sound card advice

[MightyMar22]

i ordered an open box ASUS P5E which i thought would bring the PCI-e sound card it brings on ratail but it was not included.

I will call newegg and inqure about this but i got the feeling they won't send me the missing card. in the mean time i want to know what is the best bang for the buck on a sound card.

i don't need anything fancy, here are some that i saw and were cheap. if there is a better value on newegg please let me know.

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!

[MUff1N]

This is what I think about computer sound systems.
Unless you are an Audiofile with a very discerning ear, you are not going to notice any sound
improvement over the onboard audio processing. (Exception to this is AC 97 audio with six channels at 48 kHz/20-bit)
If the onboard chip is HD audio (Eight channels at 192 kHz/32-bit Dolby Surround sound) like I have on mine it will sound very good providing the speaker system is good.

I'm an X Pro Musician & know sound as it was my job for so long
& I'm quite happy with the onboard Intel HD Audio that's on my mobo & Boston Acoustics speaker system.

What really matters the most with sound (very important) is what the audio processing is being produced by aka the Speaker Amplifier & Sound System.
You can have the best Creative sound card in the world, but if it's going to crappy speakers & amplification it's not going to sound good at all!!!

The better your speaker system is, the better it will sound!
Same goes for headphone...you want high quality sound, then use Sennheiser or the equivalent.

Sennheiser is what we (Bands I was in) used the most in Studio recording for headphones...of course they were $300 headphones!

Final Note: Before getting a sound card I would buy the best Sound system I could first because its the most important.

[MightyMar22]

i have an old logitec sound system (2 speakers and a subwoofer) not the best but good and loud enough for me.

if the board had included the sound card i would not buy one, but since it seems i will have to buy one i wanted to buy something decent but not pricy either. i just need sound.

[MUff1N]

Originally Posted by MightyMar22

i have an old logitec sound system (2 speakers and a subwoofer) not the best but good and loud enough for me.

if the board had included the sound card i would not buy one, but since it seems i will have to buy one i wanted to buy something decent but not pricy either. i just need sound.

Then the onboard audio chip should work just fine for you. YES the Asus P5E has an onboard audio chip!
The P5E has an AD1988B: HD Audio CODEC 10 Channels onboard audio processing chip.
Since you don't have an audio sound card installed it will enable itself once the drivers are installed OK.

Since I don't know what OS you're running here is both XP & Vista audio driver downloads.


Asus support downloads

Direct Download XP drivers:
SoundMAX Audio Driver v5.10.01.6310 for Windows 2000/XP(WHQL)
http://dlsvr.asus.com/pub/ASUS/misc/...32bit_2kxp.zip


Direct download Vista drivers:
SoundMAX AD1988B Audio Driver V6.10.01.6260 for Windows Vista.(WHQL)
http://dlsvr.asus.com/pub/ASUS/misc/...6260_Vista.zip

[MightyMar22]

Thanks for you help Muffin but i don't think you understand me.

A retail Asus p5e brings a sound card that you can install in a pci-e slot, however since i bought this board "open box" newegg didn't send me the audio card. Although they advertised that no assesories were included for the "open box" board, i thought the card part of the board it self and they would send me the sound card ass well but they didn't

so right now i don't have on board audio, i can either see if newegg sends me the card that is supposed to come with the board or i can buy a sound card.

[MUff1N]

I see now.
I just looked at the back ports on the mobo & there's no audio out on it at all without the sound card installed.
That sucks...

Unfortunately the sound card is NOT included in the "Barebones" open box deal...
If you look at the pictures of the mobo on the Newegg site you will read this.

"The pictures shown are from the NEW version of this item. If you purchase this Open box product you will receive an OEM BAREBONE, meaning it is just the item itself. Accessory items are NOT INCLUDED (Supreme FX II) with Open box products. Accessories are shown in the pictures so that customers will know what is missing from the item."

So you are right, you have to buy a sound card for this board.
They sound have this notice on the main page with the mobo, but they don't!

[MightyMar22]

while diggin through some old junk i found an old sound card.

is from creative labs and it is model CT4810. is that card decent or should i spend the $30 buying a new one?

if the CT4810 can do the job just fine, what drivers should i use for it?

here is a pic of it

http://www.recycledgoods.com/item/16030.aspx

[MUff1N]

Originally Posted by MightyMar22

while diggin through some old junk i found an old sound card.

is from creative labs and it is model CT4810. is that card decent or should i spend the $30 buying a new one?

if the CT4810 can do the job just fine, what drivers should i use for it?

here is a pic of it

Creative Labs CT4810 Sound Blaster 16 bit PCI Sound Card - Recycled Goods

Not sure on the drivers so...one way of doing this is to install it, then use the Creative Autoupdate service which will scan your HW cfg & get the drivers for it you need.

This is the driver for ALL Sound Blaster series cards so it should work for yours too.
Direct Download Link

[MightyMar22]

i called newegg cus service to kinda of complain about not getting the sound card. they gave me a $25 credit towards a card.

im getting this one now for $5, can't beat that.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102002

[cloasters]

Dunno about Vista, but XP will "silently" install a driver for some Soundblaster Sound cards during the normal install the OS procedure. Love it, 'cause I hate the huge bloatbag drivers from Creative.