[Snow_Fox]

No room in my physical case for a pci sound card..
 
My pci slot is blocked.
 
Pcie slot is blocked
 
pci 2.0 slots are both used (6870 crossfire.)
 
Getting sennheiser 598's and looking for soundcard options.
 
Interested in dolby headphone surround if its any good.
 
 

 

[Roller]

What do you look for? Music, movies, gaming?
 
Either you rearrange your PCI/PCIe cards or you have to get an external DAC.

 

[Snow_Fox]

how do I rearrange?
 

 
Would love to hop into an asus but, doesn't seem to be an option.
 
Will be used for games and music although most likely not a lot of movies.
 
low quality tv speakers for that along with ps3.

 

[Roller]

Definitely not easy. The gaming part is the troublesome part, as all the bells and whistles are only available on Creative soundcards, and your best bet would be a X-Fi Surround 5.1 USB (non-Pro version!). It's very important that it's the regular version, as the new version drops EAX support as well as CMSS 3D. It can be had for around $60-70.

 

[Snow_Fox]

I thought EAX was officially depreciated anyway and "dolby headphone surround" was the new standard.

 

[Roller]

Lol. You have my suggestion, 24/96 output, analog and digital connectivity, EAX support for the tons of titles that use it, CMSS is there for those who like those virtualization gimmicks (even though I prefer regular playback), the works.
 
If you didn't intend on gaming, then things would be much different and other suggestions would've been made.

 

[Snow_Fox]

Would you suggest I just over look the gaming aspect?

While it is a great suggestion and the used version with a limited warranty for half price is an amazing deal, if you think there may be something of higher quality and a better all around deal I am open to suggestions.
 
I can't say whether or not any of it is a "gimmick" as I"ve never used it however, there seems to be pretty strong support for the dolby headphones.
 
I do worry that its just popular snake oil but, not a lot I can do in that respect outside of try it myself.

 

[Roller]

I've used Creative soundcards for many years, and I know the difference between playing a game that has native EAX support, with it turned on and off. It's a significant difference. And let me be clear, Asus soundcards have a laughable EAX support, not to mention how they got their shiny behinds sued for claiming EAX 5 support, when in fact they barely put out EAX 2. Lucky for them, EAX is indeed deprecated, which doesn't make the list of games any smaller. And let's not forget that high quality sound effects don't limit themselves with EAX. But I digress.
 
My point is that if you want to game with an external soundcard, you only have Creative to look for, the puny Asus U1 really isn't enough and their new prototype is still far away.
 
But you have to remember that you'll need to get an amp to power your HD598s properly.
 
So, exactly what games are you playing?

 

[Snow_Fox]

right now l4d2 is my main vice.
 
May get into some more bad company 2 and who knows after tomorrow?
 
just want to make sure this is the card we are talking about http://us.outletstore.creative.com/Refurbished-Sound-Blaster-XFi-Surround-5.1/M/B003P5IAFY.htm
 
Seems like an amazing deal right there, not entirely sure what to do for an amp though. Even if I can get the sound card.. going to be a while before I can afford an amp but, I am taking this one step at a time for now..

 

[Roller]

That is a great deal, congrats on finding it

 
L4D, 1 and 2, as well as all Source based games, benefit immensely from Creatives, so based on that game choice, I recommend it without thinking twice. Thing is, Creatives are really the way to go when it comes to gaming. Unfortunately you don't have a free PCIe slot, or you could get the X-Fi Titanium HD, a beauty, and the equivalent to the Asus Xonar Essence STX, only with a less harsh sound.
 
If you're tight on budget, you might be interested in the Fiio E5, a headphone amp that can be had for $20. That, along with the deal you found, is a very good value, real bang for buck. That would leave you comfortable enough for some time, that is until upgraditis hits you...

...and it will...

 

[Snow_Fox]

Quote:

That is a great deal, congrats on finding it

 
L4D, 1 and 2, as well as all Source based games, benefit immensely from Creatives, so based on that game choice, I recommend it without thinking twice. Thing is, Creatives are really the way to go when it comes to gaming. Unfortunately you don't have a free PCIe slot, or you could get the X-Fi Titanium HD, a beauty, and the equivalent to the Asus Xonar Essence STX, only with a less harsh sound.
 
If you're tight on budget, you might be interested in the Fiio E5, a headphone amp that can be had for $20. That, along with the deal you found, is a very good value, real bang for buck

That would leave you comfortable enough for some time, that is until upgraditis hits you...

Hm.. so that just means I need to come up with 35$.. and it all sounds pretty good to me.
 
I am on a budget and I am something of a "bang for buck" kind of person to begin with so its all good for me.

My comp is a "budget build" and while I am getting more into audio.. I do think I will be content with my accessories for quite a while.
 
Mech keyboard-Check
Decent mouse-Check
Amazing audio-hopefully Check.
 
As much as great components in a computer are important the "extra's" can really make the experience.
 
*Edit* also thanks for all the help!

 

[Roller]

Definitely agree.
 
I wouldn't have guessed your comp was exactly budget, based on dual gpus and everything

 
Anyway, now you know that in the future, picking a motherboard with plenty of room might be a good idea.
 
Honestly, I think you'll get an acceptable entry level setup, even if it's on the lower end of the scale (I'm talking mainly about the amp). But don't bother yourself about that, get your gear and most importantly, enjoy the heck out of it!

 

[Snow_Fox]

Oh, I am not going to talk trash about my pc for one minute..
 
But, a "hardcore" rig would have been a lot more expensive.
 
My mobo was 130$ and could have been 300$ easy if I was going with a "higher end" build.
 
spent 150$ on a quad core 3.2 ghz cpu and could have easily spend again about 300$ on that..
 
Triple channel ram at the time would have been 200$ for 6 gigs insead of 109$ for 4.
 
While I did go ahead and xfire (some will argue its bottle necked lol).
 
I built the rig with every intention of it being overclockable (it is very much so).
 
However, I still went "bang for buck" through and through..
 
Sometimes "bang for buck" does mean spending more than you hope but, by the time I was done designing it to get signifigant performance increases I would have had to change the entire layout of the build..and to "save money" I'd have had to cut performance way more than what was acceptable. I could easily shell out 3k or more on a pc... so roughly 1,200$ for the tower isn't too bad.. and is by most people's standards "low end".

 

[Roller]

Quote:

Oh, I am not going to talk trash about my pc for one minute..
 
But, a "hardcore" rig would have been a lot more expensive.
 
My mobo was 130$ and could have been 300$ easy if I was going with a "higher end" build.
 
spent 150$ on a quad core 3.2 ghz cpu and could have easily spend again about 300$ on that..
 
Triple channel ram at the time would have been 200$ for 6 gigs insead of 109$ for 4.
 
While I did go ahead and xfire (some will argue its bottle necked lol).
 
I built the rig with every intention of it being overclockable (it is very much so).
 
However, I still went "bang for buck" through and through..
 
Sometimes "bang for buck" does mean spending more than you hope but, by the time I was done designing it to get signifigant performance increases I would have had to change the entire layout of the build..and to "save money" I'd have had to cut performance way more than what was acceptable. I could easily shell out 3k or more on a pc... so roughly 1,200$ for the tower isn't too bad.. and is by most people's standards "low end".

Don't even go there. Forget about what people consider high or low end. Just because some are economically more comfortable, that doesn't lessen the value of what others own and fully enjoy.
 
Though, I would have gone with SLI...

 
Anyway, I'm off, but I hope I helped you get an idea on a budget, yet performing setup.
 
Be well, and let me know how it works out for you.

 

[Snow_Fox]

Lol sli? At the time that mean 470 which isn't a high point for nvidia. Others financial situations have no bearing on mine and i am 100 % content. After college when I can afford 6 monitors and high first surround sound ill then worry more about how I "compare" but for now I play on one monitor with headphones but, 60 fps stable on everything I play is "living the great life" so I am not complaining. I learned a lit building it. It runs amazing and I.have to swallow my pride when reading benchmarks but, real world performance doesn't lack for a single monitor set up. I have no brand loyalty and learned fast it would get me.no where but,I am.also.honest with myself it's a a mid range budget build that I spent my time and energy researching and tweaking build parts and every part ignition is mine
I love my comp but, its far from high end performance. I think of it as a 370z really.