How long to sound cards last?

[tigersty1e]

I've always used onboard sound and was thinking of buying a good quality sound card.

How long do they last?

 

[xitshsif]

Until you get tired of it.

Or you give it a good zap of static.

 

[Schadenfroh]

I have never had one die on me.

Check your office depot for clearance Xfi extrememusic cards:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=40&threadid=2027726&enterthread=y

 

[potato28]

My cousin has a sound card from 1990 that still works. I think they're good for life.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: potato28
My cousin has a sound card from 1990 that still works. I think they're good for life.

I have the original soundblaster around here somewhere, worked last I checked in the dos box.

 

[tigersty1e]

What I really meant was how often new breakthroughs happen in sound cards?

Video cards have lifetime warranties and should last a lifetime, but in reality they need to be replaced ~3 years.

So how long do sound cards last in the respect?

 

[mercanucaribe]

I'm still using a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz from 5 years ago.

 

[Roguestar]

Never had one break.

 

[oynaz]

There has not really been a breakthrough in sound cards since the switch from 8-bit to 16-bit cards.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

never had one die on me

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: tigersty1e
What I really meant was how often new breakthroughs happen in sound cards?

Video cards have lifetime warranties and should last a lifetime, but in reality they need to be replaced ~3 years.

So how long do sound cards last in the respect?

If you're just listening to music, then you can get a card now for $30 that should last a very long time and have sound quality that is more than enough that you'd always be limited by your speaker quality (for 99% of AT members) and headphones too in most cases.

For games, if you're into EAX and all that jazz, Creative seems to come out with a new lineup every couple of years. That doesn't mean that the older cards will stop working though. There may just be some extra "features" that are added with the new products like improved headphone surround effects and such.

I think driver issues and OS support comes into play with how long things are going to last.

There are some newer features that have come out and continued to develop in the last couple years like real-time DD / DTS encoding, but that isn't an issue for most people out there.

In the near future, having sound output in conjunction with video in an HDMI output may become a feature people want for viewing HDCP material.

With the kind of speakers (and their placement) and headphones most people are using though, these kind of advancements aren't going to matter for most people.

 

[oynaz]

Driver issues and OS support is not a problem. Windows XP even supports the 8-bit SB Pro cards.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: oynaz
Driver issues and OS support is not a problem. Windows XP even supports the 8-bit SB Pro cards.

I meant Vista and future OS's since he's looking to get a card right now.

 

[CurseTheSky]

I actually noticed a bigger sound quality jump from upgrading my sound card than I did my speakers. Maybe it was just my case or my hardware... but there's definately no two ways about it in my mind.

I had Logitech X-530s on three different sound cards: Audigy 2 Value, Audigy 2 ZS, and X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Pro. The jump from my old speakers and card (Dell 2.1 / Soundblaster Live!) to the X-530s and Audigy 2 Value was enormous. Even more surprising, the jump from the Value to the ZS made just as much of a quality difference as the previous jump. Finally, the jump from the ZS to the X-Fi was also quite significant, though not as obvious as the previous two.

Recently, I replaced the X-530s with a set of Z-5500s. The 5500s deliver excellent volume and clairty, but from I could tell, the actual sound quality wasn't leaps and bounds over the X-530s. The 5500s definately sound better, but not as much as I had expected, the way the people hyped them up.

Maybe I haven't played around with them enough yet, or maybe I was just expecting too much. I'm completely satisified with the speakers, but I really expected them to blow the X-530s out of the water, for an extra $225. Eventually I'll dig out the older cards and give them a try on the new speakers, and see what differences I notice.

Getting back to the topic, sound cards will probably outlast most of your other computer components. Even a Soundblaster Live! 5.1 will suffice in most systems today.

 

[lenjack]

Should last indefinitely. My Turtlebay Santa Cruz is about 8 years old, and is going strong.

 

[Noema]

My Sound Blaster 16 was still working last time I checked.

As for it going obsolete...YoYo's post should be very informative. The limiting factor is usually not the card itself but the speakers and how they are amplified.

Usually though, Creative cards become obsolete when Creative decides to stop supporting them, which may or not take a while, depending on the card.

 

[JEDIYoda]

I still have my original Sound Blaster Live card.......still works but has been retired!

 

[Slammy1]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
I still have my original Sound Blaster Live card.......still works but has been retired!

My SBLive is on a friend's system, still going strong. I retired my old AWE32 card less than a year ago as the person with that card upgraded his PC and no longer has an ISA slot.