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Thread ID: 76296 2007-01-28 00:47:00 Cheap sound card advice Nutman (11524) Press F1
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519857 2007-01-28 00:47:00 Gidday, I am after a cheap PCI sound card for gaming for $40 or less. I came across the Genius 5.1 Value PCI Sound Card at Millenium technology - what is this card like? I think it has emulated A3D support (good enough for unreal engine games?), but does it have EAX.

Any advice would be appreciated
cheers
Nutman
Nutman (11524)
519858 2007-01-28 02:27:00 Pretty sure EAX is a Creative brand propirety technology, crap anyhow.

Having said that, Buy a Soundblaster live 5.1/7.1 cheap as dirt.
Metla (12)
519859 2007-01-28 09:02:00 What are you upgrading from? A lot of integrated audio theses days are superior to the cheap PCI solutions. Chances are if you want a semi decent gaming soundcard your going to have to spend more than $40. But with gaming this is always the case you can never do anything cheap. Pete O'Neil (6584)
519860 2007-01-28 09:37:00 what kind of speaker do you have?

no point buying a nice set of speakers and only have a budget sound card

and if you have budget speakers why bother getting a higher end sound card to output sound that you can't hear with your budget speakers?

imho that's what you really need to think about
heni72847 (1166)
519861 2007-01-28 11:24:00 Creative sound cards:Audigy 2zs or Xfire xtream music.:D

or use onboard sound if you cant afford them,the cheaper sound cards are crap.

Use a stereo for speakers!:D
memphis (2869)
519862 2007-01-29 00:02:00 Hi, thanks for the replies. I currently have a Realtek AC97 Audio intergrated sound. I am planning on getting some 5.1 speakers,so would like that 5.1 sound card.

cheers
Nutman
Nutman (11524)
519863 2007-01-29 00:15:00 Most soundcards are 5:1, even onboard ones.

So if all u want is 5:1, you don't need another sound card.
Speedy Gonzales (78)
519864 2007-01-30 18:40:00 My preference is for USB sound adapters. Even the cheap ones at around $10 US produce excellent, clean sound, and even the top-of-the-line Turtle Beach Audio Advantage SRM with 7.1 sound is only $80, and there are a wide range of choices at all prices in between, like the Turtle Beach $30 Audio Advantage Micro with 5.1 surround.

But if you haven't got your speakers yet, why not get a USB 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound speaker system?

I think you'll find you get a lot better quality for the money going that route. And make sure your subwoofer has plenty of power.
RealBigDog (11623)
519865 2007-01-31 06:03:00 A3D support : very old tech (bought out by Creative)
EAX: most cards support EAX1 through software(will games things down SLIGHTLY)
EAX4 is out but how many games support it??
May be wrong here, but fewer & fewer games have EAX support anyhow

If you the better EAX support get an Audigy (or Live5.1 ??) as these card do
EAX support in hardware. (I never liked the sound of EAX1 myself, it just seemed to add reverb here & there)
Also think about whether you use headphone, speakers or a 5.1 speaker system.
Most all PC speaker systems are not the best quality anyway, so you probably wont hear any difference between a cheaper & $$$$$$$ card
steveroby (9470)
519866 2007-01-31 12:48:00 A3D support : very old tech (bought out by Creative)
Most all PC speaker systems are not the best quality anyway, so you probably wont hear any difference between a cheaper & $$$$$$$ card

Most aren't because most are underpowered el-cheapos, but there are some excellent ones out there that are as good or better than many stereo system speakers .

I luckily bought a Microsoft Digital Sound System 80 (80 watts--you need plenty of power in your system) 2 . 1 system made by Philips some years ago with USB and analog inputs, and I wouldn't trade it for anything .

My gaming sounds thunder out of the subwoofer and music and movies sound fantastic .

I also feed my guitar and bass processors into it to use as my practice amp .

The point is, shop around--you can find great-sounding USB speaker systems .
RealBigDog (11623)
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