[TheBigDu]

Hey,

I'm looking to replace my Audigy 1 soundcard. I have A500s as you can see, and I listen to mostly 128-192kbs mp3's. I've heard that the Chaintech is the best value and an upgrade in sound over the Audigy 1. I don't want to spend any more than $40, so is the Chaintech my best option?

Thanks guys.

-Brian

 

[Haribo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBigDu I don't want to spend any more than $40, so is the Chaintech my best option?

I'm pretty sure it is.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBigDu I don't want to spend any more than $40, so is the Chaintech my best option?

Definitely. Buy it!

 

[Abula]

Besides Newegg, where can I get this Sound card?

 

[Orestes]

you can also grab it at zipzoomfly.com (formerly googlegear). they offer free 2nd day shipping. price is almost the same as with newegg.

 

[TheBigDu]

One more question...related to gaming:

Is this card going to be much worse than my audigy 1 for gaming?

The only game I really ever play is Age of Mythology, but I'll sometimes play some SimCity. So should I stick with the Audigy for this reason? (I'm primarily a mp3 listener though.)

 

[Orestes]

audigy 1 will be better becuase it has it's own audio accelerator. it doesn't use cpu cycles for audio processing.

the av710 doesn't have this, however, if you have a pretty fast computer, this won't be a problem.

 

[Haribo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBigDu Is this card going to be much worse than my audigy 1 for gaming?

Yes, definitely.

But keep the Audigy for gaming and use the Chaintech for music.

 

[TheBigDu]

Well, i have plenty of room in the comp. for that, but how do i set it differently? Are you saying that whenever I play the game I should go into control panel and switch over to the Audigy?

 

[CraziiNick]

foobar and them have an option for which sc to use for music and if u put the sc's in right the Audigy will be the main one and the Chaintech will be secondary

 

[lan]

I don't see CPU hit for gaming to be a major concern if you're doing mainly stereo gaming.

 

[Haribo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBigDu Well, i have plenty of room in the comp. for that, but how do i set it differently? Are you saying that whenever I play the game I should go into control panel and switch over to the Audigy?

You tell winamp/foobar that they should use the Chaintech card and then let the Audigy be the default soundcard in windows, that way everything except the music playing in winamp/foobar goes thrue the Audigy.

 

[TheBigDu]

I guess this means I can no longer use iTunes, as I don't see this as an option...

 

[Haribo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan I don't see CPU hit for gaming to be a major concern if you're doing mainly stereo gaming.

CPU Hit is almost never a problem on >1GHz machines, but many games just don't work well with other cards than Creative's. You might get crackling sound, effects missing and so on with other cards.

 

[Haribo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBigDu I guess this means I can no longer use iTunes, as I don't see this as an option...

Almost all music programs can chose between output sources, as Quick Time can do it I would be surprised if iTunes can't.