Super-Duper Sombrero Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 So my integrated ports on my computer have started to go out. I have to wiggle the jack around in order to get it to send sound to both channels at full volume. I have decided that buying a sound card is the best solution, as I want to get some surround sound, anyway. I was looking around on Newegg, but I quickly realized that I have no idea what I'm looking for. Anyone have any recommendations or general advice on this topic? I'm not looking to spend more than $40, but I'm willing to make an exception if it's worth it. EDIT: A MIDI port is a plus, but not entirely necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanthos Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Do you want a good soundcard for remixing (in which case $40 is probably too low) or one more for basic MP3 playback and gaming? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super-Duper Sombrero Posted September 5, 2007 Author Share Posted September 5, 2007 Music and gaming, mainly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanthos Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 By music, I'm guessing you mean playing MP3s and so on. You won't find a decent soundcard for remixing for $40 anyway. Is your machine a laptop or desktop? If a desktop, does it have an empty PCI slot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super-Duper Sombrero Posted September 7, 2007 Author Share Posted September 7, 2007 Yes, it's a desktop and I have plenty of open PCI slots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitty Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 I don't really deal a lot with sound cards. But I've been quite satisfied with my Creative SoundBlaster Live card I got with my Dell a long time ago. I actually moved it to my "gaming" desktop. I did a quick search on Newegg for a good inexpensive Creative card. I avoided the "gaming" cards because those are jacked up in price and you should only get one if you really are a gaming and technology fanatic (like the nVidia 8800 graphics card). However, I believe sound quality is much harder to pick out than graphics quality. But then again I never put much emphasis on sound. So this card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102002 is good for listening to your music (you'll definitely notice an increase in quality over your integrated sound.) Gaming-wise it features Creative's EAX stuff. EAX helps games seem more realistic by making sound appear like it's in a real-life environment (better and more thorough description at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_audio_extensions). Personally I wouldn't notice a difference but you may like it. The only thing you may want to note about the card is that it does not have the MIDI port you wanted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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