Sound Card suggestions for my rig?

Black Panther · Jun 22, 2007

I use the rig in my system specs mainly to play Oblivion and other games, mp3 music and to watch dvds. I've got the Z5500 logitech as speakers but for now am using the onboard sound (soundmax) of my motherboard.

I don't understand much about the specifications of soundcards, I would like to spend my money on a very good one but not one which would be overkill. Preferably one which doesn't use the cpu and ram (unless that would be overkill).

Btw does Oblivion support OPENAL and EAX?

Also, any idea on the price of the X-FI Prelude?

Which card do you have and was it good value for money?

Thanks for any feedback!

Wile E · Jun 22, 2007

What's your budget?

Black Panther · Jun 22, 2007

Around $150 but I'd consider up to $220 if it's really worth the money.

Edit: Btw my mobo's a P5B with only one pci-e slot which is used for the graphics card.

Wile E · Jun 22, 2007

Ok, this is my suggestion then:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102005

I only have an Audigy 2ZS, and mine still blows onboard away.

francis511 · Jun 22, 2007

i have x-fi extreme audio. its better than on board but its not worth like an extra hundred £s/$s

Black Panther · Jun 22, 2007

Wile E said:
Ok, this is my suggestion then:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102005

I only have an Audigy 2ZS, and mine still blows onboard away.

Is that one (X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional) better than the Xtreme Fata1ity FPS and the Elite Pro?

I checked a local online supplier http://www.scanmalta.com/pricelist.php?WebCategory=sound - they don't have the XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional but the Xtreme Fata1ilty FPS is $300 and the Elite Pro is $387 :wtf:

Definitely way out of budget for me...

Wile E · Jun 22, 2007

I believe the only true difference is the other 2 have the front panel breakout box. Not worth the money, imho.

If you end up having to spend any more for a card than the Pro version, I would just hold out for the release of the Auzentech X-Fi.

Where are you located, btw? Try eBay, maybe?

Sovereign · Jun 22, 2007

Ah, once again a bunch of people who think creative is the way to go when it comes to sound...

The fact is, there are quite a few sound cards out there to choose from that have better audio capabilities than most anything in the Creative stable. EAX is such a poor excuse to have to get a sound card. Anyone of the following will do quite nicely for you :

HT OMEGA STRIKER 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

AuzenTech XPlosion 7.1 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

Sondigo inferno 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

HT OMEGA CLARO 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

AuzenTech AZT-XM71 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Auzen X-Meridian 7.1 Sound Card

HT OMEGA CLARO Plus+ 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

And thats only a small sample of whats out there...

Wile E · Jun 22, 2007

Sovereign said:
Ah, once again a bunch of people who think creative is the way to go when it comes to sound...

The fact is, there are quite a few sound cards out there to choose from that have better audio capabilities than most anything in the Creative stable. EAX is such a poor excuse to have to get a sound card. Anyone of the following will do quite nicely for you :

HT OMEGA STRIKER 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

AuzenTech XPlosion 7.1 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

Sondigo inferno 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

HT OMEGA CLARO 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

AuzenTech AZT-XM71 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Auzen X-Meridian 7.1 Sound Card

HT OMEGA CLARO Plus+ 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

And thats only a small sample of whats out there...

Reread her first post. She wants a card that offloads from the cpu. None of those do that. C-Media chips still use the cpu to decode. Yes, they sound better than On-board, tho, and are very good cards.

If you want a true DSP, Creative is your only option, atm.

Black Panther · Jun 22, 2007

I'm in Malta.

I asked if those 2 cards were better because of the price. If they're lower quality cards then hell knows what I'd have to fork out for a Fata1ilty Pro...

And yeah we do have very inflated prices. To buy the rig in my specs, as components not as a ready-built pc, it'd have cost me $2000. Buying the stuff brand new from other countries it cost me less than $1000.

Wile E · Jun 22, 2007

I think the Extreme Music would be your second best bet then.

EDIT: Actually, it would've been my first choice, but I forgot about it.

HellasVagabond · Jun 22, 2007

We are waiting for the ASUS cards to get released...Until then Creative is a ONEWAY street for gamers.

Wile E · Jun 22, 2007

HellasVagabond said:
We are waiting for the ASUS cards to get released...Until then Creative is a ONEWAY street for gamers.

Even the ASUS has been speculated to use a C-Media chip. If that's the case, still no gamer love. lol

Sovereign · Jun 22, 2007

Wile E said:
Even the ASUS has been specullated to use a C-Media chip. If that's the case, still no gamer love. lol

Why? With most modern day systems and the advancement of chipsets, the amount of CPU usage that the C-Media chips use isn't going to really translate into much of any performance loss. We're talking maybe a few frames per second at the most here and I don't think it needs to be said that C-Media's upper end chipsets have better sound reproduction and clarity than creative's.

Wile E · Jun 22, 2007

Sovereign said:
Why? With most modern day systems and the advancement of chipsets, the amount of CPU usage that the C-Media chips use isn't going to really translate into much of any performance loss. We're talking maybe a few frames per second at the most here and I don't think it needs to be said that C-Media's upper end chipsets have better sound reproduction and clarity than creative's.

No gaming support either.

I'm well aware of their sound quality, but if I wanted my cpu to do the decoding, I would just use my onboard optical, and spend the money on a high quality out board DSP.

Sovereign · Jun 22, 2007

Wile E said:
No gaming support either.

I'm well aware of their sound quality, but if I wanted my cpu to do the decoding, I would just use my onboard optical, and spend the money on a high quality out board DSP.

Good point...

Darren · Jun 22, 2007

Sovereign said:
Ah, once again a bunch of people who think creative is the way to go when it comes to sound...

The fact is, there are quite a few sound cards out there to choose from that have better audio capabilities than most anything in the Creative stable. EAX is such a poor excuse to have to get a sound card. Anyone of the following will do quite nicely for you :

HT OMEGA STRIKER 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

AuzenTech XPlosion 7.1 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

Sondigo inferno 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

HT OMEGA CLARO 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

AuzenTech AZT-XM71 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Auzen X-Meridian 7.1 Sound Card

HT OMEGA CLARO Plus+ 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

And thats only a small sample of whats out there...

BlackPanther, this guy knows what he is talking about avoid those creative cards, get an Auzentech one.

Darren · Jun 22, 2007

Wile E said:
Reread her first post. She wants a card that offloads from the cpu. None of those do that. C-Media chips still use the cpu to decode. Yes, they sound better than On-board, tho, and are very good cards.

If you want a true DSP, Creative is your only option, atm.

I own an Auzentech X-meridian, and I have not noticed any performance loss in comparison to previous creative cards and other onboard cards. Playing MP3's in DDL/DTS causes little to no cpu usage, about 2%, and BlackPanthers system specification is better than mine!

Darren · Jun 22, 2007

Black Panther said:
I use the rig in my system specs mainly to play Oblivion and other games, mp3 music and to watch dvds. I've got the Z5500 logitech as speakers but for now am using the onboard sound (soundmax) of my motherboard.

I don't understand much about the specifications of soundcards, I would like to spend my money on a very good one but not one which would be overkill. Preferably one which doesn't use the cpu and ram (unless that would be overkill).

Btw does Oblivion support OPENAL and EAX?

Also, any idea on the price of the X-FI Prelude?

Which card do you have and was it good value for money?

Thanks for any feedback!

Ignore the creative fanboys, unless you enjoy stereo sound, and a wasted AV reciever. Dont be complaining when you can't get your mp3s or video files to play in Dolby 5.1 or DTS. Type "creative" in our search facility and look at all the complaints related to creatives lies and driver problems. Get yourself an auzentech product, such as the X-plosion, X-meridian, or even the X-FI prelude if your prepared to wait a bit, however I don't believe the X-FI prelude will support DTS/DDL untill early 2008 with driver updates.

read this forum full of happy Auzentech customers

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?threadid=183439

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?p=2113813#post2113813

Darren · Jun 22, 2007

Wile E said:
No gaming support either.

I'm well aware of their sound quality, but if I wanted my cpu to do the decoding, I would just use my onboard optical, and spend the money on a high quality out board DSP.

What are you talking about the performance hit is like 1-2% for me, and my system isn't exactly high end! secondly the encoding is done by the cpu, the decoding is done by your external AV reciever.

"no gaming support", EAX has been supported by games for almost 10 years, C-media supports EAX. Certain C-media chips such as the Auzentech's range support DDL/DTS via Directsound, the last I heard Directsound is fully supported by the majority, if not all games. Even OpenAL is going to be fully supported by Auzentech. So when you say "no gaming support", I say do a bit of homework before implementing fanboyism.

HellasVagabond · Jun 22, 2007

Noone says that there aint cards out there that aint as good as the X-Fi cards, they just aint supported by Games not as much as Creative so for a Good Gamer Creative is a must.
( Some Games even Support ULTRA HIGH Quality for the X-Fi , one of these is BF2142)

Black Panther · Jun 22, 2007

Sovereign and Darren have good arguments, but I think support is of utmost importance for me.

It'd be frustrating to buy a good game only to discover that your soundcard isn't supported!

Btw, anyone knows of a reputable supplier who ships to Europe? I checked Newegg and a couple of others but they don't.

HellasVagabond · Jun 22, 2007

Panther you will have sound, you will have basic support but not the extras that creative gives and holds a secret from other sound card manufacturers.

Darren · Jun 22, 2007

Black Panther said:
Sovereign and Darren have good arguments, but I think support is of utmost importance for me.

It'd be frustrating to buy a good game only to discover that your soundcard isn't supported!

Btw, anyone knows of a reputable supplier who ships to Europe? I checked Newegg and a couple of others but they don't.

As mentioned before I own an Auzentech card, and support has not been an issue, and i'm a gamer just like you appear to be.

Games which I frequently play without issues, and on highest audio settings

Ghost recon Advanced Warfighter
Farcy
Prey
Ghost recon
Need for speed carbon
C&C3 (HD audio is selectable)

Which part of europe do you live in? perhaps these links would be of help?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-004-HT&tool=3

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-003-HT&tool=3

http://amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h...as=aps&field-keywords=auzentech&tag=tec053-21

HookeyStreet · Jun 22, 2007

Grab yourself a "Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Extreme Audio"

I got one for only £30 in the UK

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102007

System Name	Black Panther
Processor	i9 9900k
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO Wifi 1.0
Cooling	NZXT Kraken X72 360mm
Memory	2 x 8GB Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro DDR4 3600Mhz
Video Card(s)	Palit RTX2080 Ti Dual 11GB DDR6
Storage	Samsung EVO 970 500GB SSD M.2 & 2TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm
Display(s)	32'' Gigabyte G32QC 2560x1440 165Hz
Case	NZXT H710i Black
Audio Device(s)	Razer Electra V2 & Z5500 Speakers
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus GX-850 Gold 80+
Mouse	Some Corsair lost the box forgot the model
Keyboard	Motospeed
Software	Windows 10

System Name	The ClusterF**k
Processor	980X @ 4Ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 BIOS F12
Cooling	MCR-320, DDC-1 pump w/Bitspower res top (1/2" fittings), Koolance CPU-360
Memory	3x2GB Mushkin Redlines 1600Mhz 6-8-6-24 1T
Video Card(s)	Evga GTX 580
Storage	Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB, 2xSeagate 320GB RAID0; 2xSeagate 3TB; 2xSamsung 2TB; Samsung 1.5TB
Display(s)	HP LP2475w 24" 1920x1200 IPS
Case	Technofront Bench Station
Audio Device(s)	Auzentech X-Fi Forte into Onkyo SR606 and Polk TSi200's + RM6750
Power Supply	ENERMAX Galaxy EVO EGX1250EWT 1250W
Software	Win7 Ultimate N x64, OSX 10.8.4

System Name	Black Panther
Processor	i9 9900k
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO Wifi 1.0
Cooling	NZXT Kraken X72 360mm
Memory	2 x 8GB Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro DDR4 3600Mhz
Video Card(s)	Palit RTX2080 Ti Dual 11GB DDR6
Storage	Samsung EVO 970 500GB SSD M.2 & 2TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm
Display(s)	32'' Gigabyte G32QC 2560x1440 165Hz
Case	NZXT H710i Black
Audio Device(s)	Razer Electra V2 & Z5500 Speakers
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus GX-850 Gold 80+
Mouse	Some Corsair lost the box forgot the model
Keyboard	Motospeed
Software	Windows 10

System Name	The ClusterF**k
Processor	980X @ 4Ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 BIOS F12
Cooling	MCR-320, DDC-1 pump w/Bitspower res top (1/2" fittings), Koolance CPU-360
Memory	3x2GB Mushkin Redlines 1600Mhz 6-8-6-24 1T
Video Card(s)	Evga GTX 580
Storage	Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB, 2xSeagate 320GB RAID0; 2xSeagate 3TB; 2xSamsung 2TB; Samsung 1.5TB
Display(s)	HP LP2475w 24" 1920x1200 IPS
Case	Technofront Bench Station
Audio Device(s)	Auzentech X-Fi Forte into Onkyo SR606 and Polk TSi200's + RM6750
Power Supply	ENERMAX Galaxy EVO EGX1250EWT 1250W
Software	Win7 Ultimate N x64, OSX 10.8.4

Processor	Core I5 4440 / 4430
Motherboard	Asus z87-k / Gigabyte ga h97- d3h
Cooling	Arctic freezer / Generic
Memory	8 gb Mushkin / Various
Video Card(s)	Radeon 7850 cf / Gtx 690
Storage	Samsung 850 EVO 250 gb / 2x1 terabyte hdds Wd 256 gb nvme
Display(s)	Technika 32" / Asus 24` ips
Case	Corsair
Audio Device(s)	X-fi Titanium
Power Supply	Corsair 850 w
Software	Windows 10

System Name	"The Gateway Donation"
Processor	Mobile AMD Turion 64 ML-34, 1975 MHz (9 x 218) (1MB L2)
Motherboard	MSI K8N Neo3-FSR (3 PCI, 1 PCI-E x16, 1 AGR, 2 DDR DIMM)
Cooling	Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 PRO + Various 80mm Case Fans
Memory	1024 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM, Hynix & Nanya Chips)
Video Card(s)	MSI HD2600XT 256MB GDDR4 Diamond OC Edition PCI-E x16
Storage	Maxtor 6E040L0 (40 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/133)
Display(s)	Princeton LCD1950 19" 8ms Digital LCD (1280x1024 @ 75Hz)
Case	Gateway (2000) Beige P150 ATX MidTower Case
Audio Device(s)	Aureal Vortex 2 SQ2500 "SuperQuad" Audio
Power Supply	HEC Orion 500 watt ATX Power Supply
Software	Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 w/ SP2
Benchmark Scores	SuperPi 1M @ You don't even want to know! ;)

System Name	SECONDARY RIG / PRIMARY RIG / THIRD RIG
Processor	i920@3.6GHz / i920@4GHz / AMD Phenom II 955
Motherboard	Gigabyte EX58-UD4P / Gigabyte EX58-UD7 / ASRock 890GX3
Cooling	CoolIT Domino ALC / Thermalright Silver Arrow / Thermalright VenomousX
Memory	12GB DDR3 @ 1800MHZ / 6GB DDR3 @ 2250MHZ / 4GB DDR3 @ 1600MHZ
Video Card(s)	XFX ATI RADEON 5970 / GAINWARD NVIDIA GTX 580 / 2xGEFORCE GTX295
Storage	1550GB / 6TB SAS - SSD / 160GB SSD
Display(s)	NEC 26WUXi2 / NEC 3090WQXi / SONY 55A2000 (1080P 55inch)
Case	COOLER MASTER HAF 932 / COOLER MASTER ATCS 840 / ANTEC DARKFLEET DF85
Audio Device(s)	Soundblaster X-Fi Xtreme Music / SoundBlaster X-Fi Fatal1ty Pro / Realtek Onboard
Power Supply	CWT 1200W / Enermax Revolution 85+ 1250W / Ikonik Vulcan 1200W
Software	Windows 7 x64 / Windows 7 x64 / Windows 7 x64

System Name	Cheap yet powerful gaming and entertainment rig!
Processor	AMD Athlon 3800+ X2 Windsor, 1 MB L2 Cache (512k L2 Per Core), 65W Energy efficient, 2GHz @ 2.78 Ghz
Motherboard	Asrock ALiveNF7G-HD720p Rev v5.0
Cooling	Freezer 64, 2x120mm, 1x92mm
Memory	8 GB DDRII PC6400 @ 929 MHz OCZ (2GBx4) timing: 5-5-5-5-16-2T
Video Card(s)	XFX ATI4830
Storage	Seagate 320 GB SATA (16 MB Cache)
Display(s)	19' HannsG (1440x900 @ 75hz)
Case	Coolermaster Elite 330 Black Case
Audio Device(s)	Auzentech X-Meridian, Pioneer VSX-516 Receiver 7.1 with DD/DD EX/Prologic II/DTS/DTS-ES//DTS: Neo
Power Supply	Cool Master eXtreme Power 460W PSU
Software	Vista Ultimate X64 Corporate Edition

Sound Card suggestions for my rig?

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Eat, sleep, game!