit editions of XP and Vista. For 64bit Vista the latest is found at http://us.creative.com/support/downl...pe=0&x=19&y=16

g0slacR · 11-06-2007, 05:45 PM

I would very much recommend you get the xtremegamer or the xtrememusic

10-31-2007, 11:27 PM	#1 (permalink)
raoul_1101 Gold Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vermont Age: 16 Posts: 388	Buying a sound card I've been thinking about investing in a sound card for some time now, and finally I have the money to do so. After reading the sticky, I didn't find too much information that would help me pick one out so I started a thread. I pretty much use sound for all kinds of things. I'd like to have a digital out so I could watch movies surround sound via my other system with a digital input. I also am looking for quality that would support me being a musician, for i like to record drums/guitars on free time. And finally, I would like a card that would increase the quality of sound for playing games and listening to music. I would not like to spend more than $140, and I'm looking for a moderate-high quality card. What should I look for? Any recomendations? __________________ ~raoul

11-01-2007, 02:47 AM	#2 (permalink)
PC eye Diamond Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Inside a pc Posts: 19,005	Patching from the out of one sound card into some card on another system probably would fail due to feedback and other problems. Sdound cards offer digital inputs and putputs for devices like stereo receivers and feeding audio in from camcorders and other small external devices. For gaming the two brands looked at now are Creative and Diamond for popularity and sound quality there. The Creative XtremeGamer can be looked over at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102006 M-Audio is another brand with digitial and optical output on some of their models. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829121006 It will also depend on where you plan to order from. __________________ Youtube falls short of Google's expectations http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Ahe...ory?id=5336532 Congress studies how people track your online use http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Ahe...ory?id=5337932

11-01-2007, 06:15 PM	#3 (permalink)
raoul_1101 Gold Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vermont Age: 16 Posts: 388	Would this be good http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...632&CatId=2771 or should i go for the fatality version? and why? __________________ ~raoul

11-01-2007, 10:40 PM	#4 (permalink)
diduknowthat formerly liuliuboy Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Massachusetts Age: 17 Posts: 6,158	the xtreme gamer fatality version has 64megs of xram onboard. But as of now, they dont help much. __________________ Silent Tuned \| 3D Marks 06: 11566 Q6600 2.4ghz CPU \| Gigabyte GA-P35 LGA 775 MB EVGA 8800gt 512mb Video Card G.Skill 4GB Ram \| Western Digital 400GB HD X-Fi Xtrememusic Sound Card Antec P180B Case \| Scythe Ninja HSF CM Real Power Pro 650watt PSU

11-02-2007, 12:06 AM	#5 (permalink)
PC eye Diamond Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Inside a pc Posts: 19,005	The card seen at TigerDirect is the exact same as seen on the link at newegg. But newegg carries it for almost $20- less pricewise. That's something to consider there. The actual model selected as far as the fatality and the higher price there would be the additional capabilities for what you are planning there. Both models have the optical input and output jacks. __________________ Youtube falls short of Google's expectations http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Ahe...ory?id=5336532 Congress studies how people track your online use http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Ahe...ory?id=5337932

11-02-2007, 01:14 AM	#6 (permalink)
raoul_1101 Gold Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vermont Age: 16 Posts: 388	ok, thank you __________________ ~raoul

11-02-2007, 03:32 AM	#7 (permalink)
PC eye Diamond Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Inside a pc Posts: 19,005	Are you running XP or Vista at present? There's one thing to know about Creative's support site if you are running XP lately. The latest updates even when selecting XP as the version of Windows being will actually be a set of Vista drivers. When going to the MS update site there and choosing the custom option to see what optional hardware and software updates were available Vista drivers were again downloaded by MS onto XP. The auto updater you see when installing from the software disk will connect to download the latest web updater for Vista. The idea is to use the no answer to prevent anything but the drivers on the disk(XP) from being installed. __________________ Youtube falls short of Google's expectations http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Ahe...ory?id=5336532 Congress studies how people track your online use http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Ahe...ory?id=5337932

11-05-2007, 06:17 PM	#8 (permalink)
raoul_1101 Gold Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vermont Age: 16 Posts: 388	im running vista 64-bit __________________ ~raoul

11-06-2007, 02:15 AM	#9 (permalink)
PC eye Diamond Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Inside a pc Posts: 19,005	Creative has driver sets for the X-Fi models for both 32 and 64bit editions of XP and Vista. For 64bit Vista the latest is found at http://us.creative.com/support/downl...pe=0&x=19&y=16 __________________ Youtube falls short of Google's expectations http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Ahe...ory?id=5336532 Congress studies how people track your online use http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Ahe...ory?id=5337932

11-06-2007, 05:45 PM	#10 (permalink)
g0slacR Bronze Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 95	I would very much recommend you get the xtremegamer or the xtrememusic __________________ Q6600 (G0) @ 3.0ghz AC freezer 7 asus p5k mobo 2 gigs ocz ddr800 ram @ 1000 150 gig raptor and 120 gig samsung slave evga 8600gt pc power and cooling 610 silencer creative xtremgamer with bose series 1 speakers 22" kds widescreen lcd logitech g5 laser mouse

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