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sound cards Does it really matter which one?

R

Rhodent

Senior member
Does the type of sound card really matter? As far straight audio quality is a cheap sound card as good as any? Such as playing MP3's my sound card has those random glitches. DO all cards do that or would a SB not do that? It is ISA but the one I am looking at is PCI. Does the interphase make a difference? Thanks. Now wanting to spend over 40 or so. This card was a cheapo from Comp Renaisance for 20 dollars.
 
What do you mean by random gliches? Do the MP3s occasionaly skip? You might want to try changing the priority of your MP3 player, or choosing one with lower CPU utilization. If you're doing too many things at once, you'll have problems regardless of what sound card you use
 
Some soundcards put more load on the CPU,so you get lower frame rates,anyway you should be able to pickup a SBlive value OEM in your price range,there are better cards on sound quality but it still gives a decent sound,also at the end of the day go with a well know brand with great driver & game support plus one that only uses around 1% of CPU load & you will not go far wrong.

🙂
 
I've never had a problem with my sound card (el cheapo LaserWave Nucleus from 1994). The thing uses an ancient (sp?) ESS codec, but generates fine sound, probably because I don't have a very expensive speaker setup. To appreciate a good sound card, you need good speakers, and MP3's always skip under heavy CPU or disk load. I actually wouldn't buy a SoundBlaster card right now, I'd opt for one of Philips' new sound cards, they are supposed to be better values, though I admit that I have not personally investigated those claims.

Zenmervolt

EDIT: Tried to correct the spelling of "ancient" still not sure about it though.
 
Rhodent,
As Mem said, a SB Live! will off load much of the processing duties to the sound card and free up your processor for other things. This should do away with most of the stuttering if it is system related and not just poorly encoded mp3s.
 
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