• Best sound card for a 70-110$ budget.
    16 replies, posted
I'm looking into getting a sound card for my PC, but I simply don't know a whole lot about them, so I'm going to need some help. The soundcard would primarily be used for music and gaming, which I listen to through a Roccat Kave 5.1 headset. Current specs if needed: GPU: Nvidia Geforce GTX 680 CPU: Intel Quad Core i5-3570K @ 3.40GHz Motherboard: Asrock Z77 Extreme 4 RAM: 8 x 2GB DDR3 @ 1600MHz
Xonar Essence STX.
your motherboard onboard sound should be sufficient and your shouldn't see any real difference until you start reaching into audiophile level of audio equipment.
I still use a Sound Blaster that I bought for $20 in 2005. I'm almost entirely certain the onboard soundcard (on my currently out of commision main PC) is better than it, but I still use the SB because it supports EAX. I've heard you can get the Realtek ones to do it too but I've never managed to get it working.
[QUOTE=striker453;39351325]your motherboard onboard sound should be sufficient and your shouldn't see any real difference until you start reaching into audiophile level of audio equipment.[/QUOTE] Are you certain? Because I tend to hear static noise and that kind of stuff from time to other. Being the dumbass I am, I bought myself an Asus Xonar DG which didn't fit into my motherboard. I've heard from people like Tech Syndicate that going from onboard audio to dedicated is the same as going from onboard GPU to a dedicated GPU. If that's true, I wouldn't mind spending 70-110 bucks on a semi-decent card as I spend most of my time either listening to music or playing video games. [QUOTE=DementedKilla;39351058]Xonar Essence STX.[/QUOTE] That costs around 1200$, I have a budget of 70-110$
wait, a xonar dg would work perfectly, what do you mean it doesnt fit? i suggest you get some audiophile quality headphones and use the xonar dg.
[QUOTE=mindbomb;39356639]wait, a xonar dg would work perfectly, what do you mean it doesnt fit? i suggest you get some audiophile quality headphones and use the xonar dg.[/QUOTE] It doesn't fit the PCI slots on my motherboard
Damn dude, sorry about that. I was swept away by your system specifications and without thought... The only thing I see in that range is a USB interface sound card. It has some extra junk on it but, it looks worth it. Seems sound cards as of right now, are as above, so below your budget. Assuming that you only have your PCIx1 slot available, might I recommend: [URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102035"]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102035[/URL]:wink:
I hear static too, it's my speakers, its not my sound card...
[QUOTE=DementedKilla;39364955]Damn dude, sorry about that. I was swept away by your system specifications and without thought...[/QUOTE] Haha, yeah, I don't mind spending a lot of money to improve my experience when it comes to gaming and such, I see where you come from :) Unto another note, with the current headset I have, will any sound card do anything good to it, or do I need to buy a new headset that's more focused on playing music well, rather than making footsteps louder? When I play games, it's games like Skyrim, Deus Ex, Civilization etc. not Call of Duty. So I don't really need a gaming headset.
[QUOTE=Doom;39358206]It doesn't fit the PCI slots on my motherboard[/QUOTE] yea...i don't understand how this would be possible. are you sure you didn't try to stick it in a pci express slot by accident?
[QUOTE=mindbomb;39366613]yea...i don't understand how this would be possible. are you sure you didn't try to stick it in a pci express slot by accident?[/QUOTE] That's the thing, I have three PCI Express x16 slots and one PCI Express X1 slot, and no regular PCI slot.
Uhh, the Z77 Extreme4 has 2 PCI slots
Alright so due to the rise of confusion, I took a few pictures. First one turned out shit, but it sort of get's the job done, second one is a side by side with my 680, clearly showing that the input does NOT fit the PCI sockets I have. [T]http://i.imgur.com/qrnn7Lfh.jpg[/T] [T]http://i.imgur.com/zdt2UgVh.jpg[/T]
[QUOTE=Doom;39369016]Alright so due to the rise of confusion, I took a few pictures. First one turned out shit, but it sort of get's the job done, second one is a side by side with my 680, clearly showing that the input does NOT fit the PCI sockets I have. [/QUOTE] That's because you're comparing a PCI slot to a PCI express slot. They're completely different connections.\ Or at least that's what it looks like to me.
Yes, I know the difference, as I've explained before my motherboard only has PCI Express slots. I'm disproving what Handmade said :) Here, I went hunting for the manual and found what I was looking for. [T]http://i.imgur.com/e6d5qNs.jpg[/T] As you can clearly see, one PCI Extreme x1 and three PCI Extreme x16 [editline]26th January 2013[/editline] Ah, christ, I just noticed the difference. I forgot to mention the one I have is a Z77-M not just a regular Z77. The normal Z77 does have to standard PCI slots, wheras the one I have obviously does not.
[QUOTE=Doom;39366133]Haha, yeah, I don't mind spending a lot of money to improve my experience when it comes to gaming and such, I see where you come from :) Unto another note, with the current headset I have, will any sound card do anything good to it, or do I need to buy a new headset that's more focused on playing music well, rather than making footsteps louder? When I play games, it's games like Skyrim, Deus Ex, Civilization etc. not Call of Duty. So I don't really need a gaming headset.[/QUOTE] I believe having the right sound card can and will help. You probably wont find the solution right out of the box. You most likely will have to do some tweaking to garner your desired results - using the hardware applications of the card. As for nasty feed back, I've run into that problem several times, and almost all times - it was caused by feedback from currently plugged in USB ports. So on that note, try unplugging all peripherals except the mouse and keyboard. :wink:
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