Best sound card for $$$

Best sound card for around $30? Is it better to just stick with onboard sound in this $$$ range?

I'm going to try this one on my new build - unless I hear a bunch of bad reviews on it in the next 2 weeks.
Diamond XtremeSound

I looked at the low end Sound Blasters, and the 5.1 s seem to have a port that is either Mic or Line in. I need a dedicated line in for my tv tuner.

You're right, I had an older one that did also.
I was thinking of the newer model cards-Audigy SE.

I a m building a gaming PC and have maxed my price but don't really want to go with onboard sound either... so what i really need to know is whether this is much better than onboard for the $20 or $30.

astrallite i have kept up with most computer hardware with the exception of soundcards and really don't know what any of that stuff is. I need something that will make games sound good through either my headphones or my 2 speakers and a subwoofer... I know that EAX1 2 and 3 are options in call of duty but i never got them to work with my onboards... so are they better?

EAX is a set of instructions built into the game that provides environmental audio, which is generally a realistic amout of reverb for the room you're in or whatever effect needs to be added by the DSP to make it sound 'like you're really there' etc...

It's not vital, but it's quite cool when it does work.

EAX is a set of instructions built into the game that provides environmental audio, which is generally a realistic amout of reverb for the room you're in or whatever effect needs to be added by the DSP to make it sound 'like you're really there' etc...

It's not vital, but it's quite cool when it does work.


Very true :-D

EAX is great when it works and when games support it.

Also decent SB hards do audio accelleration in hardware which is better, faster and uses less CPU.

Yup.

Even the cheapest SB Live, Audigy SE or whatever, for about $30, is way better than onboard sound.

Onboard sound is just bad.

For a while I thought my Live! sound driver was causing crashes, so I ditched it and ran the onboard (AC'97). It SUCKED. Luckily, the problem wasn't the sound driver, its the chipset, so I got to put my sound card back in. It makes a big difference and even a cheap SB card will be better than onboard.

Yup :-D

and Yup :-D

You can't beat $28.99 for what you get.

I don't understand why they even bother with onboard sound it sucks and just gets in the way.

It may be too late, but there's also this offer. It's not too bad, though above the set budget.

The ZS Platinum is EXPENSIVE. I have had the Audigy 2 Value and that's way cheaper and still very good if you're not a pro gamer or high end audio freak or anything. In that case don't buy Audigy 2 series.