EVGA X58 SLI motherboard's Realtek onboard audio is weak comparedto Creative sound cards?
 

Any suggestions on what cheap sound card to get for television/TV shows,
movies, gaming, music, etc. with this 2.1 speaker setup and gives
clarity and good bass from my subwoofer?


On 12/21/2010 8:10 AM PT, Ant typed:

Hello!

I used to use Creative sound cards (e.g., original SB, SB16, Live, and
Audigy 2 ZS) in my home PCs for gaming (e.g., hardware EAX). Yesterday,
I finally retired using Creative sound cards since I rarely play
computer games any more due to lack of free time and motivations and
most newer games don't really use hardware EAX anymore like they used
to. I have a decent speaker setup (Logitech Z-2300 speakers (2.1 setup
and analog)).

I noticed the audio quality is different in my videos, games, etc. There
is definitely way less bass from my kickarse subwoofer. I tried playing
with the settings (e.g., equalizer, using default bass settings) in
Realtek audio v5.10.6257's driver (XP Pro. SP3's DirectX 9.0, HD Audio,
ALC8889, etc.), but it is not good as my Creative sound cards. :( I love
bass and I always max out bass in audio volume mixers!

Am I missing something? Or am I expecting too much from onboard audios
(are they all like this?)? Do I have to buy a new sound card (PCIe since
my new motherboard doesn't have any more PCI slots).

Thank you in advance. :)
--
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--
"Ants never sleep." --Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet
/\___/\ Phil./Ant @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
/ /\ /\ \ Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
| |o o| |
\ _ / If crediting, then use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link.
( ) If e-mailing, then axe ANT from its address if needed.
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on this computer.