Stumped, need advice.

Gizmo[5h1t3] · May 9, 2008, 07:02 AM

Lookin for a solution to my problem.
ive got on board sound running on my rig at the mo, as my graphics card totally blocks the 2 PCI slots i have.....so PCI cards seem to be out of the question.
im after a decent solution, whereas i could possibly run an external sound card, instead of the onboard??

any ideas?.........or is it not really worth bothering abouty the cpu load running onboard sound when gaming?

dont want it to be too pricey tho, the lump on my head is still there from the crack i got off the missus for the last upgrade i made without tellin her...heh heh

jp306 · May 9, 2008, 07:12 AM

Google is your friend....I found this quickly....

Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX - External Sound Card with 24-bit DVD-Audio, EAX ADVANCED HD and Dolby Digital EX for premium notebook audio

Gizmo[5h1t3] · May 9, 2008, 07:15 AM

thanks for the quick reply m8.

id had a look at google, but you generally get mixed opinions from ppl on the net who quite frankly aint got a clue...thats why i posted on here, where the "brains" are...heh heh

just not too sure if it would be worth buyin an external solution, ie....would the performance gain be noticable whilst gaming, with not using on board sound?

jp306 · May 9, 2008, 07:22 AM

Tom's has a review, but you should dig a little for the best solution, because I'm not sure this is it. Maybe consider getting a smaller after market heatsink/fan combo for your video card and a X-Fi PCI card.

USB 2.0 Sound: Creative Labs Audigy 2 NX : Maximum Compactness - Tom's Hardware

Gizmo[5h1t3] · May 9, 2008, 07:26 AM

yeah, used to have an X-FI, mint card.
the bloody cooler on my g card is massive...lol
its an ICEQ 3 HIS X1900XT PCI-E 512mb...and the cooler is HOOGE!!

all the after market ones are either bigger, or just dont cut it heat wise....
the zalman coolers are decent, but they dont exhaust air out of the case.....so case temps go up..its a fine balancing act.

if its not that much of a performance boost by going external sound......??

jp306 · May 9, 2008, 07:36 AM

I happen to have an X1900XT myself and use a very good and cheap Arctic Cooling Accelero heatsink/fan. It's a dual slot solution, but it should open up one of your PCI slots. A few members here got it to replace the crappy standard HS/fan that the X1900 series shipped with. As to your other question....

Arctic Cooling

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gizmo[5h1t3]

ie....would the performance gain be noticable whilst gaming, with not using on board sound?

In XP yes it will help performance while gaming, but in Vista(no Direct Sound)...not really

Gizmo[5h1t3] · May 9, 2008, 12:05 PM

much appreciated m8, thanks for the advice