Future build advice

[Silas Woodruff]

With Nvidia Maxwell launch being relatively soon, there have been some things which I never used for my PC and I want your opinion and help with them, so here they are:

1. Sound-card: I have never used a sound-card but after reading things like you will hear sounds better, clearer or you might hear things you never heard before and 1 of my friends telling me to give it a try, well I might do that but I also need to know what you guys think about sound-cards.


2. Mouse-pads: I did use a mouse-pad but that was about 11 years ago, it was very thick and I felt that it did more harm that good, the cloth got loose fairly easy and quick movements kinda got stuck, before and since then I am using my trusty rose wood desk which has become surprisingly smooth but now I see that mouse-pads are knife edge thin, very smooth and are built from other materials. What is your opinion on a mouse-pad?

3. Headphones: While on a trip a few years ago I met a room mate that was like an older version of myself, he had a pretty old PC but he also had headphones and since I never used them before I asked him if I could, they were kinda nice because I could hear things better or raise the volume without annoying other people but after a few hours I felt like they hurt my ears and were starting to become sweaty, so I handed them back and never asked for them again. Now I see all kind of head-phones and some seem quite nice and after so many requests to get headphones from people I play games with I might give them a try but I want to know what do you guys think about headphones?

4. Gunnar glasses: Since I use my PC from 6 to 12 hours a day and have been doing this for more than 10 years I think my eyes might start feeling the wear, I can still see good but my eyes seem to get tired after just 1-2 hours so after a little research I found Gunnar glasses which might be my answer, they seem to relieve eye strain but at the cost of slight color tint and slight magnification which I guess might be a good compromise.
My question is have any of you ever used Gunnar glasses and what do you think about them?

 

[Ruyki]

I use steelseries and razer cloth pads and they both work really good. Mouse feet also wear out much less quick on the soft cloth.

 

[Silas Woodruff]

If I had to choose a mouse pad it would probably be Steelseries QCK Portal 2 edition or Roccat Alumic.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

Sound Card- depending on what motherboard you get, sound cards can almost be considered obsolete. High-end motherboards onboard audio chipsets are about the same quality as sound cards are these days.

Mouse Pads- Haven't used a mouse pad in years. Don't seem to needs it. No issues playing FPS games with my Logitech G500 on my non-glass non-shiney desktop.

Headphones- There are some nice headphones available today. If you want to try a quality pair for yourself, I suggest a pair of Sennheiser HD518. They are a good "entry-level" high-quality set of headphones. If headphones still make your ears hot over time, turn up the AC.

Never used Gunnar glasses

 

[GreiverBlade]

1. if the mobo you get has a ALC1150 then: no, i have a Soundblaster XF-I Xtremegamer (PCI) and a Audigy FX 5.1 (PciX x1) i only use the XF-I in my XP build because that oldie has only a ALC650 ofc a SB-Z or above would be great ... but too expensive for a "normal gaming use" my ALC1150 labeled SupremeFX by ASUS is more than enough.

2. Roccat Alumic indeed, i use it and its sturdy as hell (as RCoon said : indestructible) what do you expect from a 2mm thick aluminium plate as a core ... nothing like a Razer Vespula for example (and cheaper too) forgot to mention a huge plus of the Alumic: you can use it to kill somebody using it as a blade... (dunno if it's really a good argument of sale )

3.hum ... headphone are one reason for a good soundcard, but yet even for that my onboard audio on my MVIIR is more than enough, let say for brand humpf don't really know ... i use a Razer Electra and a Logitech G330 (the Logitech is far above the Razer ... that goes without saying ... and cheaper ... as usual)

4. useless. i wear optical glasses sometime but even after 8hrs on my computer i don't see any difference with or without theses (Gunnar i mean ... ) worthless compulsory buying ever.

 

[rtwjunkie]

I have to disagree with @BarbaricSoul (no offense intended!), who appears to have bought into the motherboard makers hype on soundcards. Every motherboard I have worked on for soneone else, built myself, or just listened to, the difference in onboard sound versus a quality soundcard is distinct to my ears.

A sound card boosts the sound, like an amplifier, enriches the sound, and does indeed let you hear other sounds that onboard will not let you hear. It's worth every penny!

 

[Silas Woodruff]

Blade, you seem to say that ALC1150 is good enough, but if I had a sound-card it would be better ? so +1 for sound card.

rtwjunkie, my friend pretty much said the same thing as you he makes HD sound mod's for a game he enjoys, he also has a ASUS Xonar Essence STX for a sound card I'll bite the bullet on this one and try a sound-card in future build, the question is which one ?

As for Headphones do I need high end headphones to get the most of a sound card, can high end speakers replace headphones, if I had high end headphones do I need speakers at all ?

Blade I didnt expect that on glasses, so you are saying they make no difference?

 

[rtwjunkie]

Well, as to which one..an Essence is probably more than you need. An ASUS Xonar DX or a Creative Soundblaster Z are perfect. Or if you prefer to use a PCI card, an ASUS Xonar D1 is great too, and it has W8 drivers on their website, even for PCI.

 

[GreiverBlade]

Blade, you seem to say that ALC1150 is good enough, but if I had a sound-card it would be better ? so +1 for sound card.

rtwjunkie, my friend pretty much said the same thing as you he makes HD sound mod's for a game he enjoys, he also has a ASUS Xonar Essence STX for a sound card I'll bite the bullet on this one and try a sound-card in future build, the question is which one ?

As for Headphones do I need high end headphones to get the most of a sound card, can high end speakers replace headphones, if I had high end headphones do I need speakers at all ?

Blade I didnt expect that on glasses, so you are saying they make no difference?

no i say if you have a ALC1150 with a good amp (like on some ASUS or ASRock mobo) or even a Soundcore3D chip (ASRock iirc which is also the same chip you find on a soundblaster Z ... ) or even the MSI Soundboost: a soundcard will not make a difference unless you go for the more expensive one ... and for gaming : no point. and those motherboard with ALC1150 or others have AMP ... and they work just as a soundcard works ...

the glasses ... yes ... indeed if i wanted to see in yellow i would have kept my Oakley GasCan i have ... ok they cost more than the Gunnar... (oh wait they make a difference ... yellow ... )

headphone speaker : you just don't get it, right? i use a 5.1 most of the time and also for movie/musics, the only moment i need a headphone is when i am on TS/Skype/Mumble and sometime with the app sonic radar and soundstage (exclusive to ASUS ROG serie mobo iirc, but other might have some equivalence.) Soundstage and headphone AMP are specially for headphones (thanks Cpt obvious eh?) most of the modern mobo have a good amp circuit added to the onboard. thus unless you are a musician or somebody with a really fine ear you will not notice any difference, i do notice a difference between my MVIIR and the SB ZxR i had but : not worth the price paid for it ... (again in game)

Well, as to which one..an Essence is probably more than you need. An ASUS Xonar DX or a Creative Soundblaster Z are perfect. Or if you prefer to use a PCI card, an ASUS Xonar D1 is great too, and it has W8 drivers on their website, even for PCI.

if you write that, then : better with one of the onboard i notified above.

also as i said i have a XF-I ExtremeGamer too just worth to replace a ALC650 to ALC889 but not a ALC1150 or Soundcore3D
plus : it's a wast of PcieX slot depending your configuration. (SLI/CFX my SB A FX 5.1 would fit nicely on my M5A99X Evo just between the 2 gpus (airflow disturbance anyone? yeah yeah i know... watercooling solve all ... ))

 

[Hayder_Master]

any budget range?

 

[Silas Woodruff]

Anywhere from 4500 lei to 5100 lei which would = 1300$ to 1500$