What sound card for a gamer?

[deadken]

I am considering replacing the onboard audio of my sons NF3 motherboard, which should I get: the Audigy4 or XiFi ExtremeMusic? He has a crappy set of 2.1 Speakers and play Maple Story and some BF2 on occasion. He has a TV tuner in his rig and I assume he will start using the FM tuner (on the TV tuner) more and more.

The reason that I am considering those two cards is that they are clearance at some Office Depots and I am going to see which ones they have in stock and find out exact prices.


Thanks for and help you guys can give, Ken

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

X-Fi would be the better bet in most cases.

Upgrade those speakers too though, or it's not going to be much of a difference.

 

[deadken]

Thanks. I appreciate the info. I agree that even the best card pumped through lousy speakers is a waste. I will most likely be getting him a Plantronics Headset like I have (when he plays BF2 with us, we use teamspeak and a headset is a must!).

Now I am wondering if either one of these would work with the front panel from the Audigy2 ZS Platinum soundcard in my machine. I have read something the newer sound cards not having a SPDIF connector (or maybe you need to have a 'dongle' to use it). I use the SPDIF connector on my card to feed my set of Logitech Z680s (I use the analogs for gaming and the digital for Movies).

Any thoughts?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I've heard both yes and no as the answer to that one, so I don't know what to tell you. Someone just asked that question in GH if you want to see if anyone responds to that one with a good answer.

You may be better off just sticking with analog for everything though.

 

[deadken]

I ended up getting the X-Fi ExtremeMusic for $65 with a free extended warranty to boot. It was on the clearance table at Office Depot (got the idea from the 'Hot Deals' forum). They had the Audigy4 cards for $45 (2 were left and they were marked down from $80) and there was just this one X-Fi ExtremeMusic card on the table. It was listed for $100 originally and the lowest price on the box was $85. But I figured there was room to 'wiggle' since as soon as the manager heard I was interested he jumped up to help me (I had stopped by the customer service desk first). He offered me a free extended warranty and when I said that I had hoped that it would have a similar discount as the other cards, he said he would see what he could do. He came back and offered it to me for $70 and I said ok, then he looked at me and said 'take it for $65'! Sweet!

So, tomorrow I will most likely pull my card out and use it in my Daughters rig (she has a 'piano keyboard' and could use the Midi input on the front panel more then I can. Then I will take her SB live 5.1 and put that in my sons rig (it still should be a bit better then onboard sound I figure). I have to do some research since I remember reading somewhere that there were problems with BF2 when the X-Fi setting was selected in the Audio properties.

Anyone know about X-Fi's and BF2? Isn't there a 'Gamers X-Fi' that has like 64MBs of ram for audio?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

There are a few different vesions of the X-Fi that have the onboard X-ram. The XtremeMusic isn't one of them. I think it's pretty much the card to get though based on the features it has. Good deal :thumbsup:

 

[schneiderguy]

Originally posted by: deadken
I have to do some research since I remember reading somewhere that there were problems with BF2 when the X-Fi setting was selected in the Audio properties.

Anyone know about X-Fi's and BF2? Isn't there a 'Gamers X-Fi' that has like 64MBs of ram for audio?

BF2 works fine for me with the x-fi mode enabled in the audio settings with my xtreme music 🙂