What type of SoundCard Should I get???????

[Roshan]

Hey guys, I was ready to buy a sound card, unfortunately I know nothing about sound cards. I was thinking of buying the Logitecch Z640's on NewEgg for $70. But what is the best type of sound card for these. They are 5.1, so is it possible to find a good 5.1 Soudn Card for the Logitech Z640's under $60. Thanks

 

[Eman1]

I'm by no means "in the know' about sound cards but I'm in a similar situation as you and have been doing some research. What will you be listening to most? Are you a gammer or will you be listening to music more?

Most budget sound cards are better at one with some shortcomings in the other. Do a search on Sound Card Reviews and that will help you decide.

In the price range you mentioned, the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz is suppose to be a decent card for around $70. Note however that for gaming, it does not have true digital 5.1 output (for music it does).

Good Luck

 

[Roshan]

Thank You for your reply EMan1, and yes I am a gamer, so this sound card and speakers are for my gaming. CAn someone else please help me??

 

[CaptnKirk]

Cost & Quality - go with the Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live! - 5.1, they are $ 34 from NewEgg & free freight.
Another good card is the Turtle Beach, but I doubt you could tell the difference.

I quit building with the Philips sound cards-too many driver installation headaches.

 

[Trashman]

I'd get the Audigy, @newegg for 60.00....much better than the Live card, IMO.

 

[Maki]

You might consider the Hercules line of cards. I know they just came out with a very well reviewed set of 7.1 cards. For regular 5.1 stuff I really like the built in nVidia nforce sound on my abit. If you were thinking of upgrading a mobo anytime soon you might just consider a decent nforce 2 board.

 

[BlueEyedBeezlebub]

I use a sound blaster audigy and love it, it has EAX Advanced HD (essentially EAX3) and sounds great in the games that use it such as Jedi Knight 2, GTA3, SOF2 ect.
I'm planning on getting a audigy 2 sometime when the oem version is available, its supposedly even better.

They have the lowest cpu utilization rate of any sound card, esp the audigy 2 they've been improved upon quite a bit.
I've read enabling sound with an audigy is almost a lossless feature with an audigy while you take a rather large 5-15 fps hit on some other chips.

Also audigys have built in firewire, which i dont use but damn, its cool to at least have it.

If you prefer to stay away from creative as some have a bias against, I would recommend the turtle beach santa cruz.

Make sure if you get an audigy you are familiar with irqs and can get it on its own one.

good luck

 

[Brian48]

Audigy2, with the Acoustic Edge as a second choice.

I'd recommend the Santa Cruz, but this card is really at it's best with a 4.1 setup.

 

[TheWart]

I would reccomend the Audigy 2, not b/c I have used it, but b/c I have heard of a LOT of problems with SB Live cards. I have an Acoustic Edge from Phillips....it is great with mp3's and dvds, but its EAX support isnt all that great for games. But it still sounds excellent in games, just not with EAX. As for mp3 quality, it is better than the Santa Cruz imo (which i have on a second system)

 

[Jeff7]

I've used the Philips Seismic Edge, which is a step down from the Acoustic Edge, and I was still impressed by it. My main system is using a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz card. I like it just fine too.

 

[holdencommodore]

For 5.1 channel I like the Acoustic Edge / Seismic Edge PSC705. Seismic Edge is pretty good value and very fine for DVD's and music, because of QMSS, which transforms the Stereo signals into Surround sound (resulting in a Dolby Pro LogicII effect), only lacks SPDIF Input and Digital CD in that the AE has. QSounds EAX implimentation is slightly under Creatives, but is roughly on par with Sensaura's API.

Cheers

 

[slicksilver]

get the philips acoustic edge.......its the best thing that ever happened to me......did you know that john carmack is using this card for all the doom 3 work, testing and all

Raj

 

[Brian48]

Please, let's not get carried away with this. Carmack said he was using the AE at the moment for testing when he was asked this question. It does not mean he is targeting the sound renderer for this card nor excluding any of the other brands from testing. I had an AE for a long time. It does not support the full 5.1 Digital Dolby that he is aiming for.

More than likely, the two high end audio solutions that will be recommended for the Doom III will be the Audigy2 and nForce2, everything else will be optimized for compatibility rather than audio performance.

 

[NEVERwinter]

go with these choice: Audigy2, Audigy, Acoustic Edge or Santa Cruz

i dont really know about Hercules' newest 7.1 cards....

 

[vash]

The Hercules lines of cards are great! Make sure to get the kind that has the breakout box, it has come in VERY useful over the time I have used it. No more fumbling with cables behind my PC, or in front of my PC, its all right next to me with the new box. Lots of connections for the Hercules cards and it all just works great!

vash

 

[foofoo]

jusy got a hercules fortissimo 3 to replace my sb audigy. the audigy never ran reliably and seemed to screw up my system stability and i tried almost everything. maybe the card was defective or it didnt like my asus p4pe. who knows?
the fortissimo 3 has been great so far. i havent noticed a significant degredation of sound quality and it's rock solid now.
i'd reccomend the fortissimo, and it's pretty cheap too.
good luck