What sound card should I get

[Bodah]

I'm going to build a PC soon, but I don't know what sound card to get. I'm not an audiophile or anything so sound doesnt matter that much to me unless it just sounds horrible with crackling and everything. So, whats a good sound card for about 30 to 40 dollars (50 at the very most)? I'm getting Logitech Z640 speakers, I'll probably keep the volume at mid settings and low for when I'm playing late at night. Or would onboard 8ch sound work for me? Would the onboard sound support 5.1 or would it not support bass since it doesn't have the .1? Thanks.

 

[jazziz]

If sound doesn't matter, then just use the on-board sound. Most motherboards have 5.1 on-board sound. Or if you want better than on-board, you can get SB Live! 5.1 for $30 or Audigy ES for $50 from newegg.

 

[Bodah]

OK, I'll go with onboard sound, but just to make sure, the 8-ch onboard sound will support 5.1 right? I'm getting this motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/app/view...amp;manufactory=BROWSE

 

[Algere]

Yes

 

[orangat]

Since your not an audiophile and you play game late into the night like you said, I'd advise an soundblaster audigy1 card for about 40-50 for max compatibility. Onboard sound will steal seom cpu power which might not matter if your have a powerful PC.

 

[302efi]

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz....

I had this card for about 4 years and it never let me down. The sound quality is great for games and I even do some music recording every now and then.

I think CompUSA is selling them on clearance for around $35

Santa cruz...

 

[Gravity]

I like the audigy 2z. You will too!!

 

[Bodah]

Onboard sound steals CPU power? Could I just get some $20 sound card, or would it sound worse than on-board?

 

[Mem]

Onboard sound steals CPU power? Could I just get some $20 sound card, or would it sound worse than on-board?

Depends on the motherboard in question,some have dedicated hardware (like on SoundStorm/Nvidia boards for example) which have very low CPU usage even when compared to Audigy 2 etc.

I would try the onboard sound first before buying a PCI soundcard,reason being onboard sound has improved quite a lot over the years ,you can always install a PCI sound card later if you`re not happy.Most of the motherboards with 8.1 onboard sound are decent sound wise.

 

[Steve]

Check out this, or this.

 

[k3nt]

I second the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz!

 

[Subhuman25]

Ouch for choosing VIA.

8 channel obviously supports 5.1 wich is only 6 channel
You're obvisouly not an audiophile and for gaming on high end system onboard sound is more than adequate.
CPU load using onboard sound option vs. add-in card is negligable in a high end system to beging with.
You will not notice the difference.It's merely measurable using benchmarking tests.That's all.
If you insist on an add-in sound card predominantly for gaming purposes,I'd recommend the Soundblaster Audigy series of cards.A good compromise between audiophile quality and gaming performance.

 

[Steve]

Something wrong with Via?

 

[smithpd]

My opinions...

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz is an excellent sound card. Sounds better with music than Sound Blaster. I had a little problem with it in that Thief 2 sounded bad, so I returned it. If you don't play Thief, it should be better than SB LIve. One disadvantage: it does not have EAX in hardware, and software emulation of EAX is incomplete. Creative is the only vendor to have EAX in hardware.

Sounblaster Live sounds "OK", but I think it is harsh sounding. It also has craclking and pops in some situations. I like Audigy much better. I agree with recommendation for you to get Audigy 1, although I would get Audigy 2 myself.

 

[konakona]

i know santa cruz used to be a very nice card, definitely a step up from creative offerings, but av-710 and emu-0404 totally outclass it in terms of music quality.

 

[gustep12]

Hi there,

I had a SB Audigy 1 Platinum, and there were two things that really annoyed me: First, there always was a terrible *POP* from the speakers when I turned off the PC without turning down the volume or amplifier first; Second, it was always a hassle to unplug the primary speakers and swap to headphones when I wanted to.

Because I got it at Fry's for $40, and because I remembered that my Montego II never popped, I decided to give the somewhat aged but top rate Voyetra Turtle Beach Santa Cruz a spin. Indeed, it doesn't pop, and I can leave all 4 speakers and the headphones hooked up at the same time. A menu option will activate either the 4 speaker setup or the headphones (in the Versa jack). With this one click you not only switch to headphones but also activate Sensaura's customizable (!) HRTF technology with a profile you defined earlier. No more plugging and unplugging for me...

The only two gripes I see are that the Audigy had a Firewire port, which I don't have on my MOBO, so I am losing that. However, I never used it, and I doubt I will anytime soon.

The other gripe is that even the Santa Cruz won't encode Direct3D audio into a DolbyDigital stream, to be then decoded by an external home theater system. Only pass-through could work, i.e. playing a Dolby DVD. Oh well. As far as I know, only the Soundstorm MCP-T onboard system has that Direct3D --> Dolby DTS conversion ability... at least as of this writing. Licensing issues, I presume...

So there. I will be selling my Audigy on Ebay tomorrow, unless I find another fault or someone convinces me otherwise. Just played Unreal 2004 and it was just fine.

 

[raildogg]

any audigy 2 series will be fine. get any, whichever is the cheapest