Good 5.1 sound card?

[Mikesoft]

Hi, soon I am going to buy a creative 5.1 surround sound speaker system for my computer. I know a lot about computers but the one area I do not know about is sound cards! Is their any resonably priced 5.1 sound cards that are any good?

Thanks

 

[Analog]

I'ld suggest any from the audigy or audigy 2 or audigy 4 series. I've owned a SB Live which was really noisy but then again worth only $20 now days. I've also owned an audigy and audigy 2 and I can tell you, there is no difference what so ever between the two in terms of sound quality

I haven't owned an audigy 4, but the extra features of that sound card are avaiable to the audigy 1 and audigy 2 series if you download a patch; in other words its the same card with different software !!!

You'll also notice there are the audigy x gamer, digital entertainment, etc etc etc, They only differ in the software bundle and some have brake out boxes which allow you to connect your speakers via the front of the machine.

My recomendation, get the cheepest audigy you can find

 

[somedude]

Creative X-Fi

 

[Mikesoft]

ok, I now have another question.

Can 7.1 sound cards still be used with a 5.1 speaker system?

 

[Analog]

Yup you just have some extra sockets in the back of your sound card. You select what type of speaker system you have hooked up using your sound card's drivers. 2.1 and headphones will also work

 

[Mikesoft]

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[FatBurger]

The Audigy cards still had driver problems, though not nearly as bad as the Live series. Audigy 2 was a huge improvement, and a good card.

The Turtle Beach Santa Cruz is still a great card, as is the Hercules Muse 5.1. If you're going to get a Creative card, make sure it's an Audigy 2 or later (or before a Live I guess, but there's really no point).

 

[Mikesoft]

I have decided to get a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS 7.1 THX Sound Card as it seemed to have a lot of good features and reviews.

 

[Justin761985]

I use Creative SB Live! 5.1 and it works just fine for me, but it really depends on the money you have and how good of quality you want.

God Bless,
Justin.

 

[kurabrhm]

I have Turtle Beach Santa Cruz on my desktop computer. It sounds fantastic but so does the Realtek soundcard on my laptop.

 

[Stellar Vision]

I have a set of Klipsch 4.1 speakers for my computer I bought a few years back. They were a terrific improvement from the weak 2.1 speakers my computer came with, but I really noticed an even greater difference when I upgraded the sound card from the SB Live to the Audigy 2 ZS. Everything was hear with more depth, especially the DVDs. I would highly recommend the Audigy 2 ZS that's for sure.