Can anyone recommend me a good sound card?

[Funtoss]

Hi, i currently have a Logitech 5.1 x530 Speakers

and i want to upgrade my sound card because its not giving me good sound bass :\
coz my friends bass is really loud and nice

i have a C-media 8738
and i was looking at this:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/Components/Sound-cards/auction-363324211.htm

is that a good sound card? and is it compatible with windows 7 64bit?
will my sound (bass) improve?


please help me find a nice sound card from the trademe.co.nz website
please thanks

 

[hat]

That card is very old, and your onboard sound is probably better. Does your friend have the same set of speakers as you? That would make a bigger difference than a new sound card would. If you're really hell bent on buying a new sound card, you won't get away with spending just $20. If you're only looking to spend that much, you might as well just keep your onboard sound.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/Components/Sound-cards/auction-362734578.htm

 

[Funtoss]

yeah he has the same speakers

 

[Funtoss]

thats too much for a sound card :\

 

[Funtoss]

just wondering if the creative sound blaster would work in windows 7 64 bit and is it better than my c media 8738? thanks

 

[majestic12]

What does your friend have in the way of a sound card? You should be able to find cards like the X-fi extreme music for cheap on eBay that could make a difference, or if you have a stereo, hook the computer up to that instead.

 

[erocker]

Your onboard motherboard sound is most likely better.

 

[majestic12]

^What erocker said. The Sound Blaster Live is ancient tech now -those things came out in the late 90s!

 

[Funtoss]

my mates has on board sound, i think i might just use my on board then.. but my on board sucks... sound max lol

can anyone find me a good sound max driver?

 

[hat]

Well, if you want high quality audio, you have to pay for it. I wouldn't recommend cheaping out on the sound card (or any other component for that matter)... you'll just be wasting your money.

If you want to gamble, try this:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/Components/Sound-cards/auction-363548770.htm

I heard somewhere that Creative finally fixed their memory leak issue brought on by using CMSS-3D and some other features, but I can't verify that.

 

[Funtoss]

is that a good sound card? will it improve my bass?

 

[Funtoss]

what is the creative memory leak?

 

[hat]

is that a good sound card? will it improve my bass?

It's alright. Better than onboard for sure. Your friend might have more bass than you simply because of a volume knob on the sub. I don't know if yours has that, though.

what is the creative memory leak?

I've pretty much explained all there is to it. There is (or was) an issue where Creative cards caused audiodg.exe to get a massive memory leak when you used features like CMSS-3D, and some others like the Equalizer. As I said, I'm not sure if they fixed it or not.

 

[Jack Doph]

There is (or was) an issue where Creative cards caused audiodg.exe to get a massive memory leak when you used features like CMSS-3D, and some others like the Equalizer. As I said, I'm not sure if they fixed it or not.

This was fixed with a driver update back in late 2009

 

[hat]

You sure about that?

 

[Jack Doph]

I vaguely remember reading about it on the Creative forum quite a while back. It also only affected some of their X-Fi cards.
I'll see if I can find it

EDIT: OK, the bookmarked thread no longer exists, and I'm less than successful finding a clear answer anywhere really :/
I suspect, then, that this problem may well still exist, albeit on only some of the X-Fi models (my Elite Pro, for example, doesn't even use audiodg.exe, so was never affected to begin with).
I'm intrigued now! XD

 

[Funtoss]

yes i have that knob but my driver is the main thing holding back my bass

i used to have a lot of bass in windows 7 32 bit because of the driver (c media 8738 version 0639 )

but that driver isnt compatible with 64 bit so now i have to use the c media audio configuration version 7

this driver version doesnt provide much bass or anything

and also it doesnt have enough options for 16 bit and it doesnt have 24 bit as well where as it used to have it in windows 7 32 bit

 

[Jack Doph]

What driver version are you using for the C-Media?

 

[Funtoss]

http://www.cmedia.com.tw/en/DownloadCenter_Detail2.aspx

the first one on this website

 

[Funtoss]

so do you know what the problem is? why am i not seeing 24bit anymore?

 

[slyfox2151]

so do you know what the problem is? why am i not seeing 24bit anymore?

Driver issue IMO, also use EDIT, stop double posting.

 

[Funtoss]

oh sorry i m kinda new to forums and stuff, thanks for the tip though

and i'll see if its a driver issue, thanks.

i'll keep it in mind

 

[Jack Doph]

I cannot find anything on the web that explains why you cannot have the same functionality from the latest drivers, nor should there be a difference in functionality between the 32-bit & 64-bit versions of the software.. :/

 

[Funtoss]

oh okay, thanks for trying though

 

[hat]

Try the one from this page:
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=vh26TDbmym1cfFi7