Audigy 2 Value vs SB Live 5.1 Value

[jinduy]

i will not have any 5.1 speakers. i just bought some logitech z3 2.1 speakers.

in terms of sound quality, they should be virtually the same correct? if so, i will just pull out the 5.1 card from my old comp to plug into my new comp.

thanks!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Don't spend money on a new soundcard until you get speakers that are better.

I really hated my SB Live when I had it, but if I were in your position and was looking for better sound quality I'd save up for a high end comptuer speaker set or entry level HT set before spending $50 on an audigy.

I hope I'm not coming off as saying your speakers are crappy. I've heard z3s and recommend them to people looking for speaker solutions under $50. In general I think people spend too much on their soundcards.
If you're looking to have it take care of the surround processing to lighten the load on the CPU, then I totally understand getting an audigy, but if it's just to improve sound quality... the money is better spent on the weakest link, the speakers.

 

[jinduy]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Don't spend money on a new soundcard until you get speakers that are better.

I really hated my SB Live when I had it, but if I were in your position and was looking for better sound quality I'd save up for a high end comptuer speaker set or entry level HT set before spending $50 on an audigy.

I hope I'm not coming off as saying your speakers are crappy. I've heard z3s and recommend them to people looking for speaker solutions under $50. In general I think people spend too much on their soundcards.
If you're looking to have it take care of the surround processing to lighten the load on the CPU, then I totally understand getting an audigy, but if it's just to improve sound quality... the money is better spent on the weakest link, the speakers.

thanks for your advice. and i forgot to mention that i care most about lightening the load on the cpu! will the audigy card lighten the load moreso than my 5.1 card?

thanks!!!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I don't think the SB live does any EAX processing. The audigy 2s I think are the only cards that do it.

You just built a system, right? Overall I think if you're getting a new system, you're better off spending the $50 to $75 people spend on an audigy to "lighten the load" on the CPU is better spent on a better CPU or videocard in the first place.

If you already have the system built though, an audigy 2 will indeed get you a few more frames per second by taking the burden of sound processing off the CPU.

I'm not even really sure how much of a difference EAX stuff makes on a 2.1 system though...

In summary... the SB Live is not going to lighten the load at all vs onboard afaik, and the audigy 2 should make some difference... may or may not be noticable.

 

[jinduy]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I don't think the SB live does any EAX processing. The audigy 2s I think are the only cards that do it.

You just built a system, right? Overall I think if you're getting a new system, you're better off spending the $50 to $75 people spend on an audigy to "lighten the load" on the CPU is better spent on a better CPU or videocard in the first place.

If you already have the system built though, an audigy 2 will indeed get you a few more frames per second by taking the burden of sound processing off the CPU.

I'm not even really sure how much of a difference EAX stuff makes on a 2.1 system though...

In summary... the SB Live is not going to lighten the load at all vs onboard afaik, and the audigy 2 should make some difference... may or may not be noticable.

thanks for the nfo

 

[jinduy]

Originally posted by: jinduy

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I don't think the SB live does any EAX processing. The audigy 2s I think are the only cards that do it.

You just built a system, right? Overall I think if you're getting a new system, you're better off spending the $50 to $75 people spend on an audigy to "lighten the load" on the CPU is better spent on a better CPU or videocard in the first place.

If you already have the system built though, an audigy 2 will indeed get you a few more frames per second by taking the burden of sound processing off the CPU.

I'm not even really sure how much of a difference EAX stuff makes on a 2.1 system though...

In summary... the SB Live is not going to lighten the load at all vs onboard afaik, and the audigy 2 should make some difference... may or may not be noticable.

thanks for the nfo

and yeah i ordered my system but stupid monarch has my hd on backorder and directron barely shipped out my psu on friday and amazon barely shipped on friday as well... i'm still waiting on those 3...

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: jinduy

Originally posted by: jinduy

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I don't think the SB live does any EAX processing. The audigy 2s I think are the only cards that do it.

You just built a system, right? Overall I think if you're getting a new system, you're better off spending the $50 to $75 people spend on an audigy to "lighten the load" on the CPU is better spent on a better CPU or videocard in the first place.

If you already have the system built though, an audigy 2 will indeed get you a few more frames per second by taking the burden of sound processing off the CPU.

I'm not even really sure how much of a difference EAX stuff makes on a 2.1 system though...

In summary... the SB Live is not going to lighten the load at all vs onboard afaik, and the audigy 2 should make some difference... may or may not be noticable.

thanks for the nfo

and yeah i ordered my system but stupid monarch has my hd on backorder and directron barely shipped out my psu on friday and amazon barely shipped on friday as well... i'm still waiting on those 3...

Oh yeah, now I remember 🙂
With a dozen "how does this system look?" threads a day I can't keep track of them all.