External sound cards?

[matthew_rs7]

Hello CT,

So right now I have a Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H mainboard that has 2 PCI-E slots. I was wondering if it would be worth my while to get a sound card.

The problem is both PCI-E slots are being used by my 560's. So as opposed to buying a new mobo and new CPU just to gain the extra room for slots, I see there are external sound cards on the market.

In terms of my audio setup I have:

Speakers: Logitech Z906 speakers (5.1 THX certified with Dolby Digital DTS)
Headset: Sennheiser PC 333D

The headset is 3.5mm which I am told is the way to go if you have a dedicated sound card. but at the moment I am using the included USB adapter which had it's own mini 'sound card' that gives the surround headset audio.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=40&item_id=035899

This sound card has what I am looking for. Optical Audio SPDIF ports, line in, mic and audio 3.5mm.

I am not sure how much this matters, but this sound card has THX certification which my speakers have as well, I assume it's good to have support on both ends?

I use my computer for:

Music, Gaming, video editing with some microphone recording now and again, watching movies.

Will having an external sound card such as this one make a difference in audio quality?

[psychic stalker]

matthew_rs7

Will having an external sound card such as this one make a difference in audio quality?

Somewhat.

There's better sound quality to be had from M-Audio, who makes studio-quality recording and mastering hardware. (Though I've heard some good things about Turtle Beach.)

I wouldn't necessarily jump to an external device, though - if you've got a free PCI slot, you can use that. Audio isn't so high-bandwidth that it requires PCI-Express.

For a PCI card, I'd recommend anything with a CMedia 8700-series chip or ViA's Envy24. Those chips have extremely good quality and tons of nice features and objectively outperform Creative's X-Fi.

[~`Vespertine]

matthew_rs7

Hello CT,

So right now I have a Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H mainboard that has 2 PCI-E slots. I was wondering if it would be worth my while to get a sound card.

The problem is both PCI-E slots are being used by my 560's. So as opposed to buying a new mobo and new CPU just to gain the extra room for slots, I see there are external sound cards on the market.

In terms of my audio setup I have:

Speakers: Logitech Z906 speakers (5.1 THX certified with Dolby Digital DTS)
Headset: Sennheiser PC 333D

The headset is 3.5mm which I am told is the way to go if you have a dedicated sound card. but at the moment I am using the included USB adapter which had it's own mini 'sound card' that gives the surround headset audio.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=40&item_id=035899

This sound card has what I am looking for. Optical Audio SPDIF ports, line in, mic and audio 3.5mm.

I am not sure how much this matters, but this sound card has THX certification which my speakers have as well, I assume it's good to have support on both ends?

I use my computer for:

Music, Gaming, video editing with some microphone recording now and again, watching movies.

Will having an external sound card such as this one make a difference in audio quality?

Yes, either internal or external will give you better audio.

[29582351c3]

psychic stalker

matthew_rs7

Will having an external sound card such as this one make a difference in audio quality?

Somewhat.

There's better sound quality to be had from M-Audio, who makes studio-quality recording and mastering hardware. (Though I've heard some good things about Turtle Beach.)

I wouldn't necessarily jump to an external device, though - if you've got a free PCI slot, you can use that. Audio isn't so high-bandwidth that it requires PCI-Express.

For a PCI card, I'd recommend anything with a CMedia 8700-series chip or ViA's Envy24. Those chips have extremely good quality and tons of nice features and objectively outperform Creative's X-Fi.

I think most onboard audio out performs creative's products.

[psychic stalker]

29582351c3

psychic stalker

matthew_rs7

Will having an external sound card such as this one make a difference in audio quality?

Somewhat.

There's better sound quality to be had from M-Audio, who makes studio-quality recording and mastering hardware. (Though I've heard some good things about Turtle Beach.)

I wouldn't necessarily jump to an external device, though - if you've got a free PCI slot, you can use that. Audio isn't so high-bandwidth that it requires PCI-Express.

For a PCI card, I'd recommend anything with a CMedia 8700-series chip or ViA's Envy24. Those chips have extremely good quality and tons of nice features and objectively outperform Creative's X-Fi.

I think most onboard audio out performs creative's products.

I think everything outperforms Creative, but everyone thinks I'm a liar or crazy or something.

[29582351c3]

psychic stalker

29582351c3

psychic stalker

matthew_rs7

Will having an external sound card such as this one make a difference in audio quality?

Somewhat.

There's better sound quality to be had from M-Audio, who makes studio-quality recording and mastering hardware. (Though I've heard some good things about Turtle Beach.)

I wouldn't necessarily jump to an external device, though - if you've got a free PCI slot, you can use that. Audio isn't so high-bandwidth that it requires PCI-Express.

For a PCI card, I'd recommend anything with a CMedia 8700-series chip or ViA's Envy24. Those chips have extremely good quality and tons of nice features and objectively outperform Creative's X-Fi.

I think most onboard audio out performs creative's products.

I think everything outperforms Creative, but everyone thinks I'm a liar or crazy or something.

They intentionally gimp their own drivers, or sell 'products' that don't do anything but add a driver that consumes CPU cycles.

[matthew_rs7]

29582351c3

psychic stalker

29582351c3

psychic stalker

matthew_rs7

Will having an external sound card such as this one make a difference in audio quality?

Somewhat.

There's better sound quality to be had from M-Audio, who makes studio-quality recording and mastering hardware. (Though I've heard some good things about Turtle Beach.)

I wouldn't necessarily jump to an external device, though - if you've got a free PCI slot, you can use that. Audio isn't so high-bandwidth that it requires PCI-Express.

For a PCI card, I'd recommend anything with a CMedia 8700-series chip or ViA's Envy24. Those chips have extremely good quality and tons of nice features and objectively outperform Creative's X-Fi.

I think most onboard audio out performs creative's products.

I think everything outperforms Creative, but everyone thinks I'm a liar or crazy or something.

They intentionally gimp their own drivers, or sell 'products' that don't do anything but add a driver that consumes CPU cycles.

Well I am kinda annoyed because I have that little slot on my mobo (I believe it's the PCI-E X1 slot?) but the Gigabyte cooling mechanism is in the way, so the only card that would fir there is a wifi card. and when I looked at other mobos that has room for 2 GPUs and a sound card, not too many do. Mind you I will only settle for Gigabyte or Asus for a mobo.

[psychic stalker]

matthew_rs7

Well I am kinda annoyed because I have that little slot on my mobo (I believe it's the PCI-E X1 slot?) but the Gigabyte cooling mechanism is in the way, so the only card that would fir there is a wifi card. and when I looked at other mobos that has room for 2 GPUs and a sound card, not too many do. Mind you I will only settle for Gigabyte or Asus for a mobo.

Do you have any PCI slots? You don't need PCI-E for sound cards.

[matthew_rs7]

psychic stalker

matthew_rs7

Well I am kinda annoyed because I have that little slot on my mobo (I believe it's the PCI-E X1 slot?) but the Gigabyte cooling mechanism is in the way, so the only card that would fir there is a wifi card. and when I looked at other mobos that has room for 2 GPUs and a sound card, not too many do. Mind you I will only settle for Gigabyte or Asus for a mobo.

Do you have any PCI slots? You don't need PCI-E for sound cards.

I will take a piccy once I get home. because one possible slot that I have would only leave like, a few MM between the sound card and GPU #2