im looking for a new sound card. i just would like some advice.

[neil]

I am running a 8KHA+ mobo and i am using the AC97 onborad sound.
I cant take it any more, i think i am ready to upgrade to a pci soundcard.

This is basically what i am looking for:
-Excellent sound quality, i listen to alot of music on my pc.
-I do play games, so i would want all the latest 3D audio formats.
-I would also like to ablity to hook up my PC to a Receiver to take advantage of my suroundsound.
-lower cpu usage
-and compatiblity.

Price range: 0.00$ to 75ish

The reason that i am asking for soundcard advaice it that i do not know what to look/or what not to look for in a soundcard.

thanks
-neil

 

[tigerwannabe]

sounds like the soundblaster audigy is the way to go for you. i got the chance to play with one for awhile & it's a nice piece of work

 

[gregor7777]

I'll put in a vote for the Hercules GameTheatre XP. As many outputs as anyone could want, and I've yet to have a compatibility issue. That's saying something as I run with some classic "problematic hardware" : kt266a, epox 8kha+, ti-200, radeon 8500. No issues at all.

 

[PliotronX]

I agree that the Audigy meets all of your requirements except for the last one (I think?). Some people have had issues with Live!/Audigy cards on VIA platforms, but I've read of a lot of happy campers with KT266A mobos and Audigys. I'm using an Audigy on an Intel platform, and I couldn't be happier. I upgraded from a Diamond MX300 sound card, and the Audigy is better in everything I can apply it to. Midrange frequencies sound awesome in music, EAX 3.0 sounds a lot like A3D sounded on the MX300, but with nowhere near the amount of CPU cycles eaten by the MX300. I haven't hooked it up to any sound systems except for my PC's 4.1 speakers, so I can't comment on that, but the insane amount of hookups in the Audigy Platinum's AudigyDrive should be more than sufficient.

Though to give you another option, I'll plug for the Hercules Game Theater XP. I haven't read of any similar complaints to VIA+Live/Audigy issues from owners of this card, and I had a chance to listen to my friend's GTXP. It's very nice, though I do prefer the Audigy's sound, the GTXP is definitely better than my old MX300. The GTXP also doesn't eat up many CPU cycles in games, but it only supports EAX 1.0 IIRC. Given that EAX is Creative's API, this is to be expected though. My favorite point about the GTXP is its performance to dollar ratio. It comes with a box similar to the Live/AudigyDrive so you can hook it up to a sound system with ease, and it's going for around $80US as opposed to the Audigy Platinum's ~$160 (last I checked).

Hope this helps

 

[Mem]

Running Epox 8KHA+ with SB Audigy here with no problems in WinXP,gaming wise it has the lowest cpu usage of current sound cards,the sound quality is excellent.

 

[Oyeve]

I run an Audigy on an asus p3v4x with WinMe/WinXP and have had no issue whatsoever. Good card for whatever its worth.

 

[ST4RCUTTER]

The Turtle Beach Santa Cruz is also an excellent card. It has a very easy install, an impressive software bundle and is generally thought of as an excellent card for music enthusiasts. I've heard some people proclaim that it's better than the Audigy in so far as music playback/recording.

 

[SpecialEd]

i second the Turtle beach santa cruz. Best sound card under 70 bucks.

 

[de8212]

I asked the same question not too long ago. I did alot of research and most of the people told me to go with TBSC. I went ahead and got an audigy mp3 version for my 8kha+. I also picked up logitech 560's.
Here's my take on this. Music sounds wonderful.
Games (only games I play are UT and nasacar 2002) have a very faint popping/clicking sound in them for the most part. Could be the 560's, could be the audigy, could be VIA???? Not enough to really bother me.
Install went virutually flawless. Drivers seemed to be OK. Better than what I've read about them.
I don't think you can truly go worng with either card really. When I have some spare change I plan on buying the TBSC just to see what the talk is all about.

de

 

[Mem]

<< Games (only games I play are UT and nasacar 2002) have a very faint popping/clicking sound in them for the most part. >>



I play a lot of UT ,CS,Q3, etc and don`t get any faint popping with my SB Audigy,I`ve mine in PCI slot2 on my Epox 8KHA+ board,I agree the install is very simple enough and not hard for the average user.

 

[LoneWolf1]

Another card you might want to look into is the Acoustic Edge. It runs flawless with the latest drivers.

You might also want to head over to 3DSoundSurge. They have extensive reviews of all the cards mentioned in this thread.

 

[TheWart]

two more votes for the AE. got it in a p3v4x mobo and an ECS k7s5a (soon to be epox 8kha+) with no problems, paired with either the klipsch 4.1 or logitech z560s.

 

[JoPalm]

There's the soundblaster Extigy, but I think that costs more. Looks cool though.

 

[XRdirtHead]

SB Live.....my 2 cents

 

[wfbberzerker]

<< I'll put in a vote for the Hercules GameTheatre XP. >>

 

[Poncherelli]

Game Theather XP is sweet. I cant vouch for any others, but my friend has a gtxp and its a good card, for a good price, and the breakout box thing is great with all the outputs and lots of usb ports on it.

 

[HouRman]

I've been looking closely at the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card lately. Maybe because it has the word "audiophile" on their website that caught my attention I dunno.

I heard a lot about conficts with audigy cards and I can't help myself but focus on the negative.

The Hercules sound card's price didn't appeal but the 'cool' looking external bay might come in handy.