Sound card for ITX build

[bootlessxfly]

My case is a bitfenix prodigy

my pci slot will be used by a graphics card So itll need to be pcie

I currently have a set of bose speakers that i got for 150 dollers but plan on getting a sound system when i get a chance.

Whats a good sound card for my system

Thanks

 

[Rammy]

I know nothing about soundcards I'm afraid, but I did a Prodigy build myself recently and there's not a lot of options for soundcards on ITX because most boards only have 1 PCIe slot. If you have 2, the second is likely to be blocked by a dual slot graphics card. Unless you go external, you might have trouble.
What motherboard/graphics card are you using?

Good luck anyway, pretty case

 

[bootlessxfly]

Thanks for your reply

motherboard: Asrock Z77
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157312

Gpu:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127667

and this isnt a deal breaker for my design. The reason i chose ITX is for portablity as im in college. But would like an audio card of somekind if possible

 

[Rammy]

Same motherboard as me, a fine choice (totally not biased), though you'll struggle to get the front audio headers in place as the cable is a bit short.

And yeah, its only got 1 PCIe slot, so it doesn't matter what graphics card you use, the mini PCIe is the mSata connector in the centre of the board.

If you are looking at soundcards I guess it's external, USB ones, but like I say, I know nothing about them.

 

[bootlessxfly]

fair enough Rammy. So what im gonna need to look for is something that connects to the msata/mpcie slot in the center of the board. Which according to you(Grant it i iwont hold you to this if your wrong) is gonna be hard to fit into this small setup. Although from my little bit of research i ca not find a sound card that can do that.

So now my new goal is a sound card that will attach to usb and that i can fit inside the case still.(Yay a challenge)

 

[Rammy]

Nah I don't think mSata is an option, it has no external connectors so I'd be incredibly surprised if anyone's made a soundcard for it, you see SSDs for it, that type of thing.
If you desperately want a proper soundcard then your options are stepping up to a bigger motherboard/case (mATX), Xigmatek Gigas springs to mind as a similar size to the Prodigy but with an mATX board. Or you go external.

 

[bootlessxfly]

Thanks ill give a look into that

Unfortunatley i have yet to fins any micro-atx game that is as sleek looking as the prodigy while at the same time allows for a 240 mm rad.

If anyone knows of one that i have missed feel free to share.

Does anyone have an external sound card suggestion

 

[Rammy]

If you haven't bought anything yet I guess you still have plenty of flexibility. People tend to mention the Arc mini when talking about smaller water cooling cases. It looks pretty cool, but not as distinctive as the Prodigy, though it's a more sensible shape.

 

[bootlessxfly]

ahh yes i should have mentioned that i only have a initial build and still have yet to buy anything. ill take a look at that. thanks

 

[batuchka]

Another option could be feeding optical audio out and feeding an AVR perhaps?

 

[bootlessxfly]

Hmmm not familiar with doing this. But im thinking that ill just suck it up and go with the realtek audio. It seems to be pretty nice. Thanks for your input. External cards are also not the end of the worl to use from what i understand