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Discussion Good Sound Card, Suggestions Please?

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Zarcu

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I'm kicking a Logitech Z-5500 505 Watts 5.1 Speaker system and I do quite a bit of gaming. I'm currently using an SP/DIF output to my sound-system. I've got an extra PCI-E slot available and a few PCI as well. What should I pick up for a sound card?
 
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Jay

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What motherboard do you have... If it's anything quality and made in the last couple years the onboard is good enough.
 
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moreno

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I read this on another forum when i was looking around for info on sound cards..

He said right in his OP that he is running S/PDIF out a a reciever... Why on earth will it matter what soundcard he buys. The S/PDIF output on my Realtek onboard audio is bit for bit identical to the S\PDIF output on a $400 soundcard.

When you pay for a soundcard, all that money is going into the sophisticated analog circuitry (DAC's, etc..)... that if you use S/PDIF you completely bypass.
 
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Zarcu

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That makes complete sense but I don't believe my onboard sound allows me to transfer audio at the highest bitrate possible. I have a lot of blu-ray rips which I believe downsample (or whatever) the sound.
 
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Zarcu

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I sort of figured that. What sort of benefits would I gain at all if I were to get a soundcard though? Wouldn't it take a load off my CPU and whatnot?
 
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Jay

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I can't answer that until I know what card(s) you're looking at. Start by learning about what you currently have:

Realtek

Now compare it to the cards you are looking at. Is it really going to be that much of an upgrade aside from taking stress off the CPU (This is very minimal to begin with).
 
Psycho Homer

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Since SPDIF is a digital output ti will sound the same on any card including onboard.
 
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Zarcu

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So I've heard. I was about to tell you that my soundcard settings wouldn't allow me to output at the highest sample rate and bit rate but apparently now it does..

I thought that was a technical limitation of my onboard sound and not a bug. Whatever! Awesomeness.
 
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joe87

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A high quality sound-card has been proven to reduce your CPU load by 5 percent in addition to providing a discernible quality to built in motherboard sound; i.e. it is well worth the extra money if you appreciate music, watch movies on your computer and enjoy being immersed in games. I've researched the topic and I've came to the conclusion that the following card is the best value. Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1 Review - Reviews by ExtremeTech Or an older xi-fi card, however ensure that the xi-fi card actually includes the xi-fi chip as some of the cheaper models include the previous iteration of a sb live chipset.
 
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