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Could use some Sound Card upgrade recommendations, looking for front panel audio support?

communistM

communistM

Junior Member
Hello, Hi, Yo

I am looking to upgrade from my current on board audio to a full fledged sound card. There does not seem to be too many option these days when it comes to sound cards, and i have narrowed it down to two cards. The Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty and Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1. Besides upgrading to an actual sound card the only other real feature i need/want is front panel audio support (mic, headphones etc...). Now i have tried researching this, and it seems that the XtremeGamer includes this feature, but the Fatal1ty does not. This strikes me as odd to say the least. Can anyone confirm/deny this? Also are there any other options/feature i should looking for. The X-Fi series seems like solid choice, but are there any other cards i should considering? If anyone could shed some light on this subject it would be greatly appreciated 🙂




P.S.

Hopefully besides better sound, will i see performance increase (primarily gaming) with an upgrade to a dedicated sound card vs on board audio. current rig specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 (2.6)
Abit IP35 Pro
BFG 8800GT OCE 512Mb
Crucial Ballistix 2Gb DDR (6400)
Segate Barracuda 7200rpm 320Gb
 
Maybe you should be more specific about exactly what functions you need from a I/O panel.
* Do you need MIDI ports up front as well as Mic & Headphones?
* Do you only need Mic & Headphone ports?
 
Originally posted by: communistM
I am looking to upgrade from my current on board audio to a full fledged sound card.
Click to expand...

What does "full fledged sound card" mean? 😕

Originally posted by: communistM
Hopefully besides better sound, will i see performance increase (primarily gaming) with an upgrade to a dedicated sound card vs on board audio.
Click to expand...

You mean framerate? Without measuring it, you will see absolutely no gains. Zero. Zip. Nada. If you measure it (timedemos, etc) you may see a percent or two difference. If you are just "measuring" with your eyes, nothing.

As for "better" sound, if you have a true 4 or more channel speaker setup and are using EAX for games, then the sound may surround you more. If only using two speakers or headphones, then you probably won't benefit much.

If you're talking about sound "quality" then it is a maybe. Sound quality is very subjective. Some people think CDs sound better while others think LPs sound better. I've even known people to think that radio (basic FM stereo) sounds better than CDs (typically radio stations compress and process their output). And of course some people think PCI sound cards (Creative or otherwise) sound better than onboard, while others think that onboard HD audio (NOT AC'97) sound better than PCI sound cards.
 
For general gaming, onboard audio should suffice most of the time now, as they've gotten a little better over the years. Unless you need extremely hi-fidelity or are an audiophile, an X-fi won't do too much good imo. If you're going to get a sound card, you might as well get something that actually is worth the money (that is, an audiophile card that actually provides high quality for the price.)
 
He's looking for a dedicated sound card that reproduces accurate audio, unlike the hack onboard "so-called" audio processors.
 
In that case, my friends usually recommend the E-MU or M-Audio offerings. Kind of expensive for me, but I don't do incredibly sensitive audio work either. :/
 
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