Do I Need a sound Card or after market cooler?

[mother242]

I have finished my build and am reasonably happy with my computer.
sys specs:
AMD Phenom II x4 965
Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P
G.Skill Ripjaws 4gb DDR3
HIS ATI Radeon HD5850 1GB
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11
Random dvd burner
Aero Cool VX-E Pro

ok question 1 should i get a sound card for this computer. this computer is ment for heavy gaming i.e. any game you can think of,surfing the web, listening to music and watching vids (mayb blu ray 2)
question 2 should i upgrade to 8gig of ram and if so when
question 3 as i siad above i intend the computer for mostly gaming would it be worth getting a second opical drive to support blu ray
question 4 at the moment i am using teh AMD cpu cooler it is bit loud under load not 2 bad coz i use headfones when gaming, should i consider gettting a after market cooler and if so which one.

thx 4 yr elp

 

[DJRWolf]

1. Yes. When I was stuck using on-board sound on one of my systems I could always hear a hiss and some popping sounds in the back ground. A new sound card got rid of those.

2. Upgrade in a few months to 6GB. Then a few months later 8GB.

3. I'd just buy a Blu-Ray player for my TV.

4. YES! Stock cooler are no match for even a lower end after market design. I would personaly suggest the Cooler Master GeminIIs. I have it in both of my quad-core systems and it is very quiet for it's size. The only con to it that I have found is you have to remove the motherboard from the case and the bolts to mount it are on the bottom side on the board so you need someone to hold the motherboard steady while you have it all upside down and are putting the bolts on.

 

[scubba85]

1. I would not worry about a sound card. Modern onboard audio is good enough, and in order to hear a difference you would probably need a high end, expensive sound card. Can you hear a problem?

2. Ram, 4gb should be plenty, wait a few months, see if you need more then.

3. Not sure if games are gonna move to blu-ray anytime soon.

4. I would go for an after market cooler. You dont have to spend a lot to get good results. I would recommend http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065&Tpk=coolermaster%20hyper%20212

not to expensive and works very well.

Just my opinions.

 

[Silvune]

1. I would not worry about a sound card. Modern onboard audio is good enough, and in order to hear a difference you would probably need a high end, expensive sound card. Can you hear a problem?

2. Ram, 4gb should be plenty, wait a few months, see if you need more then.

3. Not sure if games are gonna move to blu-ray anytime soon.

4. I would go for an after market cooler. You dont have to spend a lot to get good results. I would recommend http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065&Tpk=coolermaster%20hyper%20212

not to expensive and works very well.

Just my opinions.

+1

 

[fastx21]

1. not necessary
2. not necessary but if you like go for it
3. blu-ray is good, get it if you like.
4. I read somewhere that the stock fan on the hsf comes out during shipping. try pushing it in and see if it gets quieter. But you should get youself something better. I use a coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus hsf.

 

[brennon7]

Don't waste your money on sound card unless your current one is giving you problems.

Take the money you would spend on more ram and get a SSD.

Blu-Ray is entirely over rated. Do you really want to watch Blu-Rays at your computer for 2 hours? Additionally, think of your electric bill. Your computer running for two hours at 400+watts or a stand alone blu-ray player that is energy star rated?

Get any after-market cooler.

 

[DJRWolf]

It does not take a high end sound card. The one system I was using on-board sound on I was only doing that because the 10 year old Sound Blaster Live I wanted to use from an older system did not have any divers for Win7 64-bit. But with the on-board you can, like I did, get hissing and poping sounds from other activity on your motherboard. I have read people talking about hearing the "music" of their USB bus activity. So after putting up with the background noise for a few weeks I went out and bought a Best Best house brand "Rocketfish" sound card at full price would have been only $30 and it sounds much better.

4GB RAM: Average for most average users.
6GB RAM: Enough to cover gamers with plenty of background programs running.
8GB RAM: For now not really needed and only really good for saying "mines bigger then yours". But that will change as time goes on and programs get bigger. After all, it used to be 256MB was more then enough RAM. You could not even boot on that much now.