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Thinking about getting a sound card...

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Feizy

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Hey guys, I am thinking about getting a sound card for my gaming setup. I have budgeted $200 for it. I can use either a PCI or PCI express card. Also, I am running Windows 7 64bit. Also, I use 5.1 surround sound headphones when gaming.

I saw the Asus Xonar D2X and that looked nice. But I don't know. Any suggestions or advice from personal experience? Thanks in advance!
 
xBruce88x

xBruce88x

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are these headphones using the individual signal plugs or optical(or w/e). If they're usb, chances are they have their own sound card of sorts and buying one isn't needed.
 
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Feizy

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They use the individual plugs, 3.5mm ones I think.
 
xBruce88x

xBruce88x

Joined
Oct 29, 2009
Messages
2,669 (0.50/day)
System Specs
System Name Old Gateway / Steam Deck OLED LE
Processor i5 4440 3.1ghz / Jupiter 4c 8t
Motherboard Gateway / Valve
Cooling Eh it doesn't thermal throttle
Memory 2x 8GB JEDEC 1600mhz DDR3 / 16gb DDR5 6400
Video Card(s) RX 560D 4GB / Navi II 8CU
Storage 240gb 2.5 SSD / 1TB nvme
Display(s) Dell @ 1280*1024 75hz / 800p OLED
Case Gateway / Valve LE
Audio Device(s) Gateway Diamond Audio EMC2.0-USB 5375U ($15 a long ass time ago), Valve
Power Supply 380w oem / 65w valve USB-C
Mouse Purple Walmart special, 1600dpi. Black desk mat
Keyboard SteelSeries Apex 100 / virtual
VR HMD Lmao
Software Windows 10 / Steam OS
Benchmark Scores It can run Crysis (Original), Doom 2016, and Halo MCC. SD LE 45fps
ok then you'll definately see an improvement. the asus card is a pretty nice one, i've been thinking of getting one myself.

just an observation... i noticed the D2X on newegg is out of stock, but the D2 looks like its pretty much the same thing, just PCI rather than PCI-e. I'm thinking the x in D2X is for express (as in pci-e). so if you can't get find a D2X, the D2 is the same thing, just PCI

the only real difference i see in the 2 is the details page on newegg... they just left out the stuff that was featured on XP (in the description, the card itself probably still has the features, but most are moving away from xp) they have the same specs and audio chip

actually there is one difference... the D2 is $20 cheaper!
 
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Feizy

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Cool, it also looks like it doesn't have the extra power connection that the D2X has, so it would better for a cleaner look in the case. I hate having 1 cable in the middle of everything. ha.
 
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Feizy

Joined
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Dallas, TX
Hmmm, reading the Newegg reviews it looks like there are driver issues with windows 7. Can anyone attest to this or is it user error.
 
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