Sound cards

[maddafinga]

I have an onboard sound card but nothing is plugged into it.  When I got my usb meadset/mic setup http://www.plantronics.com/north_america/en_US/products/cat640035/cat1430032/audio-650-usb;jsessionid=TK5OQB0X0G3GECQBGNUSFEYKAEZWQIV0

it came with a mini soundcard that plugs into the usb port, then the headset plugs into that.  It works pretty well in general.  I have been looking at soundcards lately though whice makes me wonder, would I do better to get a stand alone sound card or if I just stick with my current setup would that be just as good really.  Does having an onboard sound or this little usb sound stick cause my framerate to take a hit from cpu usage, even if it's a slight hit?  Or will it just not really make any difference so I can save a hundred bucks (which truthfully would only get applied to a new monitor anyway)?

[Chalenge]

I am not up on bandwidths of audio versus USB but I know its hard to make Vista work well with USB audio or it was when I tried it. Vista pretty much has a messed up approach to audio anyway. So if you are using Vista you would be better off with a good soundcard but there is another problem. Cheap soundcards may proclaim they are Vista Certified but the drivers still stink and performance takes a hit but if you are using XP a good midrange audio card is all you need.

I would be inclined to buy a high end card (and I did) just so I know even in the future I am covered. I went with a card that doesnt use a lot of CPU. Initially I bought a cheap $24 card and regretted it as soon as I had it installed. Now I am running a $180 card and I am much happier but I have Vista and the games I run really stuttered and sputtered with the lesser cards.

YMMV

[maddafinga]

Well, I'm using XP pro.  I've stayed away from Vista because I haven't ever heard too much good about it.  I think the card I was looking at was a Soundblaster card, this one I think... http://www.soundblaster.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=208&product=16559

I just don't know how big a difference it would make, not only to the sound, but also to the cup usage. They make a pci express one that looks even better, but I only  have the one pci express slot, and my vid card uses that. 

[Chalenge]

Some of the Fatality series cards have had trouble. That one you linked to is not one of them. You dont need that much horsepower though but I think you would be happy with the quality of audio. PCI Express in audio is overkill.

[Krusty]

Don't use USB sound cards. Not only is USB slower than onboard or PCI sound cards, it uses up CPU cycles to do everything (it has no onboard processing) and overall can lead to issues with compatibility, reliability, or just plain old bad quality.


EDIT: Sorry. to answer the original question: Yes, getting a real sound card will only help. Depending on your system you may or may not notice much of an improvement. Even an older sound card works wonders. I'm running an Audigy 1, and I hear the Audigy 2 is a very solid gamer card, even today with newer cards out.

[drdeathx]

Krusty is correct but if you have a decent computer it works just fine. For instance, I run a AMD 9850 BE quad core. I use Turtle  Beach 7.1 surround sound USB model. Sound is great and I have absolutely no problems. So the advise to not use is not totally correct. If your system is older, like challenge suggested, a decent sound card is better. It will use less cycles. A newer duo core or quad core will run Aces High perfect with XP with  no problems.

[maddafinga]

Well I do have a decent computer, amd dual core 5200 but I don't have any speakers.  I plan to get some soon as we listen to a lot of music on the puter here.  Part of my thinking is that getting a real sound card would make a big difference to that as well as  help me out with the AH.  Thanks for the input here guys!  I think I'll hit the circuit city tomorrow and see if I can get a bargain.

[Denholm]

You may want to get it cheaper:

www.newegg.com

[Skuzzy]

Circuit City is closing down anyway.  They will be busy liquidating thier assets to pay the debts they owe.

[Denholm]

I barely remember that. Guess they're the ones to watch for new items to see if they beat out other popular vendor's prices.

[maddafinga]

Circuit City is closing down anyway.  They will be busy liquidating thier assets to pay the debts they owe.

Yeah, I was going to use newegg until I heard about Circuit City closing down today.  The liquidation starts tomorrow apparently, so I'll get there early-ish and see if I can pick up a good deal. 

On those Fatal1ty cards that have been known to have problems, are there ones I should avoid in specific?  I was looking at probably getting the pro rather than the champion.  I don't want something that is just going to irritate me.  I don't mind a little general upkeep, but I hate installing something that becomes a problem.

[Chalenge]

The one to avoid is the X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatality Pro and not just because it doesnt get along with Vista. The Titanium and Platinum Fatality cards should be fine if you can get a good deal on one. I think the Titanium is only PCIe but I could be mistaken.

None of them are 24-bit despite the claims and thats why I dont have any of them.

[Krusty]

My local Circuit City [EDIT: Whoops, maybe it was CompUSA? That might explain it] stores shut down... oh, I want to say at least 6 months ago. They were liquidating, for sure, but prices were still absurdly above-normal. They're not totally slashing prices because they still need to pay off those bills, meaning they need the money!

newegg was across the board much cheaper for any single item I wanted than the Circuit City closing by my house.

[maddafinga]

Ok, so I went to circuit city to check out their liquidation sale.  I guess they're not desperate enough yet, as they still have another month or so to close their doors.  A few things were marked down some,but not appreciably.  I went across the street to the BestBuy and got a soundblaster s-fi xtreme for 50 bucks.  I think they had that same card for almost a hundred at CC.  At any rate, got it plugged in and configured.  I'm about ready to try out the vox online with it now.  Soon I'll have to get some computer speakers so I can play music when I'm not gaming and not have to wear these headphones.  Thanks for all the help and suggestions!

[llama]

I reviewed a lot of USB sound devices for a review in CPU Magazine last year, and I wrote up the CPU usage results in a post here.

To summarize:

A good sound card with its own DSP consumes about 1-2% cpu.

A cheap sound card without its own DSP consumes about 2-5% cpu.

Onboard sound (which almost never uses a DSP) uses about 4-6% CPU.

The High-End CMEDIA USB converter that Turtle Beach uses consumes about 4-7% CPU.

The low-end CMEDIA USB converter that most other vendors use consumes between 5-10% CPU.

If you have a very fast CPU and matching video card in a well-working system, you can probably afford to lose 5-10% of your CPU (and corresponding framerate drop) without any noticable effect. If your system is marginal, then you'll notice it and changing the sound card is worth it.

I believe the best deal in sound cards these days, if you have any PCI slots in your system, is to get a used or old Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS for around $35.

-Llama