Need a cheap soundcard

[fwtong]

I'm looking for a cheap soundcard. All I care about is sound quality. I have a cramped room so I don't have the space for more then 2 speakers. As a result, I don't need 5.1 support, Dolby Surround, 6 channel support, 7 channel support, etc... All I want is a cheap soundcard that will have good, high 2 quality 2 channel sound.

I shouldn't have sold my Soundblaster Live Value

 

[Ionizer86]

Compusa has a $20 Via Envy 24HT card this week. The brand is Mad Dog, and it's called something like Mad Dog 7.1 Entertainer (don't quote me on that). Not too shabby.

 

[Crusty]

Get a Philips card, there are several that pretty cheap and they are great cards IMHO. You could also look for Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, thats what I use in my HTPC.

 

[holdencommodore]

The card based on the VIA envy are quite a good choice. Cards such as the Philips Dynamic Edge PSC604 or Sonic Edge PSC605 should also satisfy your needs. Both are great little budget cards

 

[fwtong]

Thanks for the suggestions. I just bought another Soundblaster Live Value from the For Sale forum, but if it doesn't go through, I'll definately take a look at these options.

 

[dnuggett]

Originally posted by: Ionizer86
Compusa has a $20 Via Envy 24HT card this week. The brand is Mad Dog, and it's called something like Mad Dog 7.1 Entertainer (don't quote me on that). Not too shabby.

Didn't see this online.... B&M only?

 

[xSkyDrAx]

The SBLive is a good value card IMHO. Its pretty cheap at newegg.com. Add a little more and you can get a TBSC. I dont know what is your definition of cheap sound card. The SBLive and TBSC go for under 50 at newegg...thats pretty cheap and they're pretty good.

 

[mrgoblin]

TBSC at CC for 40 after 40 mir. Or you can just use onboard since there isnt much of a difference for 15 bucks

 

[fwtong]

I'm actually getting a soundcard, because I didn't realize until after selling my Soundblaster Live Value that using onboard sound sucked up so much CPU power. I don't want to get an expensive soundcard, $30+, because I'm limited to a 2 speaker setup. There is simply no room to put more speakers in my room.

 

[Atlantean]

Don't bother getting a soundcard, if you have a decent motherboard you can use the onboard sound and it should work pretty well.

 

[fwtong]

Originally posted by: Atlantean
Don't bother getting a soundcard, if you have a decent motherboard you can use the onboard sound and it should work pretty well.

I thought about doing that, but I read on overclockers.com that using the onboard sound sucks up to 16% of the the cpu cycles. That, and I'm not real satisified with the quality of the AC97 codec, or whatever codec it's using. Unfortunately, I didn't get a board with Soundstorm.

 

[tomstevens26]

Originally posted by: fwtong

Originally posted by: Atlantean Don't bother getting a soundcard, if you have a decent motherboard you can use the onboard sound and it should work pretty well.

I thought about doing that, but I read on overclockers.com that using the onboard sound sucks up to 16% of the the cpu cycles. That, and I'm not real satisified with the quality of the AC97 codec, or whatever codec it's using. Unfortunately, I didn't get a board with Soundstorm.

OK, stupid question (and sorry if I'm changing the discussion in the thread!) but will using the Soundstorm (the analog ports, not the digital) on an Asus A7N8X reduce my performance of that board?

 

[Brian48]

You can always get another SBLive OEM for $10 off e-Bay. That's about as cheap as you can get for a stand alone sound card of any make or type.