Im Fead Up with Onboard Sound. NEED a Good Gaming Sound Card.

**cheesepuff** · #1 13th May 2009, 14:23

hi guys. like the title says, i hate onboard. it sounds like poop coming out a straw! its make me so mad i wana flush a dead clown down the toilet! dont ask me what that means, cuz IDK, im just mad. OK, vent over. =) first things first, i NEED a good gaming sound card, not just one that is good for music. i was guna get this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ywords)&Page=3

but this review

Quote:

Pros: Great surround sound for movies and awesome music reproduction.

Cons: I mainly do three things on my computer: play games, listen to music and watch movies. This card is only good for two of those. Some of my games do not recognize the card as having surround sound output so I can only play in 2.1 mode. Also the card does not support EAX which almost every game on the computer market supports. Another issue I had was the optical input on the card. I was unable to get any kind of output from my speakers when I connected and optical device to the card. I feel this is because of the shaky Vista x64 drivers. I contacted customer support but they weren't much help. The software that comes with the card is also not that impressive compared to creative's software suite. The options are limited and the layout could be better.

Other Thoughts: Overall this is a decent card. If you're looking for higher quality sound for music and movies, I would recommend this card. If gaming is your forte, I would go with creative.

is this true? if so im not sure this card would suit my needs. so, what are my options? i NEED one thats for gaming.

**Hybr!d** · #2 13th May 2009, 14:29

Soundblaster stuff is pretty well supported I think, I had an X-Fi top end card in my old desktop and loved it.

**cheesepuff** · #3 13th May 2009, 14:36

any specific one?

**Bubba** · #4 13th May 2009, 16:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hybr!d

Soundblaster stuff is pretty well supported I think, I had an X-Fi top end card in my old desktop and loved it.

Since when? Creative made a deliberate decision not to fully support their sound cards for Vista and threatened a member of their forum who was writing drivers for folks that would allow the cards to work. If this has changed I would love to know as the Fatality series worked great on my XP machine. As of the last time i looked though, Creative still was NOT fully supporting Vista. This isn't hearsay, this was a world wide story. I'm surprised you never heard about it Hybrid, heck their stock plummeted after one of their VP's got on their forums and stated so in a thread threatening DanielK with legal action if he continued to help folks out by writing drivers that made their sound cards work with Vista. Google "Daniel K Creative" and see what you find...........

Cheese, more specifically the last I looked, Creative sound cards wouldn't support 5.1 surround on systems running Vista.

**cheesepuff** · #5 13th May 2009, 16:23

i dont run vista....i plan on running 7, but never vista. so then what should i get?

**Bubba** · #6 13th May 2009, 18:53

Well, Win7 is really just "fixed" Vista. Personally, I would wait to see what Creative does with it. As much market share as they lost, I can't imagine them saying, the heck with Win7 too.

I'm surprised you are having problems with the onboard sound, mine is great for gaming and really good for music and movies. Maybe nVidia did something a little different than Gigabyte did.

Other than that, I can't really help you. I spent a year asking the same question on several forums, and never really got a good answer myself which is why I stuck with the onboard. FYI, I DID have a Creative Fatality Pro extreme Gamer, or whatever it is called when I built this system. It never ran right which is how I got onto the Creative/DanielK soap opera lol.

**cheesepuff** · #7 13th May 2009, 19:13

i had an audigy 4 which i loved. but i need something more.

**Bubba** · #8 13th May 2009, 20:40

Well I just visited the Creative forums and I'm still seeing the same old same old. Folks do threads about this or that problem with their Creative xFi (Fatality) and they keep getting the same old run around. It's your other hardware, it's those cheap speakers you bought, ect.

Seeing that they came out with that new xFi Titanium, I had hopes they would come on board. One thing you could do: by one at a brick and mortar store near your house that has a consumer friendly return policy. Pop the puppy in, load the drivers and see if it works. If it doesn't, take it back and get your money back. I saw some people over there (creative forums) that the beta drivers for Win7 were making the cards in Vista work right. If you do that let me know how it turns out. If you want a suggestion of an xFi to give a whirl, I would say the Titanium (if you have the $199) so you could be the guinea pig lol. Other than that, well other than that, I was going to reccomend the one I have in my xp machine, the xFi ExtremeGamer pro, but I just checked and it's 149. Heck you can get a version of the Titanium for that.. The xFi Extreme Gamer goes for $99. Or if you REALLY want to go whole hog, try this: http://us.creative.com/products/prod...&product=14064

**4D(Fordy(Ford) Ollie** · #9 18th May 2009, 12:27

Or one of these beauts:

M-Audio Delta 1010 PCI audio interface: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo