Which of these two upgrade options would you recommend? 1) New Creative Audigy 2 ZS sound card (Dolby Digital/EX and EAX for games) with under $100 5.1 surround speakers? 2) Use onboard 5.1 surround audio with new Logitech 680 speakers that have Dolby Digital/DTS built into speakers Thanks
Hi slacka29 unless ur going 2 b making music on ur pc with something like Cubase,etc which require good ASIO drivers which u get with the likes of Audigy s/cards i would save ur money, ur onboard sound will b fine for gaming with 5.1. I can truthfully say that as i have just WON a set of 5.1 videologic ZXR-550 speakers in a pc mag(PC Utilities) competition, and my s/card was an old sound blaster which did not support 5.1, so i disabled it and used the onboard sound, i have a Chainteck Apogee mobo which comes with a seperate panel which has sockets for the rear speakers and sub woofer, front and centre go in ur usual line out socket, usually green,(woofer really woofs!) the onboard sound chip is a AC-97 for what it's worth, a very common sound chip and it handles it just fine in fact playing Quake III has me jumping out of my chair like a crazy thing!!! and it plays music pretty good as well! Hope this helps....play on..LOUDLY...
I'd get the soundcard first and then get the 680's when you can afford them. AC97 simply can't put out the sound that a good dedicated soundcard will - if it did there would be no market for soundcards. Your present speakers should hold you over until you're blessed with the 680's. I'm running an M-Audio Revolution soundcard with some Logitech Z-560's that will hopefully be upgraded to 680's in the near future. A good soundcard and good speakers really need each other to truly shine.
