Sound card upgrade?

[Maximilian]

Hi all. Ive been pondering on upgrading my sound card, or rather putting a sound card in my pc as it currently dosent really have one. Everythings ok on the AC97 thing it has but ive got 5 speakers and a sub woofer and a noticed that the prices of an Audigy 2 have gone down significantly since last time i checked. So i got a few questions

1. Its only £26! But it says "VALUE" so... what does that mean? does it mean its crap or somthing?
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=303733&cks=SPK

2. This ones £41 and isnt value. Is it significantly better than the above value one? If so why?
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=302657&cks=SPK

3. Last but not least, would it be worth buying either of these to replace my AC97 built in audio? Am i getting all i can get from these beefy speakers with AC97? theres a few cables from the subwoofer with nowhere to plug into so i figured im not

BTW if both of these suck and you have a better recommendation tell me but im a poor student so... ykno budget stuffs my type o thing

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I'm not an audigy expert, but I don't think you'll be missing anything important by just getting the value card. It's not crap.

What kind of speakers are you using? I wouldn't bother getting a really nice soundcard if you're hooking some crap up to it, but if you've got some decent speakers and are a gamer, the audigy2 value is a good card to get.

EDIT: I'm running an AV-710 in digital mode, but it does analog too. If you're looking for a really cheap upgrade, it's only $30 and is a nice card for music. Gaming not so much though as it doesn't do its own processing like the audigy cards.

 

[Maximilian]

Well the speakers i am using are Altec Lansing 251. I did a google on emm n they seem to get good reviews, "good 5.1 speaker" etc etc. So they will probably benefit from somthing better than AC97?

 

[imported_fatal]

I would go with the value, cards are almost the same

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Yeah, go ahead on get an audigy 2 value. Should sound better and you'll benefit in gaming from the soundcard doing the sound processing vs the CPU.

 

[boborich]

Value will do.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

As long as you already have the speakers, the only review that matters is your own. I would be tempted to go for the Audigy 2 ZS, it has a little better performance. Beware, the same card is also sold in other packages (gamer, platinum, etc.) Stick with the basic card. I believe 41 pounds is about US$65, not a bad price for OEM. The ZS also has the option of a digital in/out daughter card.

 

[Maximilian]

Wayhey, ta guys. I bought the Audigy 2 ZS for £44 including delivery etc