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Under $40 soundcard

  • Thread starter Deleted member 89137
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Deleted member 89137

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My friend is in the market for an under $40 sound card (shipped) Suggestions? Creative sound blaster live or other brand?

he is currently using onboard on a HP board :eek:
 
MrSlacker said:
Chaintech AV-710 about $25 shipped and very good
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EAX????

FYI it's mainly for gaming and a headset and shitty speakers
 
MrSlacker said:
whats EAX? and yes AV-710 is a great card and i use one myself
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uhh I'm not going to listen to someone who doesn't know what EAX is... sorry...
 
elite.mafia said:
uhh I'm not going to listen to someone who doesn't know what EAX is... sorry...
Click to expand...
and thats what i get for wasting my time helping you.... jackass :mad:
 
that wasn't necessary...

and that audigy 2 refurb... that is the same card I'm using in my rig... 2 years old..
 
elite.mafia said:
that wasn't necessary...

and that audigy 2 refurb... that is the same card I'm using in my rig... 2 years old..
Click to expand...

Is there something wrong with it being 2 years old? You said it's mainly for gaming and it has hardware support for all versions of EAX.
 
MrSlacker said:
whats EAX?
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Mostly worthless technology that Creative did way too good a job of pimping so that people would buy their crappy cards.

Well okay good marketing on Creative's part. But I don't have it, don't need it, wish people'd not try to convince me I do when they usually don't even bother to say why. Sometimes it helps if you have a slow CPU.
 
strid3r said:
Is there something wrong with it being 2 years old? You said it's mainly for gaming and it has hardware support for all versions of EAX.
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not really, and also they charge sales tax... so im not sure if he can get it :/
 
i just looked up EAX, and if its gonna be used w/ shitty speakers (as u said) why do u need EAX?
 
He doesn't, except that if the rest of the system is sufficiantly shitty he might not have much CPU power to go around, so it might help a little.

If possible I recommend he save the $$ for now and upgrade something more significant in the near future. $200 will get ya an A64 Venice 3000+ with DFI DAGF, which is pretty hot.

Audigy 2 is the one to go for, it's significantly enough ahead of the previous releases, and following ones don't show enough improvement that I'd care. Or notice.
 
his comp is good, dont worry...
specs off head:
3.0 p4, 1 gig of ram (2 512mb), 6800gt, chieftec dragon case, 500watt ULTRA (yes, ultra...) power supply. basically he thinks that the onboard sound is slowing his computer down in battlefield, and EAX is really fun to use, and I highly reccomend it to others, you can speed up music, clean up audio, record music off of e-radios... there are tons of features with EAX such as 3d sound (if you have 5.1 it makes the music surround you which is nice, and with headphones it gives the surround effect which is cool) it has tons of equalizer settings, for every type of music, you can use it for recording music (karoaoke or however u spell it, and instrument recordings, it will equalize it and shit)
 
Thanks, perfectly happy with my DFI Karajan + nVidia sound drivers (screw those stupid Realtek ones). Once I spend a fortune on speakers maybe I'll replace it. I have a CSB in my spare parts pile so I've seen their software...didn't like it.

Soo....he's playing BF2 and blaming the sound card? When he has 1GB of RAM? Just...not the first place I'd look...other than changing the software interface for the drivers...nothing really will be all that different...except he'll be starting over saving for something that might help.
 
ashmedai said:
Thanks, perfectly happy with my DFI Karajan + nVidia sound drivers (screw those stupid Realtek ones). Once I spend a fortune on speakers maybe I'll replace it. I have a CSB in my spare parts pile so I've seen their software...didn't like it.

Soo....he's playing BF2 and blaming the sound card? When he has 1GB of RAM? Just...not the first place I'd look...other than changing the software interface for the drivers...nothing really will be all that different...except he'll be starting over saving for something that might help.
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also basing it on this review @ newegg:
Sgt.Slaughter, 6/9/2005 12:44:03 PM

Like all the others before me, the difference between onboard audio and this..... is beyond words. I also saw a huge improvment in Half Life 2 my FPS went from 40 to 70-80. I cannot believe I got that... More »
Like all the others before me, the difference between onboard audio and this..... is beyond words. I also saw a huge improvment in Half Life 2 my FPS went from 40 to 70-80. I cannot believe I got that much'a boost with just taking the audio off my cpu and putting it on this card!!!!!! I can alos play music while playing games and there is no drain on my resources like before. Installation went ok, at first the card wasn't even detected but then I remebered i have a bad PCI slot so switched slots. Other than that the install went perfect just remember to disable your onboard sound before installing the card. Will definetly buy another for my media center pc

and no hes lagging not blaming the sound card for sucking ;)
 
elite.mafia said:
also basing it on this review @ newegg:
Click to expand...

That part alone...

Seriously, slap some more memory in there, THEN start thinking about low-tier stuff like the sound card. Unless his onboard totally sucks an entire flock of ducks, it's probably more than adequate. And NOT going to be anywhere near the first thing to look at if there's lag. He's got 40 bucks, get a stick of cheapass 512 now and another later when he has another 40 to throw at it.
 
Alright, I'm the freind Mafia is talking about....After reading this thread, this is what i get out of this...

you guys are telling me i need more than 1 GB of ram...when it clearly says i only need 512? That sounds like this guy i know who spent 4000$ on his pc, when he could have bought a car instead.


Pentium 4 3.0 ghz hyper threading tech
1 GB ram
160GB hardrive
geforce 6800gt 256 MB
Integrated realtec 97 sound
Altec Lansing Multimedia speakers
ultra 500W power supply
Cheiftec Dragon case


Anyway, the realtec 97 integrated sound is the only integrated sound that BF2 has problems with. I can't hear other people's mic, but they can hear me appearently. So EA says that i either update my drivers (which i did, and it still didn't work) or i get a soundcard. I got 40$, and thats what ill buy.

Edit-Sorry..i read my post again, and it seems like im being a dick about the situation.
 
I don't play BF2 but I've been told again and again that having 2GB significantly reduces lag in that game specifically. Because of this I think it would be the most significant part you could upgrade in your current configuration, also at a relatively low cost compared to other things like the CPU or vid card.

If your current sound is not working, that's an entirely different matter. Then it's not being replaced to help with the lag, it's being replaced with one that works because the current one doesn't.

I'm assuming you're getting 512MB off the box where it says "system requirements" right? That's the minimum you should have to be able to run the game at any kind of playable level...obviously get the sound card now since it's broken, but seriously think about adding another stick or two of memory in the near future, from everything I've heard about BF2 it should help quite a bit.

I spent maybe 1k on mine. Okay closer to 2.5k if you count stuff I could disconnect and still have it run...24" widescreen LCD for example. Anyone who spends 4k on a rig is either getting screwed by an OEM, or had better have one killer rig. Just to play a game it's kinda massive overkill.
 
he also can't hear shit when people talk on the microphone... another reason.
 
Like I said...it's broke, different story. Fix broken part, THEN worry about lag. Replacing the sound card is extremely unlikely to have a substantial effect if any on the lag though.

Are you big into having 7.1 audio, or is 5.1 good enough?

Audigy 2 is good shit, for games anyway, but it looks to be just over 40.
 
I'm actually curious to see what will happen if i do this though. I'll post here what happens to my gameplay afterwards. It actually may make a big difference. who knows...
 
OK,

This thread got weird, but here's my best advice. 1GB of ram is great, and more is only better if you're actually utilizing your limits (BF2 is a hog, so it may be worth it). If you're looking to upgrade your sound, a nice and very reliable option would be an audigy 2. It's still got a lot of life in it, and plays very nicely with the nice big speaker setups if you decide to get one later. That said, take a quick walk through the FS/FT forum and get one there. I saw several in a short amount of time, that were under $40.

There are some other really great cards, but for ease of use and compatability, stick with the big dog.



 
I always space FS/FT...thanks Oldie. Guy's onboard sound is apparently broken, needs something so his TS will work in BF2. That and lag...AFAIK the second GB should really help with BF2?
 
The lag isnt a big issue. It only happens when i first start playing. It eventually goes away. its the sound. I will upgrade my speakers next...but right now, the sound card is whats most important. I've been told to go with the audigy2 zs.
 
Kick mafia for me when you see him. :p

Audigy 2 in whatever version is good stuff, trying to find one that meets the budget.
 
purp13junki3 said:
The lag isnt a big issue. It only happens when i first start playing. It eventually goes away. its the sound. I will upgrade my speakers next...but right now, the sound card is whats most important. I've been told to go with the audigy2 zs.
Click to expand...
not by me, I said get a creative card... then I posted here ;)

and why kick me :mad:
 
For making me think your friend wanted to upgrade their sound card to make BF2 lag less. :p

Having a REALLY hard time finding an Audigy 2 that cheap. Most are still twice that or more at retail. Way I figure you can froogle it when you have about another 10 bucks, or you can get the cheapest POS sound card you can find on Newegg now and replace it with something good later if it sucks too much. Either way at least you'll get something in your rig that fixes your current problem.
 
thats what i said when i saw what he posted....anyway...i actually lied..i have 50$... a joystick can wait.
 
Mafia, i think its safe to say that no one cares...they helped me with my problem...and its clear that ill get an audigy 2 zs thing used.
 
http://www.thenerds.net/index.php?page=productpage&affid=8&pn=30SB040000000

Froogle it if they try to gouge on shipping, it was just towards the top of the results.

Audigy 2 ZS is closer to 60 + shipping (from a quick froogle at least). Off the top of my head i think the main difference is the bundle...might be wrong...Creative's not really my cup of tea. Get the ZS if you find a good deal in FS/FT.

Apparently the 2 vanilla has Dolby Digital and the ZS has DTS ES. Doubt it'll make a difference for TS.

BTW "Newegg Review" is an oxymoron. They're substantially useless product endorsements. And censored. So almost all of them will be very good, and the negative ones will never be very negative.
 
Chaintech A710 again. Fantastic sound card.

And forget about hardware decoding in games. The Via Envy chipset has extremely low CPU utilization. I gained like 2fps after disabling all sound and benching some games.
 
SoundBlaster Live! 24-bit has support for EAX Advanced HD (albeit in software, so CPU will take a significant hit when using it), and the outputs aren't too terrible for music and gaming, although certainly not up to the Chaintech's 24/192 with the Wolfson DAC. I can hardly tell a difference between the two (and yes I'm an audiophile)

Oh and Best Buy had the Audigy 2 ZS Gamer LE for $70 (it's 80 now) after rebates.

P.S. You also might want to take a look at the Audigy 2 Value. It looks rathar interesting if you don't need Firewire or gold-plated outputs
 
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