Sound Blaster Audigy 2 card?

[dartgande]

Yeah, for my comp build, I was wondering if getting one of these would actually make a big difference in sound quality? I am getting 7.1 Surround sound speakers, so I was wondering if one would be neccesary to have top of the line sound quality? btw, it would be the platinum edition

 

[Apokalipse]

well, unless your motherboard doesn't have onboard 7.1 sound I would not recommend it for the price. there is hardly any difference in sound quality between an audigy 2 and onboard sound.
in fact the main difference I believe is better MIDI functions

the audigy's are good cards though

 

[gaara]

Easiest solution to your problem:

Start off with just your onboard sound, if you still aren't satisfied with the sound quality you're getting out of it, then knock yourself out and buy yourself an Audigy 2.

 

[Person]

Don't forget that a card like Audigy 2 has its own sound processor which saves you CPU cycles and thus can help gain performance in resource intensive applications, onboard sound on the other hand uses the CPU. Some sound cards use the CPU too while keeping some tasks to the card itself.
Sound quality is superb too, I used to have an old sound card in my old computer, switching to Audigy 2 ZS made a huge difference.

 

[dartgande]

Well I could, but see the difference would be a somewhat big one. If I don't get a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum, nor the 7.1 surround sound speakers, went with like 5.1 surround sound, then I would be able to afford a 4000+ or an FX-53 versus the 3500+ I am getting. Any suggestions?

 

[Person]

Why would you go platinum? The difference between platinum and the regular ZS is almost non existant. You can also get 7.1 speakers for $86 at newegg.

 

[gaara]

Well I could, but see the difference would be a somewhat big one. If I don't get a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum, nor the 7.1 surround sound speakers, went with like 5.1 surround sound, then I would be able to afford a 4000+ or an FX-53 versus the 3500+ I am getting. Any suggestions?

Man, I would take a CPU over a soundcard and speakers any day, I'm pretty sure the FX-53 would perform faster than the 4000+ due to it's larger cache, but I'm not exactly certain.

 

[dartgande]

oh, and a good suggestion for a motherboard? with onboard 7.1 surround?

 

[gaara]

For what type of proccesor? Does it have to be SLI? AGP or PCIe? Is overclocking a factor?

 

[dartgande]

FX-53, and between SLI, AGP, and PCI, whichever is considered "best"