potential sound card super mega hot deal

[MrDudeMan]

check out this 5.1 surround sound capable sound card for 12 dollars!!

click here to see it

i posted in general hardware if anyone thought it was worth it, but i guess it could be considered a hot deal!

this is my first hot deal, so if it sucks, im sorry...i tried

someone throw me a PM if this deal really sucks, or if its really good...because if its good...i am getting one!

 

[JoeRicard]

I installed this card lastnight and plugged in my nice speaker setup i got in the mail lastnight from overstock.com

Linky on speakers


And this sounds phenom!!!! I slapped in an Old Frank Sinatra CD and i was very impressed.


The speakers shown above actually can be purchased with free shipping and 20$ off for a total of $48.00

I strongly suggest this for a low budget sound system setup.

 

[Shippy]

You can also find these on eb@y for around $10-$20. To bad they don't have the s/pdif in/out connectors.

 

[MrDudeMan]

joe where do you get the 20 dollars off?

 

[pukemon]

Well the C-Media 8738 series in general is quite good, especially for the money. Driver support is pretty decent in Windows (in Win2000 and XP I've found it particularly good), and if you care about Linux, the support there is very good as well.

As far as sound quality goes, it's all subjective and everyone has personal preferences, but for the most part it's considerably better than any software based AC97 sound built onto motherboards. I've found the C-Media chips to sound a little less bright, and slightly more muddled than the SB Live!, Audigy, and Santa Cruz, I don't know compared to the Philips or Hercules cards.

If you don't want to spend more than 12 bucks, then heck yeah it's a good one for the money.

 

[Luden]

Directron has another model which support spdif AV515M - $26

Heres drivers for the av512 Text

 

[Braxus]

You can also get drivers atCMedia's site (0632).

Windows Update supposedly has more updated ones (0635).

Dunno bout you guys, but I've found the series 6 drivers to be somewhat unstable under my dually W2K system so I'm sticking with the series 5 drivers.

 

[VirginiaDonkey]

There was another thread about this C-Media card about a month ago or so. I picked up my ECS thundering 5.1 digital card ( same cmedia chip) off ebay for $14. for the money, its a great deal.

 

[CyberZenn]

i replaced my aging aureal vortex2 (which was giving me problems in XP - even after hacking MS's flawed default drivers) with this card and im quite pleased with the results thus far. On my ghetto rigged 4.1 speaker setup the sound quality is as good as with the vortex2, but now i dont have crappy drivers to wrestle with AND i have the option to buy a decent set of 5.1 speakers...

 

[astrochimp]

"The speakers shown above actually can be purchased with free shipping and 20$ off for a total of $48.00"

Can you explain the $20 off?

 

[toejam]

MrDudeMan & astrochimp...20 off 60 coupon is available for first time users of the web site that has the speakers. You can run a search to find it. Looks like a decent set for the money, and may go well with the $12 sound card mentioned in this thread.

 

[MrDudeMan]

but how do you get the coupon? thats my question

 

[toejam]

Do a search on G**gle for coupons for that web site. Good until March 8, and you must sign up for the newsletter for that web site.

 

[Solokron]

But how demanding on the processor is it? The SBLive's EMU is close to a Pentium 90 off-loading most work off of the main processor.

 

[MrDudeMan]

does it really matter how much it will stress the cpu? no it doesnt at all....


thanks for the help getting the coupon

 

[phatstyl]

MrDudeMan, actually it does, you got your coupon, so dont cop an attitude.

 

[MrDudeMan]

im not getting an attitude...and how does it matter at all if it stresses the cpu? i could understand if you have a pentium 133, but with cpus at 1gHz+...whats it gonna do? slow your programs down by 1%? im not being sarcastic, i just dont see how that matters at all

 

[dakata24]

my soyo dragon+ onboard audio uses the same audio chip.. works great. a3d/eax works as well.. since im no audiophile, probably couldnt tell the diff between this and something like a sb audigy.

for some reason in in my old system, the vortex2 card i had always had 3d sound coming from the opposite direction.. so listening for footsteps just was plan crazy to figure out where someone was..

 

[Devistater]

If you are referring to left/right being reversed, there are a few fixes. One, some games have a switch for this. Two, some sound card drivers have a switch for this. Three, build your own adapter that switches the left/right order on the plug.

If you mean rear/front audio is reversed, you might want to check to see if you have the front speakers plugged into the rear speaker plug, try reversing the plugs

 

[mcdull]

It's not really hot. I got similar card with cmedia chip and 6 channels for $15 at ebay.com almost a year ago.

 

[dakata24]

<< If you are referring to left/right being reversed, there are a few fixes. One, some games have a switch for this. Two, some sound card drivers have a switch for this. Three, build your own adapter that switches the left/right order on the plug.

If you mean rear/front audio is reversed, you might want to check to see if you have the front speakers plugged into the rear speaker plug, try reversing the plugs >>



really? ill check up on that.. thanks for the info.. and i was referring to the left/right being reversed.. i never noticed it for some reason until i got headphones... after that, i had the volume much higher so i could hear footsteps in counter-strike.. never thought of fixing it for some reason.. i bet www.vortexofsound.com has some info on that somewhere... i guess i should fix it since im giving my old duron800 with the vortex2 sound card to him since i just upgraded to my new system..

 

[bashman]

The card with the mx chipset wont do spdif in. I have one and tested it. I got the info from cmedia site

 

[Mileback]

I believe this is the same card for $8

Link

 

[xenolith]

<< I believe this is the same card for $8

Link >>



What? Do they ship it in a 5 pound box? $11 shipping for a card that's measured in ounces is ridiculous. I wish these companies would stop concealing their markup in shipping charges. :|

 

[cookdog]

I don't think the card on the EMJ site for $8 is the same card. look at the picture compared to the one on directron.com. something is a jack is missing