Card for 2.1

[synthetikv]

Heya all. I have Corsair sp2500s 2.1 speakers and I'm looking for a better soundcard to drive them than the onboard realtek I'm using right now.

Mostly for gaming, but really 90% of what I play is wow so I don't really think I need anything over the top. Any suggestions would be appreciated, not looking to spend over $100. PCI/PCIE/USB whatever all work, prefer internal card though.

 

[dandragonrage]

Are you having particular issues with your onboard setup or are you just expecting to get better quality all around?

If you're not having issues with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR; stuff like pops and hiss and hum), you probably won't benefit from an upgrade. You'd be more likely to benefit with headphones which have much lower impedance (which requires more current) than powered speakers.

You might be better off selling those speakers and adding some money in to get even better speakers if your onboard isn't presenting obvious problems. Not that your speakers are garbage but they leave a lot of room for improvement - likely more than your electronics.

Personally, though, I'd likely buy a Steinberg USB interface if I were in the market. Yamaha-based which I like.

 

[primetime]

get a creative sound blast z on sale......got mine for about 60 and i think regular price should be lower than a hundred.....no complaints with drivers either

 

[spaceman]

gaming = creative z series.

 

[PGHammer]

get a creative sound blast z on sale......got mine for about 60 and i think regular price should be lower than a hundred.....no complaints with drivers either

Almost any Creative audio card in PCI Express (not PCI) with a SoundCore DSP will do (Recon3D series, Z series, etc.). The ONLY problem I have EVER had out of my Recon3D Fata1ity Pro (which was a refurb - not new) was caused by the OS (Windows 10 Insider Preview 10130) installing old drivers - installing the updated drivers from Creative solved the issue. If you dual-boot with a Linux distribution or BSD, you're in even better shape - these SAME cards are detected as Intel HD Au
dio devices, and should just work.