How Do You Chose A Sound Card

Leon79 · 11-28-2007, 02:28 AM

Right Now I am Using Intergrated Sound Which Is RealTec. However I have it connected to four Yamaha Speakers and Sub-Woofer that sounds great. However with a dedicated sound card would they sound better. (By a large margin?) How would I go about buying a sound card, what do I look for?

bumblebee_tuna · 11-28-2007, 03:34 AM

By it's features, compatibility, reliability and testimonials.

aka. http://www.newegg.com

OvenMaster · 11-28-2007, 06:10 AM

My two cents is that just about any sound card will sound better than onboard, and it should take a bit of load off the CPU as well.
That said, I spent just $20 on a Diamond Multimedia 5.1 and switched off the onboard RealTek chip. I heard a difference right away: much better detail, better treble, and no more hangs when a program was running when music played at the same time.
Tom

bumblebee_tuna · 11-28-2007, 10:09 PM

FYI, Creative tends to have the most support with games with features such as EAX. Creatives are nice cards but are lacking in terms of the variety of plug-ins, so if you plan on using something other than computer speakers or headphones, try looking for a different brand of card.

If you do plan on getting a Creative X-fi, DO NOT get the Xtremeaudio or Xtrememusic.

Leon79 · 11-28-2007, 10:57 PM

So What Would You Recommend? I'm willing to spend up to fifty dollars. Willing to pay more if it makes things a lot better.

11-28-2007, 02:28 AM	#1 (permalink)
Leon79 New Member Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 21	How Do You Chose A Sound Card Right Now I am Using Intergrated Sound Which Is RealTec. However I have it connected to four Yamaha Speakers and Sub-Woofer that sounds great. However with a dedicated sound card would they sound better. (By a large margin?) How would I go about buying a sound card, what do I look for? __________________ Gaming Rig: AMD 64 x2 5000+ Black Edition MSI K9N Neo-F Motherboard 2 Gb PQI 800 Ram 7950GT Nvidia Graphics Card 450 Watt Power Supply 250Gb Hitachi HDD Windows Vista 32x

11-28-2007, 03:34 AM	#2 (permalink)
bumblebee_tuna Diamond Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Mission Viejo, CA Age: 19 Posts: 1,323	By it's features, compatibility, reliability and testimonials. aka. http://www.newegg.com __________________ Dell Inspiron 1520 Jet Black Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2GHz / 2GB DDR2 667MHz / 160GB 7200RPM nVidia GeForce 8600m GT 256MB 15.4" WXGA Anti-glare Display (1280x800) Microsoft Windows Vista Premium w/ Media Direct boot hack into Ubuntu Gutsy Haikus are easy. But sometimes they don't make sense. Refrigerator.

11-28-2007, 06:10 AM	#3 (permalink)
OvenMaster VIP Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Away for a while Age: 49 Posts: 1,961	My two cents is that just about any sound card will sound better than onboard, and it should take a bit of load off the CPU as well. That said, I spent just $20 on a Diamond Multimedia 5.1 and switched off the onboard RealTek chip. I heard a difference right away: much better detail, better treble, and no more hangs when a program was running when music played at the same time. Tom __________________ Frankenbox III: CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ * MOBO: Biostar K8M800 Micro AM2 * RAM: 2x1GB Kingston DDR2 667 HDD: WD 80GB Master, Seagate 320GB Slave * DVD: Pioneer DVR-115DBK & LiteOn SOHW-812S DVD/CD burners PSU: Antec SmartPower 2.0 350W * GPU: PNY GeForce FX5200 256MB AGP 8x * MON: ViewSonic LCD VA721 CASE: eMachines * SND: Diamond Xtreme 5.1 * PRN: Epson C88+ * OS: XP Home SP2 *** ROUTER: Linksys BEFSR41

11-28-2007, 10:09 PM	#4 (permalink)
bumblebee_tuna Diamond Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Mission Viejo, CA Age: 19 Posts: 1,323	FYI, Creative tends to have the most support with games with features such as EAX. Creatives are nice cards but are lacking in terms of the variety of plug-ins, so if you plan on using something other than computer speakers or headphones, try looking for a different brand of card. If you do plan on getting a Creative X-fi, DO NOT get the Xtremeaudio or Xtrememusic. __________________ Dell Inspiron 1520 Jet Black Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2GHz / 2GB DDR2 667MHz / 160GB 7200RPM nVidia GeForce 8600m GT 256MB 15.4" WXGA Anti-glare Display (1280x800) Microsoft Windows Vista Premium w/ Media Direct boot hack into Ubuntu Gutsy Haikus are easy. But sometimes they don't make sense. Refrigerator.

11-28-2007, 10:57 PM	#5 (permalink)
Leon79 New Member Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 21	So What Would You Recommend? I'm willing to spend up to fifty dollars. Willing to pay more if it makes things a lot better. __________________ Gaming Rig: AMD 64 x2 5000+ Black Edition MSI K9N Neo-F Motherboard 2 Gb PQI 800 Ram 7950GT Nvidia Graphics Card 450 Watt Power Supply 250Gb Hitachi HDD Windows Vista 32x

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