5.1 Surround Sound and Sound Cards

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by ItsWendy, Jul 26, 2006.

  1. ItsWendy

    ItsWendy MajorGeek

    About a year ago I build my lodge a computer. It's a AMD 1Gig Athlon CPU, 100Gig HD, 512Meg RAM, Win2000 OS, RW DVD. The mother board has decent sound, but straight stereo. Apparently they liked the basic machine because someone donated a projector to replace our slides projector and someone else gave a suround sound stereo. So it comes back to me.

    I would like to get a PCI sound card with 5.1 surround sound. I know some motherboards have this feature, but as it stands we are locked in. Whatever I get has to be Win 2000 compatible, I'll have to disable the internal sound system.

    Any recommendations?
     
  2. InYearsToCome

    InYearsToCome MajorGeek

    do you intend to hook it up to very nice speakers, or more mid to low range?

    Unless you're going all out on a nice 5.1 sound system (around 400-600watts or greater) then a cheaper 5.1 car will be plenty.

    You can get a Creative SoundBlaster Live 5.1 for around $25 http://www.compuvest.com/Search.jsp?Search=SB0100&advsite=grabber

    I've had a few of those cards in various machines and tyey work very well. There are a few alternatives, but people always have some complaints about them, and I have not used them so I cannot say for sure. (Turtle Beach, Chaintech)
     
  3. rogvalcox

    rogvalcox MajorGeek

    If you are going for bottom dollar, then there's this...

    http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1567045&CatId=0

    Which supports windows 2000, according to this page...

    http://www.sabrent.com/products/index.htm

    If you can lay out a little cash to get something you know darn good and well is good, then I STRONGLY suggest a Sound Blaster product, such as...

    http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2164702&CatId=0

    Which supports Windows 2000, according to the specs on this page...

    http://www.creative.com/products/pfriendly.asp?product=4915

    Roger
     
  4. InYearsToCome

    InYearsToCome MajorGeek

  5. ItsWendy

    ItsWendy MajorGeek

    Thanks guys. I am lucky enough to live in a high tech part of the country, with stores like Fry's, Microcenter, Best Buy, etc so I should be able to get them locally.

    Whoever donated the stereo amp didn't skimp, so I'll probably go with the Sound Blaster recommendation. Our secretary (the main user) seems to enjoy his new tool/toy, we keep getting adons. The DVD copier has been a popular feature too. :cool:
     

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