And befor I start no more sound blaster cards I ahve goen thru 2 Audgiys in 2 years I simpey refuse to deal with thos bastards if they cant make desent low end cards WTH are the higher end ones? (frist Audgiy 24 bit lasted 12 months next Audigy SE crashs the computer no matter whithc slot I ahve it in) I have found acouple insterresing brands Bottom of the bottom C-Media CMI8768 PCI 8-Channel Sound Card Cheap at under 20 and has both Optical SPDIF in/out plus other full surrrond features the only thign I think it lacks at least in this version is EAX support and oher gameing crap. Better than anyhtign elcheapo Diamond XS71 XtremeSound 7.1/24 bit PCI Sound Card altho this one has odd RCA analog (SPDIF) in/out whitch is new to me *L* 0_o but the brand seems ok,prices are 50-90 Turttle beach I been wanting to get oen of thier cards sicne the SB live 5.1 time be never got around to it now they ahve a ncie all round game/theather card for 70ish with Optical SPDIF ins and outs when I am ready to spend 50 on a sound card mabye I should just get one? it has to be better than the SB crap thats rolling off the shelfs now adays >< mabye the creative labs cards that are 150 and above are better but hell for sound I am simpley not willing to spend 100 on....
As long as the card has true audio processing technology, it will handle all the sound from the CPU. However, if you're not willing to spend almost $100, then you're not going to find anything really decent out there. Creative Labs is just about the only player left in the game as far as PCI sound cards go. The rest are just cards that will continue to use the CPU for help in processing sound robbing you of a few precious FPS's during games. Good: Audigy 2 ZS or ZS Gamer/Platinum. Best: Audigy X-FI Really good motherboards nowadays are coming with quality sound chips on board now too...some up to 8:1 with their own processing engines. Sorry I can't recommend too many others, as I have not used that many. I do have one C-Media 7:1 that has decent sound, but I have not ran it thru the ringer since it's being used on our server.
Morph416 teh,figures,SB has a monoply and is filing the low end with shit cards >< Turtel Beach aint nothign to laugh at tho http://www.directron.com/montegoddl.html http://www.directron.com/catalina.html --------------------------------------- this is funny http://www.directron.com/bgihdaxmg.html a higher end version of the C-media chipset for 90 -------------------------------------------------- Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Sound Card OEM 59$ Not to bad but fudge its a SB and they suck *L* http://www.directron.com/audigy2zs1bulk.html and another SB card the audigy 4 oem for 68$ http://www.directron.com/70sb061000000.html Mmm if it dosent have Optical SPDIF in and out I dont want it ><
Keep in mind, that when other companies decided not to stay in a market, gives the last one standing the monopoly! It's the only legal monopoly allowed in the US markets. But, unfortunately, that's the way it is. I have not used an Audigy 4, but there hasn't been a review I've seen yet by anyone about the X-Fi that was anything less than a 90% rating or better. It will also greatly depend on the speaker system you connect to it. A $180.00 sound card and a $40 set of speakers is a bad combination. I've looked into the info, and didn't find anything hardcore about the cards, but for the most part both you have shown will use the CPU to do heavy sound encoding tasks. Especially for Dolby Digital.
Well for me OS/PC stabily > Sound stabilty/Qauilty >gameing comapiblty alth if I can get OS/PC stabily > gameing comapiblty > Sound stabilty/Qauilty for under 70 I'll give it a try *L* ut I want the optical input at least I'd like to get my PS2 up to surround sound speed LOL
