Will getting a sound card help my issues?

[zucchini]

hello everyone. i am using a evga p55 sli mother board and am using onboard sound, realtek. while listening to music on rhapsody i am hearing static and it's choppy too. I don't seem to have as much static on slacker radio and none at all while listening to mp files( i can't tell if it does it during games). this all started after I reformatted my computer(i don't remember it doing this before). I also added missing screws to my motherboard that i had missed when installing it but don't recall if it did this after or not. I added the screws before i reformatted so i guess it's either of the two.

the static happens randomly and is in small burst. happens alot more while listening to rhapsody then anything else. I checked my headset (creative fatality,non usb ones) it was okay on my other computer. i tried reinstalling the drivers, but that didn;t help(used driver sweeper). so why would this be happenings? could it be the screws or do I just need to upgrade to a sound card? i heard a case not being grounded right could cause static. do you think this happened when i installed those extra screws? I would take them out but i don't recall what ones i installed =(

i really don't know what sound cards to get for my use. all i do is listen to music and game and i am using a stereo headset(creative fatality ones). what would you all think would be a good one to get if i do upgrade to a sound card? I really don't want to spend more than 100 dollars if i can help it. these are the following sound cards I thought about getting but I don't know if they're overkill for me or not. here are the three i might get if they would be good for me.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271001
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132006
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102019

my setup is the following

evga p55 sli mother board (i have one pci 1x slot and one pci slot open)
i5 750 cpu oc 4ghz
corsair 1600 88824 memory
2x msi 460 cyclones 1gb
vista 64

 

[silversurfernhs]

Turning audio levels off for anything (like mic in) besides what you hear - or the default audio level gets rid of some hissing - turning off volume leveling gets rid of some hissing as well.

The other thing is that streaming audio is way more lossy a format than even mp3 - usually low bit rate - and low frequency and thus you hear audio noise from (some) streaming radio and less from something coming from your own pc - a sound card wont get rid of that - though it doesn't hurt because it reduces the sounds (hissing or high pitched whine).

But if you do go that rout and are considering the x fi ti pro - for 150 go grab an auzentech x-fi forte (its superior and includes a headset amp)

Also, integrated sound cards are more likely to pick up periodic electrical noise caused by the fluctuation of cpu use and throttling.

 

[zucchini]

thank you for your help. I really don't wanna pay any more than what i have to. do you think the asus or Ht would do just fine for me ? that azu one looks really nice but it's alot higher than what i planed on getting. tiger direct has that creative one for 100 but i dont think i want to pay that much either. thats why the xnor or striker look better to me cause they're cheaper.

 

[silversurfernhs]

HT = Nah - stick to something with the creative x-fi chipset or the second best right now - Asus... this is mostly because of better driver support with the big guys

Asus = its ok, but the EAX support is lacking - i dont know if you play games....

Thee are also cheaper versions of that card - the non fatality version is exactly teh same - but cheaper - and the one righ below it is pretty good too - but that forte is the best of both high performance (for gaming) and quality (for everything else)

 

[zucchini]

yea all i do is game and listen to music

 

[zucchini]

is this the one you were talking about?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4130281&CatId=107

 

[silversurfernhs]

Yes - its basically the same card as the ti pro fat, but less x-ram (which doesnt really matter from card to card (in creatives x-fi group that is).

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/373369/x-fi-titanium-vs-x-fi-titanium-fatal1ty-professional

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster_X-Fi

 

[davcon]

hello everyone. i am using a evga p55 sli mother board and am using onboard sound, realtek. while listening to music on rhapsody i am hearing static and it's choppy too. I don't seem to have as much static on slacker radio and none at all while listening to mp files( i can't tell if it does it during games). this all started after I reformatted my computer(i don't remember it doing this before). I also added missing screws to my motherboard that i had missed when installing it but don't recall if it did this after or not. I added the screws before i reformatted so i guess it's either of the two.

the static happens randomly and is in small burst. happens alot more while listening to rhapsody then anything else. I checked my headset (creative fatality,non usb ones) it was okay on my other computer. i tried reinstalling the drivers, but that didn;t help(used driver sweeper). so why would this be happenings? could it be the screws or do I just need to upgrade to a sound card? i heard a case not being grounded right could cause static. do you think this happened when i installed those extra screws? I would take them out but i don't recall what ones i installed =(

i really don't know what sound cards to get for my use. all i do is listen to music and game and i am using a stereo headset(creative fatality ones). what would you all think would be a good one to get if i do upgrade to a sound card? I really don't want to spend more than 100 dollars if i can help it. these are the following sound cards I thought about getting but I don't know if they're overkill for me or not. here are the three i might get if they would be good for me.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271001
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132006
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102019

my setup is the following

evga p55 sli mother board (i have one pci 1x slot and one pci slot open)
i5 750 cpu oc 4ghz
corsair 1600 88824 memory
2x msi 460 cyclones 1gb
vista 64

All first two cards are good the X-FI is overpriced.
I got a Forte for $100 Canadian that will beat the pants off the Fatal1ty feature and price wise.
What i would consider is this card AuzenTech Bravura PCI-E 7.1 Sound Card X-FI EAX DTS Neo DTS Interactive Headphone AMP -$103.28 / $73.28 after mir
http://www.ncixus.com/products/?sku=49090&vpn=AZT%2DBRAVURA&manufacture=AuzenTech&promoid=1053
I'm not to sure on how much they rape American customers for shipping though.
You could look around for the Bravura at other places and should be able to pick it up for about $80.
Too bad though Ncix had the HT Strikers on for $55 but sold out.

 

[zucchini]

should I upgrade my headphones next? I have these atm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826158082 they're good stero headsets but wanted to know if i should get 5.1 ones or something instead.

i really wish I understood this sound stuff better

 

[silversurfernhs]

Its really a personal preference - i just spent about 3k on a build and have great 5.1 speakers - but i only use my headphones at night when the wife is getting some shut eye. So i don't have any interest in investing much into the headphones.

The creative drivers also have a thing called XMS3d which emulates (moderately well) a surround environment on stereo headphones...

But like i said - its a personal preference - you could go and demo some of these at a store i guess - but you should figure out which is a priority (speakers or headphones) and get what ya like. or get both...

i use a logitech premium headset w/ mic - pretty standard and cheap - but still sound really good

 

[zucchini]

hello guys. i am trying to decide what sound card to get out of these three. what do you all think ? I will be using these for gaming and music.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4130281&sku=C44-3394
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132006
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271001

the asus has a better warranty of the three but other than that i don't know the differnts

 

[silversurfernhs]

I remember from your other post that you are a gamer - my opinion would still be to go with an x-fi based board as hardware eax (up to 5) works best, is hardware driven and offers alchemy for support of older games... (and new games too that work better with alchemy)

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/469415/asus-xonar-dx-vs-ht-omega-striker-z-5500-5-1-headphones-etc

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/272332-28-omega-striker-asus-xonar

 

[zucchini]

thank you. sorry i forget stuff quick

 

[Mousemonkey]

This next topics has been merged by Mousemonkey
■ What one should I get?

 

[zucchini]

I think I will get

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4130281&sku=C44-3394&SRCCODE=LINKSHARE&cm_mmc_o=-ddCjC1bELltzywCjC-d2CjCdwwp&AffiliateID=X3Th4gZi_iQ-GUAWy.jTQ6cte8pcpl32Bg

it's on sale and offers that x-fi 5.0 stuff. i use windows vista 64 bit so I wont be affected by windows 7 driver issues. wont be upgrading to windows 7 for a while and they should have their drivers okay by then. i noticed they been upgrading them alot.

only thing i liked about the asus one was their warranty but it didn't have true 5.0 eax, but had software that made it like 5.0 tho. anyway, i hope i made the right choice.

 

[zucchini]

thank you all for your help

ps sorry for double posting mousemonkey, like i said i forget that i even made this post lol

 

[Mousemonkey]

thank you all for your help

ps sorry for double posting mousemonkey, like i said i forget that i even made this post lol

No worries, but by merging the threads it gives others who stumble across this thread an idea of what was suggested and might work should they need that information.