Recommendations for Quality Soundcard for Gaming/Music

[Paula Callesøe]

[Crossposted. Followups to comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.games]

Hi folks, looking for some experienced recommendations from similar tastes.
TIA =o)

I just got a new rig for Christmas all but soundcard, which I will get in a
couple months for for my birthday. Currently I'm running with an old SB
Live! minus the digital I/O card. Period. I am looking for a quality card
whose primary use will be high-end games and music. Basically, when I'm not
playing games, I'm listening to music, and when I'm not listening to music
I'm playing games. I'm looking for a card that does both well. I'll be
connecting it to a Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500 Desktop Theatre 5.1 so I
don't /need/ more channels from my new card but may consider purchasing a
better one for a future upgrade if the price is right. I thoroughly enjoy
rich and immersive audio in games and find the sound an integral part of the
gaming experience. I play RPGs, MMOGs (although I tend to play only sound fx
here, and listen to external music), adventure, and a few FPSs and action
titles like Max Payne, Deus Ex, and System Shock 2. I listen to all types of
music from classical to techno. I do have a dvd player in my machine, so
SPDIF decoding is certainly a consideration but not a must-have. I tend to
save dvds for the big 32" Philips widescreen in the den. ;oD

My current config:

Intel Desktop Board D875PBZ
P4 2.6GHz, 1024 Corsair RAM
ATI Radeon 9500 (softmod)
Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500 5.1

Love to hear your recommendations and if you can point me to your current
favorite hardware review site, I'll take a look there.

Thanks!
--
Paula Callesøe
To reply, please remove your clothes.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
look : Finding Nemo
hear : Dave Brubeck Quartet : Blue Rondo a la Turk
play : Horizons
read : Stephen King : From a Buick 8
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

[Dave Glass]

On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 18:40:37 +0100, "Paula Callesøe"

Post by Paula Callesøe
Love to hear your recommendations and if you can point me to your current
favorite hardware review site, I'll take a look there.
Thanks!

For games and music I have to say an Audigy2. If it was just music I
would say an M-Adio Revolution.

[Paula Callesøe]

Post by Dave Glass
On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 18:40:37 +0100, "Paula Callesøe"

Post by Paula Callesøe
Love to hear your recommendations and if you can point me to your current
favorite hardware review site, I'll take a look there.
Thanks!

For games and music I have to say an Audigy2. If it was just music I
would say an M-Adio Revolution.

Thanks for the recommendation. I have heard that Audigy2 has some problems
with Radeon vid cards though. I'll do a little more research.

[Rob G]

The audigy cards have no problems with ATI video cards, but rather ATI TV
Tuners cards.
The MMC software used for viewing and recording TV on the ATI TV Tuner cards
is not very compatible with the mixer settings of the Audigy cards. It
works, but there are
problems. You can check www.rage3d.com forums for more info.
--
Rob

Post by Paula Callesøe

Post by Dave Glass
On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 18:40:37 +0100, "Paula Callesøe"

Post by Paula Callesøe
Love to hear your recommendations and if you can point me to your current
favorite hardware review site, I'll take a look there.
Thanks!

For games and music I have to say an Audigy2. If it was just music I
would say an M-Adio Revolution.

Thanks for the recommendation. I have heard that Audigy2 has some problems
with Radeon vid cards though. I'll do a little more research.
--
Paula Callesøe
To reply, please remove your clothes.

[Rob G]

I bought an M-Audio Revolution 7.1 card on the weekend and returned it the
next
day. One really annoying thing the card did with the latest drivers was
produce a
loud 'THUMP' through the speakers as windows xp was loading. The revolution
*looks* like a basic card with very little on the actual PCB. There are no
extra internal
audio connectors for cd digital or auxilliary input connection to a tv tuner
card (freeing up the
external line in). There is no mention of what EAX versions it supports so
I assume it
only does EAX2.0 at best. I did not try it with any games, but I'm thinking
I would have been
disappointed.
--
Rob

Post by Dave Glass
On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 18:40:37 +0100, "Paula Callesøe"

Post by Paula Callesøe
Love to hear your recommendations and if you can point me to your current
favorite hardware review site, I'll take a look there.
Thanks!

For games and music I have to say an Audigy2. If it was just music I
would say an M-Adio Revolution.

[Rotes Sapiens]

On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 18:40:37 +0100, "Paula Callesøe"

Post by Paula Callesøe
I just got a new rig for Christmas all but soundcard, which I will get in a
couple months for for my birthday. Currently I'm running with an old SB
Live! minus the digital I/O card. Period. I am looking for a quality card
whose primary use will be high-end games and music. Basically, when I'm not
playing games, I'm listening to music, and when I'm not listening to music
I'm playing games. I'm looking for a card that does both well. I'll be
connecting it to a Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500 Desktop Theatre 5.1 so I
don't /need/ more channels from my new card but may consider purchasing a
better one for a future upgrade if the price is right. I thoroughly enjoy
rich and immersive audio in games and find the sound an integral part of the
gaming experience. I play RPGs, MMOGs (although I tend to play only sound fx
here, and listen to external music), adventure, and a few FPSs and action
titles like Max Payne, Deus Ex, and System Shock 2. I listen to all types of
music from classical to techno. I do have a dvd player in my machine, so
SPDIF decoding is certainly a consideration but not a must-have. I tend to
save dvds for the big 32" Philips widescreen in the den. ;oD
Intel Desktop Board D875PBZ
P4 2.6GHz, 1024 Corsair RAM
ATI Radeon 9500 (softmod)
Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500 5.1

Some soundcards use an excessive amount of drivers or CPU work, as a
rule the more hardware your card uses the better the sound. onboard
motherboard sound chips are notorious for poor quality. If the
soundcard uses a AC'97 style system I wouldn't buy it!



Sig:
To be or not to be is true - G. Boole

[Paula Callesøe]

Post by Dave Glass
On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 18:40:37 +0100, "Paula Callesøe"

Post by Paula Callesøe
I just got a new rig for Christmas all but soundcard, which I will get in a
couple months for for my birthday. Currently I'm running with an old SB
Live! minus the digital I/O card. Period. I am looking for a quality card
whose primary use will be high-end games and music. Basically, when I'm not
playing games, I'm listening to music, and when I'm not listening to music
I'm playing games. I'm looking for a card that does both well. I'll be
connecting it to a Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500 Desktop Theatre 5.1 so I
don't /need/ more channels from my new card but may consider purchasing a
better one for a future upgrade if the price is right. I thoroughly enjoy
rich and immersive audio in games and find the sound an integral part of the
gaming experience. I play RPGs, MMOGs (although I tend to play only sound fx
here, and listen to external music), adventure, and a few FPSs and action
titles like Max Payne, Deus Ex, and System Shock 2. I listen to all types of
music from classical to techno. I do have a dvd player in my machine, so
SPDIF decoding is certainly a consideration but not a must-have. I tend to
save dvds for the big 32" Philips widescreen in the den. ;oD
Intel Desktop Board D875PBZ
P4 2.6GHz, 1024 Corsair RAM
ATI Radeon 9500 (softmod)
Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500 5.1

Some soundcards use an excessive amount of drivers or CPU work, as a
rule the more hardware your card uses the better the sound. onboard
motherboard sound chips are notorious for poor quality. If the
soundcard uses a AC'97 style system I wouldn't buy it!
To be or not to be is true - G. Boole

Thanks for the tip, G!
--
Paula Callesøe
To reply, please remove your clothes.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
look : The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
hear : Tori Amos : Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
play : Horizons
read : Stephen King : From a Buick 8
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

swimming in reality, copenhagen 2003