Newegg has the Creative 70SB088000004 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Express 1x Interface PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium for $100 - $20 with coupon code EMCLVLN24 [Exp 7/8] = $80 with free shipping.
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#1
shiboe - Posted 12:14 pm PDT 07/2/09 (75 Posts)
I haven't thought about a sound card in forver, think I'll be snagging one for the next comp build to maximize game performance though. Now all I need is money...
#2
frankburnz - Posted 2:27 pm PDT 07/2/09 (593 Posts)
wait for the x-fi 2 and W7
#3
dave_c - Posted 8:06 pm PDT 07/2/09 (7431 Posts)
Gone are the days when adding a sound card significantly increased gaming performance. Multi-core CPUs now have enough processing power it's not much of a factor.
On the other hand, the environmental sound effects actually sound different due to different abilities and routines with Creative EAX(n), though plenty of people are satisfied doing without them.
At the very least, getting anything above the lowest end sound cards will tend to sound better than integrated audio due to the better filtering and ground impedance of getting the analog circuitry further away from noisey higher-current digital circuits on the mainboard... though you may need sensitive cans or amp to hear the difference, it won't be so apparent with typical lower fidelity computer speaker amps.
On the other hand, the environmental sound effects actually sound different due to different abilities and routines with Creative EAX(n), though plenty of people are satisfied doing without them.
At the very least, getting anything above the lowest end sound cards will tend to sound better than integrated audio due to the better filtering and ground impedance of getting the analog circuitry further away from noisey higher-current digital circuits on the mainboard... though you may need sensitive cans or amp to hear the difference, it won't be so apparent with typical lower fidelity computer speaker amps.
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