EggXpert

   Does anyone have any opinions on either of these?  I'm putting together a gaming rig but I'm not sure if I really need a dedicated sound card.  I use a very basic speaker setup (2 speakers, 1 sw) and I've had no problems with onboard sound in the past.  Is it really worth purchasing a new sound card?  Perhaps if I ever decide to upgrade to surround sound,ect, in the future?

    If so..  which dedicated sound card would you suggest?  I hear that creative labs sound cards have horrible drivers.

If it's something basic and you don't have alot of money invested into the speakers then stick with onboard sound. These days onboard sound is much much better than it used to be. Asus Xonar sound card is something I'd go for if I ever needed to upgrade to a dedicated sound card.

SergeiV:

If it's something basic and you don't have alot of money invested into the speakers then stick with onboard sound. These days onboard sound is much much better than it used to be. Asus Xonar sound card is something I'd go for if I ever needed to upgrade to a dedicated sound card.

    The speakers are cheap.  I think that's why I went with them in the first place.  I don't have any issues with them at all and stuff comes through pretty clear.  I do think I will get a dedicated soundcard anyway in case of future upgrades.  I'm planning on making this system highly upgradable and long life. :)  Thanks for the input.

I have integrated sound and normal video games and HD movies sound fine. I don't ever recommend sound cards for peopel who don' need it

   Just a quick question.  I've noticed this on sound cards, video cards, and mobos.  Some come with the PCI-E 2.0.  Are these compatable with the normal PCI-E slots?

As far as video cards are concerned, yes. I am assuming other devices work the same way, but don't count on it

Rattletrap:

   Just a quick question.  I've noticed this on sound cards, video cards, and mobos.  Some come with the PCI-E 2.0.  Are these compatable with the normal PCI-E slots?

PCI-E 2.0 only applies to video cards and their motherboard sockets (at least that's what I thought). Sound cards use one of these other connections:

USB
PCI
PCI-E x1 (the small socket, not the same as PCI-E x16)
IEEE 1394

I don't see anything about sound cards using PCI-E x16 (or the new 2.0). However, yes you can use new PCI-E 2.0 video cards in the old PCI-E x16 slots. And you can use PCI-E x16 video cards in the new PCI-E 2.0 slots. The new design is physically identical to the old one and designed to be backwards compatible.

But personally I prefer a sound card. After playing games for more than an hour or two, I always got crackling and popping from the onboard sound on my P5B Deluxe. Could have just been my motherboard. Even so, having dedicated sound takes some strain off of your CPU and can actually free up memory (some people noticed a difference of 200mb of memory usage from onboard to dedicated sound).

This is an interesting discussion.  Is it possible to use a PCIe x1 card in a PCIe x16 slot (obviously leaving a bunch of empty space)?  I thought I'd read somewhere that you could, but can't remember for sure.

Sawdust99:

This is an interesting discussion.  Is it possible to use a PCIe x1 card in a PCIe x16 slot (obviously leaving a bunch of empty space)?  I thought I'd read somewhere that you could, but can't remember for sure.

From what I understand, yes you should be able to. Any x1, x4, x8 or x16 should physically fit into a PCI-E x16 slot. Some people have had issues where Windows shows an "unrecognized device", but that could be due to a number of things, not necessarily the card/slot configuration.

Check out the bullet points in this section http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#Physical_Layer

EDIT: Just to make sure people know, regular PCI is totally different (and incompatible) with PCI-E slots. But any PCI-E card should fit into a PCI-E slot that is at least as large as the card.

I have a X-fi elite. Now I went a little over board on my setup so I cud use fiber optic connectoin to my speakers and also when I hook up my ps3 to my  logitech z-5500. I like the xfi partially because it has the crystalizer which makes everything sound crazy crisp and clear. Personally sound cards are for people who are either audiophiles, or someone who when they plays games want great sound and wanna hear sounds like back ground noise you normally cant. Plus like one of the other guys said I does take strain off of your cpu and memory. So if you ever plan to upgrade your speakers your going to want to get a sound card.

The drivers for vista and xp are great for creative labs, and they have never failed me. Also xfi came out with there new sound card that can suposedly put 5.1 sound through normal stereo headsets.

OK, I'd like to get involved in this discussion as I'm at a loss.

I know there's issues with Creative Drivers and Vista.  Trust me, I've heard it on my current system and my Vista partition when playing Neverwinter Nights 2 (sucks so bad not having true EAX).  

So, my new system has onboard audio, but I'm using Klipsch Promedia Ultra 5.1's.  A few years old, yes, but still one of the best systems around, even though it's not digital.  

I'd love to get a dedicated soundcard again, but want my EAX for my games.  Especially games like Dungeons and Dragons online where it really pays off in a dungeon setting, or for when I put in Doom 3 for that creepy audio.  Hell, even being able to hear people sneaking up behind me in COD4 would be nice.  

Will onboard be enough to accomplish this task (Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-DQ6-High quality 8-ch ALC889A High Definition audio with DTS Connect support, featuring 106dB Signal to Noise Ratio and Full Rate Lossless Audio with Blu-ray/ HD DVD playback support) or should I go dedicated?  

jbjtkbw00:

  Hell, even being able to hear people sneaking up behind me in COD4 would be nice.   

 

I have been saved many, many times from being killed by 5.1 audio. I play COD4 on my 360 since my pc just recently came up to snuff to playing anything decent. But you will notice an improvement in your game. Being able to hear where people are walking, shooting etc is a big advantage.