Anyone know whats the best soundcard to get for games?

[mrgoblin]

I was wondering what the best card is for games. I dont want an audigy2 with all the crap on the back that I wont need. Whats the difference between for example a normal sound card an an augidy xgamer? Can you tell the difference with a premium sound card? Thanks

 

[Tab]

Audigy 2 Hands down.

 

[mrgoblin]

Why hands down? Why should I pay 115 bucks for a soundcard? Is it a noticable difference? I dont need special kinds of extras I just want something for games. Is there something with less crap on it that will get the job done with the same or near the same quality for less price? ANd what exactly IS the audigy x-gamer?

 

[jfall]

IMO you wouldn't be able to tell much difference in sound quality unless you had a damn nice set of speakers. I would pick up a turtle beach santa cruz or a cheaper creative card for gaming. There is no need to get an audigy2 just for gameing

 

[tbates757]

Audigy 2. You can buy it OEM for like $80, so you don't need to spend 115

 

[brettjrob]

I've been wondering the same thing (currently using ABIT IS7 onboard sound... not too bad for onboard, but certainly not great)... the Audigy 1 is significantly less (~$55 for OEM vs. ~$85 for Audigy2)... in what cases would the Audigy 2 give you a real advantage over the original Audigy, especially if you have a 2.1 speaker setup?

 

[RollWave]

He asks whats the best soundcard for games and then gets pissy because he doesnt think that an Audigy 2 will sound as good as another card? He seems to be full of contradictions! He doesnt know what he's asking

 

[fredtam]

Audigy 2 hands down yes but if your just looking for a great sounding card that will take a load off the cpu I would suggest either the TBSC or the second best (compared to SB Audigy) in my opinion the Fortissimo III 7.1 for $46.

 

[tbates757]

Originally posted by: brettjrob
I've been wondering the same thing (currently using ABIT IS7 onboard sound... not too bad for onboard, but certainly not great)... the Audigy 1 is significantly less (~$55 for OEM vs. ~$85 for Audigy2)... in what cases would the Audigy 2 give you a real advantage over the original Audigy, especially if you have a 2.1 speaker setup?

It really depends on the quality of your speakers if you're going to tell a difference..

 

[fredtam]

Originally posted by: tbates757

Originally posted by: brettjrob
I've been wondering the same thing (currently using ABIT IS7 onboard sound... not too bad for onboard, but certainly not great)... the Audigy 1 is significantly less (~$55 for OEM vs. ~$85 for Audigy2)... in what cases would the Audigy 2 give you a real advantage over the original Audigy, especially if you have a 2.1 speaker setup?

It really depends on the quality of your speakers if you're going to tell a difference..

I second that.

 

[ethebubbeth]

Audigy 2 oem for 78 bucks at newegg if i recall. The reason is less for the sound quality and more for speed. The audigy 2 has extremely low cpu usage and has a very powerful DSP.

 

[randumb]

Audigy 2, Game Theater XP, M-Audio Revolution are all very nice.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: ethebubbeth
Audigy 2 oem for 78 bucks at newegg if i recall. The reason is less for the sound quality and more for speed. The audigy 2 has extremely low cpu usage and has a very powerful DSP.

In some tests it was found to use more CPU, but obviously the sound quality was better. It was being compared to an integrated solution on an nfroce2 chipset based board at Tom's Hardware...

 

[ethebubbeth]

well i personally love the nforce2 soundstorm to death, but it's not possible to go out and buy it as an expansion card.

 

[d0wnthe11235813]

for 2.1 sound you wont be able to tell the difference between a audigy 2 (24-bit output) and a audigy (16-bit output). i'm using nForce soundstorm and love it right now, cant tell the difference between that and an audigy

 

[tjaisv]

Originally posted by: randumb
Audigy 2, Game Theater XP, M-Audio Revolution are all very nice.

add to that the turtle beach santa cruz....all together the usual suspects when looking for a high performance audio card

 

[RagingGuardian]

Soundstorm sucks for games. I have so much audio problem with games whenever I try to enable EAX. On top of that just regular MP3 playing and DVD watching skips sometimes. I know it can't be just me because other people at nforcehq are reporting the same problems.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: RagingGuardian
Soundstorm sucks for games. I have so much audio problem with games whenever I try to enable EAX. On top of that just regular MP3 playing and DVD watching skips sometimes. I know it can't be just me because other people at nforcehq are reporting the same problems.

I've never had ANY problems with the SoundStorm on my board. EAX works perfectly and sound is just plain great, especially for an integrated chip. It would be perfect if Nvidia put drivers out a little more frequently and updated the Audio Control Panel.

 

[Arcanedeath]

For games and just games if you have good speakers I'd say an Audigy 2, if you don't have pretty good speakers you won't be able to tell the difference between the Audigy 2 and most other decent cards and could get something cheaper like an Audigy 1, TBSC, or Hurc. Game Theater XP, also if you plan on listening to a lot of music I'd suggest the TBSC, it's prob. the best for just playing music. Hope this helps....

 

[modestninja]

I've never had an issue with my soundstorm either it has worked great in every game that I've played and provide excellent sound for DVDs.

 

[Amorphus]

just go for good 4.1 sound card, at least. the center speaker isn't a necessity for games. 5.1 sound card if you like movies.

 

[cHr0nIc]

Originally posted by: RagingGuardian
Soundstorm sucks for games. I have so much audio problem with games whenever I try to enable EAX. On top of that just regular MP3 playing and DVD watching skips sometimes. I know it can't be just me because other people at nforcehq are reporting the same problems.

It might have more to do with your board manufactures' implementation of SoundStorm than with the chip itself. Or, you could just have a really crappy set of speakers that you want to believe are a really good speakers and instead of admitting to the fact, you choose to blame the sound chip in you computer. But I could be wrong 😛. I have an DFI LanParty NF2 Ultra and have not had a single problem with SoundStorm. I just wish I had a better set of speakers to take advantage of it.

Originally posted by: MonkeyDriveExpress
It would be perfect if Nvidia put drivers out a little more frequently and updated the Audio Control Panel.

Nvidia actually updates the nForce drivers quite frequently, it's just that they've been forced to withdraw the last two driver revisions do to problems with IDE controller optimization (among other things). However, Nvidia has recently released version 2.45 of the nForce driver set, get it here if you don't have it allready. The most notable change is better EAX support and an updated control panel (although I didn't really notice anything "new" or "updated" about it.

EDIT= Grammer

 

[chocoruacal]

Instead of listening to people flame each other in a thread like this, I suggest taking 30 seconds and doing some Googling. Thats an older review, but you get the picture. Look for benchmarks that show CPU usage. Read the subjective comments that are made about sound quality. Personally, if all you're doing is gaming, I'd look for the card that shows the lowest CPU usage (and faster benches.)

 

[Nutrageous]

I have a Hercules Game Theater XP and I'd recommend it to anyone. It sounds awesome. It has just about every possible input/output you could possibly want. I wanted an optical out and a MIDI in out.

Now I have my optical going out to my home theater system. My RCA outs are going to a stereo in my bedroom, and I still have an output for my PC speakers near my desktop. With just this Game Theater XP and some long cables, I can listen to my mp3's in every room of my apartment.