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need help selecting a sound card

S

silver19

Junior Member
hey, im new to the forum and im getting together a new gaming pc but i have no clue to what sound i should get. A little help wuld be appreciated.

thanks
 
Welcome here.

You should give us a couple more facts. What speaker setup are you going to hook up, what OS are you going to run, what games do you play, how much money are you willing to spend, etc. etc.
 
this is my system

PSU ENERMAX INFINITI EIN720AWT ATX12V/ EPS12V 720W Power Supply

CASE NVidia Edition Cooler Master Stacker 830

PROCESSOR Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz

MB GIGABYTE GA-P35-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

MONITOR SAMSUNG 206BW Black 20" 2 ms (GTG)

MEMORY CORSAIR XMS2 DOMINATOR 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel X2

Video EVGA 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

HD Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

BURNER Sony NEC Optiarc Black Model AD-7170S

ACCESORIES Scythe (Black) 18-in-1 USB 2.0 FDD & Card Reader Combo

HEATSINK Scythe SCNJ-1100P 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler

SPEAKERS Logitech z-5500
 
If you can find an X-Fi XtremeMusic, go with that. If you can't, the XtremeGamer should be enough for your needs.
 
thank you for your responses. I was recommended the xtrememusic already, but it is discontinued in the US and the xtremegamer i heard that it isnt so good...
 
I have the Xtrememusic. It's not worth the money that could be spent in better areas. You have good onboard sound with great speakers already.
 
exactly, i have great speakers. i want a great sound card to go along with it.

so...anymore suggestions?, i preffer to stay away from the xtremegamer
 
Since it's for a gaming PC, the X-Fi will suit his needs well. No matter what you say, a discrete audio card will ALWAYS beat onboard sound (unless said discrete audio card is either faulty, designed by a toddler, or old as heck). This is due primarily to electrical noise introduced by PC components. A discrete sound card moves the audio "pipes", if you will, away from the core of the motherboard, therefore decreasing its exposure to electrical noise. This, in turn, results in better sound quality.
 
Onboard does not imply poorly isolated from noise (although it's a bit harder to get right) ... and you get perfectly undistorted audio even from $.50 onboard audio by using the digital output.
 
Originally posted by: silver19
any new suggestions?, it doesnt have to be a creative card, i just want it to be really good.
Click to expand...

You're mistaken

Xtremegamer=xtrememusic but half height
Xtremeaudio = Teh suck

Get the Xtremegamer
 
are you sure, i have seen reviews about the xtrememusic and they mentioned the xtremegamer as a crappy card...if you are really sure i guess i will buy it.
 
Originally posted by: silver19
hmm...is the diference between eax 2.0 and 5.0 THAT obvious?
Click to expand...

Supposedly it is in some games...I have never owned a EAX 5.0 card as I have different needs other than gaming. Maybe someone else could comment.
 
The XtremeGamer is supposed to be the replacement for the XtremeMusic I hear. The XtremeGamer isnt a bad card. Just a tad less in quality than the XtremeMusic. If you can no longer find the XtremeMusic then get the XtremeGamer. It should do you fine.


Edit: Pricegrabber is showing three places currently that has the XtremeMusic in stock. They arent gone yet. Here's the cheapest one as of this posting:

http://www.computerhq.com/Crea...artinfo-id-862873.html
 
46 dollars! omg what a great find, i cant resist it XD i guess ill have to buy that one 😛...but i have a doubt, does creative still supports this card and offer a guaranty? and do i have to buy any cables?
 
I have bought two extremeMusic cards in the past four months, and they are absolutely fantastic... can't be happier. I have no reservations in recommending this card, and I'm not worried about discontinued future support...
 
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