do i need a new soundcard?

[Darkenraja]

hey!

just a quick one, i have a great gaming/music setup with logitech 5500 surround speakers, however the onbaord audio on my gigabyte p35-ds3r seems pretty average, and in games it doesn't work well at all (tempermental sound, cuts in and out and is quiet dependsing what is on the screen).

what is a good soundcard to get as an upgrade for music and games? i don't need the top of the range, i just want something with usrround sound and hopefully an optical output?

thanks

jt

 

[Phrexianghoul]

I can only really speak for Creatives Extreme Gamer card. The sound quality is great, but the software that comes with it is something to be desired.

 

[rockbyter]

any newer Creative Labs card will do for gaminig

 

[th_username]

go for asus best sound card

 

[quantumsheep]

Just any mid-range ($70-$100) card will do by pretty much any manufacturer, spending anymore would be a waste as your speakers aren't that great.

 

[samuraiblade]

aye i agree with th_username go for the asus xonar sound card , much better than creative imo , ive had soo many issues with creative products , got myself the Asus Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card and havent looked back , you dont need the more expensive version as this one does it all imo.

 

[samuraiblade]

p.s . what the hell!! how can you say that the speakers arent great quantumsheep! there the best 5.1 out there if not the best setup you can get for pc!. only the razor mako beats it imo.

 

[Darkenraja]

thanks. will look into the asus cards. kind of disapointed with the creative soundcards so far - even the top of the range seem a bit overkill and not so great for just music and games which is all i need - i think people are forgetting that. the speakers are great for what I use them for.

thanks peoples will take a look on the web at those cards.

 

[samuraiblade]

the asus does support the latest EAX , ok it is a clever software emulation , but all reviews say its indistinguishable from the hardware version onboard the creative , also the quality for cost is far superior , you do lose a few frames a second when its in eax mode but its worth it , you dont need some stupid Alchemy proggy and have to setup all manner of things on unsupported hardware sound games in vista to run it either , its all plug n play with the asus. good enough reason imo

 

[samuraiblade]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/05/26/asus-xonar-dx-pci-express-soundcard/1

read this review and spec's . shows clearly EAX '5' support

 

[samuraiblade]

aye but as far as im conserned , as alot of others are , creative can go swing , after the way they treated Daniel K (see below)

http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&thread.id=116332&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

they can kiss my butt , as alot of you should do and support either Asus or if your soo keen on performance and eax true hardware then go for Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 Sound Card which has the chip on it , but please teach creative a lesson for being such tossers , i was all for them when i could get the drivers from Daniel K , but then they acted like prats.

 

[Darkenraja]

Hmmm now i'm undecided again! A friend has just purchased the X-fi xtreme gamer fatality pro. I must say i was pretty impressed and for around 150 AU its pretty good price.

 

[samuraiblade]

imo for best compromise go for the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 Sound Card then , its essentially a creative card but with better build quality. so you get the eax and better support.