DANG! Sound card crapped out - need new one...

[KDOG]

I'm looking around for a new sound card because the Out port is physically broken on my 2-3 year old Hercules Fortissimo III. I am looking at this one, it seems to get good reviews and is pretty reasonably priced.

Any other tips?

 

[tren001]

Have you tried hooking up your speakers to the mobo's onboard audio? It might not sound any worse than you old Hercules and you'd save $30.

Unless of course your mobo has no onboard audio, in which case that soundblaster card is indeed a cheap and proficient replacement.

 

[abaez]

Chaintech AV-710

/thread

 

[Arcanedeath]

For a cheap good soundcard I'll 2nd the Chaintech AV-710 rec. as long as your not planing on alot of gaming, and I'd stay away from the SB live series, its old and out dated at this point, If your going creative (and I wouldn't) get at least an Audigy 2

 

[amheck]

I think Amazon (or someone) has a good deal on the Audigy 2 value card now. I know it's been mentioned here in Hot Deals or on FW. Maybe around $40. That's the one I think I'm going for.

 

[KDOG]

Hmmm, I'll look into that Chaintech...

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: KDOG
Hmmm, I'll look into that Chaintech...

I have it and it's a pretty nice card. I haven't used it in analog much at all except for the 7/8 jack with the better DAC. I use that for my headphones and digital out to my receiver.

What kind of sound system do you have? The Chaintech is an excellent stereo card, but if you have a nice 5.1 analog set and play a lot of games, an Audigy2 vanilla might be worth looking into.

M-audio makes some nice cards too.

 

[gsellis]

Just for gaming, you have an answer.

If for advanced video editing, consider Audigy 4, Audigy 2 ZS (3rd choice), or better still, M-Audio products. ASIO-2 should be supported.

 

[Brian48]

Originally posted by: KDOG
I'm looking around for a new sound card because the Out port is physically broken on my 2-3 year old Hercules Fortissimo III. I am looking at this one, it seems to get good reviews and is pretty reasonably priced.

Any other tips?

I upgraded from a Fortissimo III to a Chaintech AV710. It was the only reasonably priced sound card that had the optical out that I needed. From a gaming perspective, the F3 sounded and performed better than the AV710, but AV710 was noticably better than the F3 when it came to listening to .mp3's and music CD's.

If you do a lot of gaming, I recommend you avoid the dated SBLive series and get something in the Audigy2 line.