Help Me Choose A Sound Card

[supastar1568]

ok guys, i currently have a Gigabyte GA-K8N Ultra 9 motherboard which has Realtek ALC850 sound. Im looking for a decent soundcard that will give me a nice improvement over the onboard sound. For speakers I have a 2.1 setup with Harmon-Kardon speakers and subwoofer that came with my dell laptop 2 years back. I dont plan on changing the speakers as they seem pretty nice.

Im just looking for a souncard that will give me good improvement. I have been looking at the Chaintech AV-710 soundcard. Any suggestions? feedback? will this soundcard give me a good improvement over my onboard sound.

 

[xTYBALTx]

Chaintech AV-710 :thumbsup:

Any non-integrated card should provide an increase simply by nature of it not being interfered with by the board's own circuitry.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Yeah, go with the Chaintech for nice music from a 2.0 or 2.1 set.

For gaming it's not the best, but it certainly gets the job done, and for cheap.

 

[ixelion]

Any non-integrated card should provide an increase simply by nature of it not being interfered with by the board's own circuitry.

What does that mean?

I think you mean that the integrated sound utilized the CPU more, by getting a sound card you offload that work to the soundcard.

 

[supastar1568]

well i do a moderate amount of gaming. Ive heard this card wasnt the best for gaming but would it still be an improvement over my onboard sound?

Is there any other soundc cards around this price that would be better for gaming?

Obviously, the X-Fi and Audigy stuff are much better, but whats the point im only running a 2.1 setup and I cant really crank it up too much anyway

 

[xTYBALTx]

Originally posted by: ixelion

Any non-integrated card should provide an increase simply by nature of it not being interfered with by the board's own circuitry.

What does that mean?

I think you mean that the integrated sound utilized the CPU more, by getting a sound card you offload that work to the soundcard.

When you use integrated sound, the motherboard itself actually interferes with the sound. The electricity running through the board distorts the sound. Having a seperate card will lessen that effect greatly.

supastar1568 - The Chaintech card should work fine for gaming. No sense in spending another $50.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: supastar1568
well i do a moderate amount of gaming. Ive heard this card wasnt the best for gaming but would it still be an improvement over my onboard sound?

Is there any other soundc cards around this price that would be better for gaming?

Obviously, the X-Fi and Audigy stuff are much better, but whats the point im only running a 2.1 setup and I cant really crank it up too much anyway

The audigy cards would be a good pick for gaming, and there were some awsome deals lately on them ($40 for an A2 zs?). If they're still that cheap and you're doing a good amount of gaming it would be a good idea.

The Chaintech will still do better than onboard for gaming though. It isn't going to offload as much processing from the CPU or have as advanced EAX support, but it will get the job done for games.

 

[CraKaJaX]

Originally posted by: supastar1568
well i do a moderate amount of gaming. Ive heard this card wasnt the best for gaming but would it still be an improvement over my onboard sound?

Is there any other soundc cards around this price that would be better for gaming?

Obviously, the X-Fi and Audigy stuff are much better, but whats the point im only running a 2.1 setup and I cant really crank it up too much anyway

Buy some Z-5500's, my setup with my Audigy 2 ZS is just amazing for anything!

 

[supastar1568]

im guessing with a soundcard im not able to use my front audio jacks on my case?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: supastar1568
im guessing with a soundcard im not able to use my front audio jacks on my case?

It depends on the card.

I think the A2s have problems with this as there are plenty of threads on people having problems with that, but I think there's a workaround.

I'm not sure on the Chaintech.

 

[supastar1568]

the card does have this, so i will be able to use the front audio

my last question is

is this the right procedure for installing the card?:

1. Uninstall my nVidia audio driver for the onboard sound ( I have the 6.66 drivers, so im guess i would just have to uninstall the audio driver)
2. Disable onboard sound in bios
3. Install Sound Card
4. Download latest driver for the sound card
5. install the driver

 

[GamerExpress]

Originally posted by: CraKaJaX

Originally posted by: supastar1568
well i do a moderate amount of gaming. Ive heard this card wasnt the best for gaming but would it still be an improvement over my onboard sound?

Is there any other soundc cards around this price that would be better for gaming?

Obviously, the X-Fi and Audigy stuff are much better, but whats the point im only running a 2.1 setup and I cant really crank it up too much anyway

Buy some Z-5500's, my setup with my Audigy 2 ZS is just amazing for anything!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: supastar1568
the card does have this, so i will be able to use the front audio

my last question is

is this the right procedure for installing the card?:

1. Uninstall my nVidia audio driver for the onboard sound ( I have the 6.66 drivers, so im guess i would just have to uninstall the audio driver)
2. Disable onboard sound in bios
3. Install Sound Card
4. Download latest driver for the sound card
5. install the driver

Looks good.

You can even do step 4 before step 1 and that way you'll have the new drivers right away when the card is initially detected when you restart.

 

[poisonthewell]

another for chaintech av-710 on a 2.1 setup