Would you rather.... sound or graphics?

[akasixcon]

Would you rather buy the greatest sound card? Or a great 22" LCD Monitor?

I'm planning to buy one or the other. With the sound card I will probably have about $50-70 left over rather than buying the monitor.

Questions:
-5ms Response time vs 2ms Response time (is there a big or small difference?)

 

[gurusan]

Well what other monitor option is there?

I have a 19'' and it's great...also have a SB XFI and i love it.

 

[mrfluffles]

Depends what monitor you have now.. If it's at least half way decent there won't really be that big of a difference. And which sound cards/monitors are you looking at buying? You're looking at $200-250 sound cards? Do you actually have a good enough sound system for that?

And there is pretty much no difference between 2 and 5ms. You won't ghost with either of them.

 

[khan008]

to be honest, i would go for the monitor depending on what games you are playing, or you can cut on both and buy a smaller monitor and a less high end sound card, but if you are getting a sound card get a creative one =)

 

[akasixcon]

I actually have a not-so-decent Sony 19" LCD screen. Its not so decent because I see ghosting when playing video games.

My sound system is really great in my opinion. It plays DVD movies really great. I hooked it up through an RCA analog connector to my PC and its not so great anymore. I need to connect it via SPDIF Coaxial.

My other problem is that my Xbox can only be connected through either RCA ANALOG or SPDIF Digital.

I need some sort of SPDIF Coaxial to digital or SPDIF Digital to coaxial.

Here is an example of what I want to buy though I do not know where to buy it:

Newegg.com - Buy Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

Notice how you can take off that cap and it will be SPDIF Coaxial and when you put it on its SPDIF Digital. Anyone know where I can buy that small piece?

 

[mrfluffles]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think you can use surround sound through digital (assuming your system is surround)..

Are you getting a sound card mostly for games? If so, look at getting an X-Fi. They'll obviously have worse sound quality but they are the only ones with EAX5.0 so sound in games will be a lot better. And you know you need audiophile quality speakers to actually use the X-Merdian to it's full potential, a set of good computer speakers won't show much difference between an X-Meridian and an X-Fi.

 

[veg1992]

any good creative audigy card works(u cannot notice a better sound card in a game), but a good monitor is essential when u play a game and easily noticable....

 

[Sora]

any good creative audigy card works(u cannot notice a better sound card in a game), but a good monitor is essential when u play a game and easily noticable....

Actually depending on the card you get you can notice a difference. The X-Fi's with their EAX 5.0 supports a wide variety of new features. It supports 128 voices at one time meaning you can hear 128 bullets hitting the wall at once. As well as many other features. In games the X-Fi's you can notice a huge increase in audible quality but your right nothing compared to the difference of onboard video to SLI 8800 Ultra's

 

[veg1992]

Actually depending on the card you get you can notice a difference. The X-Fi's with their EAX 5.0 supports a wide variety of new features. It supports 128 voices at one time meaning you can hear 128 bullets hitting the wall at once. As well as many other features. In games the X-Fi's you can notice a huge increase in audible quality but your right nothing compared to the difference of onboard video to SLI 8800 Ultra's

yes but i was comparing things in a really close price range like 30-40 video cards againsteach other

 

[Sora]

ah yes your right. The Audigy SE for 30 bucks is a large upgrade over onboard sound. it's EAX that is supported by software won't really help you get better FPS but it helps you hear 96 voices at a time which is nice.