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How is this sound system?

The Santa Cruz is good for being ancient- might try one of the cheaper Envy based cards in that price range. For speakers, well, either that set or the 640's; never seen the 620's before, but I dont expect much, though they should be fine for most needs.

--When asking about this stuff, please say what you are planning to use it for. Recommendations will vary, sometimes greatly, based on intended use.
 
Sorry, I never really care about speakers and sound cards for my systems, but this one is for a friend. He will be gaming/listening to music on it mostly, and will probably watch DVD's on it too.

and I have a question about the sound card software. Should I install their software? or will installing just the drivers be fine? I always just did drivers so I don't have as much crap installed (since I never used it), but does the software change sound quality at all?

Thanks
 
bump

Can anyone recommend a decent sound system (surround if possible) in the $100 range? I really have no idea when it comes to audio :(
 
Logitech Z-640 @ $60 (5.1)
Logitech Z-5300 @ $140 (5.1)
Altec Lansing MX5021 @ $135 (2.1)

The Altecs are very good sounding 2.1 speakers, while the 640's are low-end surround speakers with some thump, but mediocre sound quality. The 5300's are both surround and decent sounding.

I suggest you use whatever onboard sound you have until you can afford the extra $30-50 for the card. Spending $50 on a sound card and the same amount on speakers is a waste of money unless you have tin ears or prefer to have hardware acceleration with poor sound quality.
 
Thanks :) but what will I be missing without the sound card? I can upgrade in the future, but how much worse will the sound quality be without one?
 
That depends on the quality of your onboard sound solution.

You'll have to try it to find out, really. Try to download the newest drivers from the CODEC manufacturers website. If you don't know who the CODEC manufacturer is, look at the motherboard manufacturers website or on the board itself in the area behind and around the PCI slots.

There should be a CODEC there from either realtek (ALCXXX - realtek.com.tw), C-media (CMIXXXX - cmedia.com.tw), Analog Devices (AD1XXX - Soundmax.com) or VIA (VTXXXX - via.com.tw).
 
According to newegg, it has Realtek ALC650 5.1 Channel Codec. I'll see if I can update the drivers once I get the speakers. Thanks for all the help.
 
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