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One of the most overlooked and possibly one of the most important aspects of building a new computer is the sound card. I love sound, in games, from CD's, from Movies. I have turned my computer into a ever expansive realm of digital media. You know the type, stuff you don't want to delete, and probably couldn't if you tried.

So, how do you choose your sound card?

Depends on what you need. Most people don't have a full 7.1, let alone 5.1 system attached to their computer. That means you really don't need all that power if you don't use your computer for that purpose. You really don't need much, but you want to make sure that your soundcard has onboard processing. Many people fall into the trap of having a software decoder which eats up precious CPU cycles that could otherwise be devoted to gaming.

Now most serious gamers have at least a 4 speaker, if not 5.1 or 7.1 system attached to their computer. It gives depth to the game that a two speaker system can't, especially when playing an FPS in multi-player. A good sound system gives a distinct advantage to whomever posesses it.

When analyzing what card you get, you should analyze your system that you have attached. Do I have a Dolby Digital Decoder? Do I have a 6 channel input? Do I have a Surround sound decoder? With the amount of sound cards on the market, you can pick and choose exactly what features you want or need with only a little knowledge of the actual functioning of the components.

Finally, avoid Creative at all costs. I used to be such a Creative fanboy, it wasn't funny. I guess I hadn't experienced any other type of soundcard for a computer, but onboard, and my Audigy had that beat. HA!

When I went to pick out a new sound card recently, I went with a Hercules 7.1 (not the firewire edition). It has a bunch of great features, decent price (Much of Audigy's price comes from the bloatware that the card comes with, even OEM's come with this excess of software that you don't need) I can't wait to be able to test it's full potential when I get a new system (in June :'().

The more you know...

Is price the only reason to avoid Creative? I've heard mixed reports of the Audigy 1, but Audigy 2 and Audigy 2 ZS are highly praised by most reviewers. Care to elaborate?

yes I too am wondering why you say to avoid Creative.

I personally like using headphones, them may not be as good as a 4 speaker or more system but they work for me. Like someone on The Gameshow mentioned in one of the earlier broadcast, playing a FPS game with speakers or headphone are two completely different things. I think that playing with good headphones give you a completely different aspect of the game, that can not be achieved with speaker(not unless you turn them up full blast, which i can not do). So yeah that is what i think.

I can't find the exact article, but I will keep searching.

Not only does creative cost a pretty penny, but the preformance specs are over rated. Maybe not so much on the Audigy 2 as on the Audigy, but they are very misleading in their advertising.

Without going in so much technical jargon. The way they advertise, would be the same if I bought a video card that said it ran all of the current games like DX2 and CoD, only later to find that it can only run the games on the lowest setting.

With that being said, I am going to search for that article some more.

intresting analogy. I am waiting for the article with much anticipation.

I can't find the review of Creative Lab's practices that I read when I was searching for sound cards but here are some good reviews. They are a lot less critical, but it probably gives a more fair and balanced look at the cards then I was offering.

High End cards:
http://www6.tomshardware.com/video/2003 ... rd-01.html

Audigy Review:
http://www6.tomshardware.com/video/20010927/index.html

Audigy 2 Review:
http://www6.tomshardware.com/video/20021106/index.html

This should give you a pretty fair look at the cards as technical giants. Also it will give you a look at the card as a music making device and not music playing, though it does that to. I hope these help, though they really don't back up my point, I feel that you should get the most of what is out there.

The more you know...

EDIT: On a side note, when reading reviews on NewEgg, I always hear about an infamous "Snap, Crackle, Pop" from the card. The card seems to have a multitude of installation problems and is moody with it's operation when not installed "cleanly" (at system creation and original setup)