n00b audiocard question

[serge91088]

i am looking for an audiocard that can deliver good performance when playing games, recording vocals for music(or simple recording thru a mic), and when listening to music. i am not on an especially tight budget but money does play a factor. any suggestions. thanks in advance.

 

[eli]

I hear that the Audigy 2 ZS is the gamers card these days. It's also decent with music...although the M-audio revolution is better for music. The M-audio is not hardware supported with games, so it takes proccessing power to produce sound...as far as I know...

links

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=29-102-162&depa=0

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=29-121-101&depa=0

hope this helps

 

[dravalier]

Getting a soundcard that's excellent at both gaming and recording is going to be difficult, because usually those who are looking for a gaming soundcard don't care about recording and vice-versa. For gaming, your best bet is going to be one of the audigy line, but just realize that a plain audigy will only be able to record at 16/48, and a Audigy 2 (ZS) will require you to disable everything before you can record at 24/96. If you don't mind recording at 16/48 though and aren't too fussy about perfect, perfect quality they'll work for recording though as well. For the Audigy you're looking at ~$42, an Audigy 2 ~$72 and an Audigy 2 ZS ~$88. These are the best gaming sound cards you're going to get.

For straight recording & playback quality though, I've heard that the EMU 1212M for $199 is the card to beat, with the same converters found in Protools. Of course, it has no gaming support at all.