sound card?

[Getback]

Thinking about getting a sound card and forgoing the onboard sound.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for any input.

[ebfd11]

I have the Creative SB 7.1 titanium in one of my rigs and I an looking at getting one of these for my second rig.. I am happy with the SB and the sound quality is awesome and their support is above reproach.

http://us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-

LawnDart

[Chalenge]

I use Sound Blaster ZxR now after testing just about everything else. I would recommend the Zx for gaming. The audio control module acts as a microphone pickup, can patch to an external mixer or what have you, and the software can adjust for background noise of your environment.

[ebfd11]

Challenge this is the one you are talking about correct???

(it was supposed to be my original post)

http://us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-zx

[Mister Fork]

Don't mean to hijack but I was also thinking of getting a sound card.... I have a Logitech G35 surround sound headset.  Does that take on the sound processing instead of a sound card?

[Masherbrum]

I have the Zx and used the module.   I now use this card with my ROCCAT Kave 5.1.    I recommend the card.

[Pudgie]

+3 for the SB Z series........I also have the Zx card & use the module along w/ my Senneheiser 4GAME ZERO headset.

  

[Chalenge]

Challenge this is the one you are talking about correct???

(it was supposed to be my original post)

http://us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-zx

Yes. It's probably the best card for AH IMO.

[guncrasher]

Challenge this is the one you are talking about correct???

(it was supposed to be my original post)

http://us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-zx

that's the one I have lawn,  the sound is awesome. should have never replaced it with the one I have now. 


semp

[MrRiplEy[H]]

It would be interesting to compare what benefit (if any) a separate sound card would provide against a modern on-board sound solution like found in my budget build:



The sound blaster site claimed '32.5 times better snr compared to motherboard audio' but in reality the zx has a SNR of 116db and this motherboard audio has a SNR of 115db.

[BaldEagl]

It would be interesting to compare what benefit (if any) a separate sound card would provide against a modern on-board sound solution like found in my budget build:

(Image removed from quote.)

The sound blaster site claimed '32.5 times better snr compared to motherboard audio' but in reality the zx has a SNR of 116db and this motherboard audio has a SNR of 115db.

Funny that they don't mention frequency range at all nor have you considered the offloading of audio processing from the CPU.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Funny that they don't mention frequency range at all nor have you considered the offloading of audio processing from the CPU.

The Asus sound cards are extremely high quality, no need to mention frequency ranges. It's a given that they meet the specs.

Current CPUs laugh at audio loads. That may have been a concern 10 years ago.

Here's a measured response:

[Hungry]

Anyone have a minute to check this one out, sorry im at the office, supposed to be a gem find in the sub human gamer circles $35. at amazon

Asus Xonar DG

Seperate headphone amp

[Chalenge]

Ripley, you already lost this argument in a thread that went like six pages Onboard audio of any kind is the last place you want to go, and it does not matter how fast the CPU is.

[Skuzzy]

The Asus sound cards are extremely high quality, no need to mention frequency ranges. It's a given that they meet the specs.

Asus uses C-Media sound chips.  They do not design their own chips.  C-Media may produce a version of their product for Asus exclusivley, but they are C-Media devices.

Current CPUs laugh at audio loads. That may have been a concern 10 years ago.

That statement does not counter the fact that onboard sound devices, sharing the memory bus, require more CPU time (running time, and dead time due to locking the bus), and cannot run in parallel to the CPU like a dedicated sound card, in a separate bus can.

As to how much an impact that is will vary from application to application.  In a DAW environment where you are sampling and mixing at 24 bit/192Khz, you will notice the difference, as an example.