Cheap sound card

[dirkdaring]

<< So, if I disable the dos driver, Hi-val PCI 338 should work fine under winME? >>



Just download the new drivers from vortexofsound.com. Works perfectly (in WinME) for me after I did that. Zero problems.

Dirk

 

[chien]

wow, that sounds good to me now, only hope we can get the MIR

Chien

 

[godsgift]

I got the Vortex 1 from Compusa an with the updated drivers it sounds good for free.

 

[bambam]

I think those Fry s cards are those Asound / Avance bulk PCI cards .
No there're not great but they don't slow your system down like ISA sound cards allegedly do ( I was told this an &quot;expert&quot; but I've never notice a difference between the two types)

 

[chien]

hehe, sounds like lottery to me... some got vortex1 chip some got vertex2..

Chien

 

[lokitech]

We were blowing those out the door of our store a few years ago for 8 bucks. Who uses isa slots anymore...

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

Actually, Microcentre has a 4.1 PCI card from Inland right now for under $10, better option IMO if you have one locally

 

[SinMen]

The midland they have on sale at my local Microcenter does not have a joystick port.

 

[LiLxJohnny]

Krakn3Dfx is right, I saw the same deal at that site that has a 4.1 sound card for sale at 9.95+shipping and if you get into this deal, you get 100pack of cdr free!!

Honestly, I don't know the quality of these sound cards, nor do I know if they are reliable. By the looks of it, it maybe a &quot;software&quot; based sound card ??? Dunno. If anyone goes on this deal. Let us know how the sound card is. 4.1 PCI sound card for 9.95 is not too bad

Here's the link for the sound card:
http://www.mei-microcenter.com/upgrades/sound.phtml?sku=006932

Here's a link to the thread about the free cdrs from the site:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&amp;threadid=358077

Hope this helps

 

[Nack]

It is TOTAL lottery. I got a card, and so did a friend. One is a vortex 1 (typo corrected) AU8820B2, and the other is a vortex 2 card AU8830A2. I'm thinking that the Vortex 1 card hisses too much, so I am going to return that one for an exchange/refund. Luckily I still have a box with an intact UPC as I haven't had time to send in all of the rebates yet. Both of the Hi-Val rebadged cards are Aureal OEM, and are manufactured by Aureal Semiconductor. The vortex 2 also has a wavetable connector. The PCB looks very similar, but obviously the V2 is a newer revision.

Nack

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

I picked up 3 of the Inland 4.1 PCI soundcards for $7.96 at Microcentre because for some reason they had taken them off the shelf and thrown them into their bargain bin with the $8 price tag. It's a suprisingly good card, I threw on in my wife and my daughter's PCs and they sound great in games and with MP3s. No installation problems either, hot deal if you can get it.

 

[chien]

hi,
what is the chip on the inland soundcard? Is it Trident 4DWAVE chip?
How is its compatibility of WInME?

Chien

 

[drac747]

For $20 you can get a SB 64 PCI which has legacy support for those old DOS games.

 

[YAZ]

How about this soundcard for 12.75. It's a Montego II. Montego II $12.75
YAZ

 

[Cryo]

well u get what u paid for. i still like my sb live! no probs, ever
got it for $40 but that was almost 2 years ago.

 

[tryanasaurus]

SB live. It's worth the extra dough

 

[chien]

ok, it turns out my free PCI338 is vortex2 Not bad

Chien

 

[Deuce300]

I agree with Wik...the CMI 8738 based card is pretty darned good for a basic sound card, works good in Win98. I've installed a few of these in some systems with good luck