Creative is dead!
There are a couple threads with discussions about creative sound cards and how they compare to onboard.
Creative is going to give you round about the same quality as your standard ac97 onboard soundcards. The only thing different really is how pretty the utilities are, and the breakouts you might get with some of the various high end creative products. The reason for this misconception is that most people aren't into high end audio gear, and don't really know what is out there. Obviously you're going to get a small improvement going from ac97 to a creative live or better.. But, once you get a chance to compare the output from a live card to the output of a fireface 800, or one of the cards mentioned below you will understand what i mean. For the price you are paying for some of the creative cards, you could easily go and buy something twice or three times the quality and performance.
Anyone who wants GOOD audio for their gaming needs to check out the following. This should end the battle between onboard and creative.. They both suck.
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496-main.html
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Revolution71-main.html
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Revolution51-main.html
Those are the 3 best audio cards for gaming.
If you have 1500$+ to spend on an audio card, and want something insane, you're going to want a fireface 800.
There are a couple threads with discussions about creative sound cards and how they compare to onboard.
Creative is going to give you round about the same quality as your standard ac97 onboard soundcards. The only thing different really is how pretty the utilities are, and the breakouts you might get with some of the various high end creative products. The reason for this misconception is that most people aren't into high end audio gear, and don't really know what is out there. Obviously you're going to get a small improvement going from ac97 to a creative live or better.. But, once you get a chance to compare the output from a live card to the output of a fireface 800, or one of the cards mentioned below you will understand what i mean. For the price you are paying for some of the creative cards, you could easily go and buy something twice or three times the quality and performance.
Anyone who wants GOOD audio for their gaming needs to check out the following. This should end the battle between onboard and creative.. They both suck.
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496-main.html
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Revolution71-main.html
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Revolution51-main.html
Those are the 3 best audio cards for gaming.
If you have 1500$+ to spend on an audio card, and want something insane, you're going to want a fireface 800.