best sound card

[dethfire]

whats the best sound card that has a resonable price?
I have windows 2k

thanks

[moospot]

That depends on reasonable.

SB Live is a good card, though there have been some compatability issues.

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz is a great card.

Of course, there's the new SB Audigy! MAN I WANT ONE!!

Check PriceWatch.com for the best prices.

[dethfire]

what about awe64?

[moospot]

Its good, but you can get a SB Live for around $35 USD. it has 256 voices (i think) as opposed to 64, plus you can plug in 4 (or 5, depending on the card) speakers as opposed to 2.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...nufactory=1137

SB Live 5.1 (yeah baby) for $32

[ahajdar]

You should check http://creative.com and find the best you can afford. I have Creative SB Live on Win2k and it is great for anything from games to music - loads of sound environments and effects.

Make sure that you spend money on good speakers as well, preferably with surround sound capability because without the good speakers, your sound card is nothing.

And check http://pricewatch.com for best deals.


Good Luck!

[dethfire]

does this look good?

Sound Blaster Live! Gamer or 5.1

btw, I have a creative soundblaster PCI right now, any good? sounds basic

[moospot]

I'd go with the plain 5.1

The only thing different about the Gamer is that its bundled with some software.

[Technosailor]

because of my problems with my Turtle Beach Montego II card with WinXP, I'm going to be buying the SB Live! Platinum Audigy next month as soon as I see an XP driver for it.

sketch

[nflicanada]

Your best bet right now would probably be either the Sound Blaster Audigy MP3+ or Gamer edition.

I would reccomend the Live! series of cards but Creative has just recently taken the Liveware drivers off of their website and now require you to purchase a cd in order to get the latest Liveware versions.

[russbellon]

Originally posted by Sketch
because of my problems with my Turtle Beach Montego II card with WinXP, I'm going to be buying the SB Live! Platinum Audigy next month as soon as I see an XP driver for it.

sketch

what kind of problems besides the ancient drivers?
i'm asking because i have a vortex2 card which i believe is almost the same thing. be nice to know what to expect before i try xp

[nflicanada]

I don't think you'd have any problems with your Vortex card since MS developed drivers for Aureal based cards.

Sketch in case you haven't seen or heard the Audigy XP drivers are out.

[micmar]

I would suggest you have a look at the Philips Acoustic Edge or the new Audigy lineup from Creative.