[crossed_wires]

Can anyone recommend a cheap (but good!) sound card. I'm not picky, I just want something that works and sounds decent for gaming and mp3 (that sort of thing). My current sound card is a SBLive! value that I've had for 4-5 yrs and either it just crapped out on me, or there's some weird driver problem on my new computer. I can't seem to find the FULL driver on the creative site and figured that just buying a new one will prove to be easier. I'm looking at:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102176
(SB Live! 24bit 7.1 96KHz)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102003
(SB Audigy SE 24bit 7.1 96KHz)

They're both very similar and around $26. I also saw the Audigy2, which people rave about, but it was like $64 which is over 2x that. I'm not too sure I would see a huge difference, or perhaps I'd be just as happy with the cheaper one.
I have a set of Altect Lansing speakers(4.1) -- 2 front, 2 rear, sub that sounded pretty good with my old sound card, so I can only assume this will be better. I'm just running a crappy A97 onboard card right now(which sucks processor bandwidth, right?)...Anyway, what do you think? Thanks.
-Ryan

P.S. Also, just so people know. If you buy a Creative sound card, keep that @#$% CD and never lose it, or else you're apparently SOL. ALL downloads for drivers on their site are *upgrades* and not really the full thing, for the install tells me that no SB Live card was detected, so either that means no previous installation was detected(meaning I need one) or my SB card isn't being detected because its FUBAR. Whatever, new card will fix this.

[crossed_wires]

Ok, just saw an Audigy 4 card on sale on newegg for $41 after the $30 mir. I hate dealing with mir's, but what do you think? Will this be a huge difference over the other cards I already mentioned? It's basically just another $15.

[macklin01]

Hmm, out of the original two, I'd go with the Audigy. (Newer card.)

I did see an open-box Audigy2 for $50: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16829102179R


The Audigy 4 looks like a better card. Higher sampling rate, higher SNR. Probably more future-proof. On the other hand, it's hard to say if it's really necessary. Probably any of the first two cards would be good enough. I've made do with a SBlive! 5.1 for quite some time, and it was just fine in games like HalfLife2 with 5.1 sound. (Although I found I had to turn down the audio quality a little, which is the first time I've had to do that in a game.)

It really depends upon your needs, and there's certainly a real danger of overspending. $41 is probably a very good compromise, however, and a good deal at that. -- Paul

*edit* The remote on that Audigy 4 Pro looks like a worthwhile upgrade to me. */edit*

[crossed_wires]

Right. I'm not in the market to overspend anyway I got by just fine the last 4-5 years on a SB Live(value) 16bit card that I bought for $20-25 at the time. I'll probably just go for the Audigy4 for $41 since its newer and the remote looks nice. I have having to stand up to turn my speakers on/off. lol. kind of lazy perhaps.
I figure if I get another 4-5 yrs out of this one, that's a mere $60 or so for 8-10 years worth of sound cards. lol. not bad.

[macklin01]

Yeah, I think that Audigy 4 is probably a pretty good deal, and you'll likely get a lot of mileage out of it. Actually, I'm considering it myself, now that you found it. -- Paul

*edit*
PS: I did a little bit of looking, and it appears that the audigy 4 has much better linux support than the newer x-fi cards. This may become an issue sometime in the future for you, since you plan to stick with the card for some time to come.
*/edit*

*edit*
I've done some digging around. Evidently, that Audigy4 card (non-Pro) is essentially the same as the Audigy2 ZS (non-platinum?) You may want to check out the SB0350 card. I haven't done enough research to decide what's best. I'd personally still steer toward the A4 at $41, as that's a pretty good deal. It ought to be more than good enough for people like us.
*/edit*

[crossed_wires]

Yeah, you're right. I'm sure it will be more than enough. In fact, I'm going to order that Audigy4 right now. Thanks again.

[macklin01]

Did you get your card yet? I have one in my newegg cart, and I still think it looks like a good option. -- Paul