How to choose a good audio card?

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Bandwidth is the scurge of all hardware, its what makes computers slow. Bandwidth is the ability to squeeze massive amounts of data, something like 30 GB/sec (not necasserily at a high speed), through a piece of hardware. For example:

CPU's have a large bandwidth compared to PCI slots. CPU's can shift GB's of data about without a problem within themselves. PCI slots can only shift upto 133MB of data about at any one time.

A soundcard works in Channels, the more channels you have the more bandwidth you have (theoretically), but this also depends on how many "bits" each channel can hold. You might have 8 channels that can shift 16 bits per channel, or 4 channels that can shift 32 bits - each only able to transfer 128 bits.

Games use somewhere around 16 - 24 bits, whereas Windows Media player uses upto 32 bit. Seperating the channels allows you to have several good quality sound applications running at the same time. But some applications use more than one channel, its all very complicated and I lose myself.

Bandwidth = shifting large amounts of data at one time.
Speed = shifting large amounts of data over time (133MB/sec | 133 MB per second)
 
hmm i get it, so bandwidth is how much data it can move at a time while speed is with the time...?

btw, den would cache be something like that?
 
Cache is basically integrated memory, Cache usually works at the same speed as the piece of hardware it is attached to. For example the 2MB Cache on the 3.2GHz P4 EXTREME processor works at a much faster speed than the mainboard RAM.

Good explaination I read once:

Compared to the human brain the computer works like this.

CPU = Brain power
CPU Cache = Awareness
RAM = Short Term memory
Hard Drive = Long term memory

You think about yourself, your awareness if how you keep things in motion, walking 1 leg after the other.
Short Term memory, like when you are in a classroom and your teacher says
18 x y = 1008
y = 56

You don't have to work it out again if the teacher asks you what y = ?, you normally :)p) remember, and it is quicker than your long term memory.

Long Term is trying to remember an old school mate's name when you are drunk but you can't quite remember it but he remembers yours!
 
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