Good, cheap sound card

[Paddington]

I have an ASUS A8N-E, which I've had for about a year. I use the on-board sound, since I just have a 3 speaker setup. There's always been a lot of static in games, and recently I've just gotten sick of it. I know it's not the speakers. I've been told that with on board sound, there is often a lot of interference, so I need to get a sound card. I want something cheap, which won't eat up a lot of CPU cycles. And EAX acceleration is good too. Recommendations?

EDIT: According to Creative's site, they now have USB external sound cards. What do you guys think about that? If there's a lot of electrical interference around the motherboard in my computer, I don't know if moving the sound a whole 2 inches away to a card will make much difference. My main concerns about the USB card would be 1) lag, 2) CPU cycles, and 3) cost.

 

[w00t]

If you want a good cheap sound card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829120103

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: w00t
If you want a good cheap sound card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829120103

Great card for music, but for EAX support (higher than 2.0), creative is the only option

It will certainly work for games though. I didn't have any issues with games in the period of time that I had mine.

 

[noagname]

Originally posted by: w00t
If you want a good cheap sound card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829120103

This is great

 

[Paddington]

A SB Audigy is only a few dollars more than that =/

 

[Mesix]

Much love for Envy24

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Paddington
A SB Audigy is only a few dollars more than that =/

How much were you planning on spending?

The AV-710 should surpass the audigy cards in terms of music production but if it's higher EAX levels you're after, then an audigy or X-Fi (on sale) might be the way to go.

 

[imported_kiwik]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: w00t
If you want a good cheap sound card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829120103

Great card for music, but for EAX support (higher than 2.0), creative is the only option

It will certainly work for games though. I didn't have any issues with games in the period of time that I had mine.

I never used higher than EAX 2.0 and pretty much never will.

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

Originally posted by: Paddington
A SB Audigy is only a few dollars more than that =/

That's right

Despite that, though, I suggest getting something used. Curiously, sound cards don't seem to degrade in quality very quickly--at least, not significantly. Everything is solid state, so there's little risk, in my opinion.

Maybe an old Audigy would do the trick. I have an Audigy LS which has served me very well over the years. Even my ancient SoundBlaster 16 is still better than the latest integrated solution. Try the for sale/trade forum first, then Ebay.

Yes, I highly suggest a decent to good used card over a cheap new one.

 

[Paddington]

To give you guys an update, I pulled a 6 year old SB Live from my old computer today that hasn't been used in 4 years, and put it my current PC. It's working like new. The sound is crisp and without annoying glitches/inconsistencies in games.

It's funny how these integrated sound solutions advertise their 8.1 sound capabilities, when they can't even get basic 2 speaker sound right.

Oh yeah, now that I have the SB Live installed, I want to make sure that the computer is not also sending data to the integrated sound card, as that would be a waste of CPU cycles. How do I make sure they are not both being used?

 

[Ghouler]

disable onboard chip in bios