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My onboard sound crapped out this past week and I've been using my USB headphones for everything. I've been looking on Newegg out of curiosity (and because my one spare PCI slot is being covered by my 3870) and have seen some very mixed reviews about the various cards on there. So in a nutshell, are PCIe sound cards worth the money?
PCIe 1x slots make good use of those pesky slots. For X-Fi cards... I'd recommend the PCIe cards over the PCI cards due to known issues with the PCI cards.
For PCIe x1, if you want an X-Fi you're only good choice is the X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102019 ). Otherwise there are the various ASUS Xonar PCIe x1s out there ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...me=PCI+Express ).
Thanks guys, when I find the cash to get one, I'm going to mainly be using it for music and maybe some movies, only very rarely will I have the time to game for a loooong time. So I don't really need anything insane.
you could look for an asus pcie sound card on ebay (the ones that come with some asus boards). they arent as great as the more expencive ones but they'll get you rocking again for cheap.
Right now I'm wondering if it might be the speakers too... my sound has been going really, really weird on me lately. I had my speakers hooked up through the USB adapter that came with my headset... but they got all fuzzy and weird, and when tested on my mp3 player and then through my front USB port, they were fine, lol.
I have less than $100 in the bank, courtesy of NY taxes... I ordered my books from the college I'm digitally attending in NC and they charge me taxes here, lol. These laws are something amazing. We'll see what happens around Christmas, maybe my parents will get me a sound card and nice set of speakers if I do good in my classes.
I was looking at getting the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI-E
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...oducts_id=7311
I also looked at the
SilverStone Ensemble EB01 USB DAC
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...oducts_id=7846
At the moment my on board Karajan audio on my DFI board is fantastic. I love good audio and can tell the difference between crap and fantastic sound, that is why I haven't got a sound card yet. Yes I know that sounds stupid. The way I see it is I would want to get the best possible audio and can't justify spending $300AUD+ on a sound card which I would want to then upgrade when the new model comes out lol. I would also want to get the full 7.1 surround sound which I neither have the need, money or space for lol.
The Xtreme Audio card is not a X-Fi (the chip is not an EMU20K1), its a rebranded Audigy SE.
They still market it as a X-Fi and it still takes the drivers.
I love how you tell everyone your budget for a sound card is low and it's not like you do any gaming, but just like Best Buy everyone recommends a $70+ Card. For music, movies all you need is something basic. Mind you, it's still a really good card.