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Sound and Video Cards ... which to get?
Hi all,
I'm putting together my final order for a new PC im going to build ... and I'd like some advice on three topics: 1) Sound Card: Audigy 1 or 2? Is it worth paying an additional $40 for the second version? P.S. my speakers are crap and I only have desktop satelites (2 speakers, no sub) 2) I'm going with the ATI X800 Pro. There are a few different manufactures of the card itself. My retailers sells the MSI brand. Should I be looking for this card by a specific manufacturer? And what means "Vivo Model"? P.S. I'm going with the Pro version for now because I have been unable to secure a XT PE. 3) Once all of the system is put together and my OS/Driver updates installed, I would like to ghost my C: drive. Can another reccommend reliable hard drive ghosting software? I'd like to do this so if I need to re-install my OS in the future, this might be easier. I was told a while ago that ghosting software of my brand is not entirely reliable ... is this true? P.S. Thanx for your response on this non-hardware issue. It's very important to me. TIA! Robert |
#2
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On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 11:20:26 GMT, "Robert TV"
wrote: Hi all, I'm putting together my final order for a new PC im going to build ... and I'd like some advice on three topics: 1) Sound Card: Audigy 1 or 2? Is it worth paying an additional $40 for the second version? P.S. my speakers are crap and I only have desktop satelites (2 speakers, no sub) with only 2 crap satellite speakers you may be content with motherboard-integrated sound... i'd put off buying sound card till you feel it's needed, later. Then again, might be a good time to upgrade the speakers, IMHO it's better to have decent speakers with onboard sound than poor ones with great sound card. 2) I'm going with the ATI X800 Pro. There are a few different manufactures of the card itself. My retailers sells the MSI brand. Should I be looking for this card by a specific manufacturer? And what means "Vivo Model"? P.S. I'm going with the Pro version for now because I have been unable to secure a XT PE. VIVO = video in, video out (S-Video, adapter can make it composite with RCA jack) 3) Once all of the system is put together and my OS/Driver updates installed, I would like to ghost my C: drive. Can another reccommend reliable hard drive ghosting software? I'd like to do this so if I need to re-install my OS in the future, this might be easier. I was told a while ago that ghosting software of my brand is not entirely reliable ... is this true? P.S. Thanx for your response on this non-hardware issue. It's very important to me. What does "ghosting software of my brand is not entirely reliable" mean? Ghost 2003 or newer should do that. |
#3
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"Robert TV" wrote in message news:_FHTc.109203$M95.40701@pd7tw1no... Hi all, I'm putting together my final order for a new PC im going to build ... and I'd like some advice on three topics: 1) Sound Card: Audigy 1 or 2? Is it worth paying an additional $40 for the second version? P.S. my speakers are crap and I only have desktop satelites (2 speakers, no sub) Use the onboard audio. If you use it for a while and don't like it you can always add a soundcard later. 2) I'm going with the ATI X800 Pro. There are a few different manufactures of the card itself. My retailers sells the MSI brand. Should I be looking for this card by a specific manufacturer? And what means "Vivo Model"? P.S. I'm going with the Pro version for now because I have been unable to secure a XT PE. It must be nice to be rich... I avoid MSI as I've had problems with their mainboards. Sapphire is a good brand if you don't want to buy genuine ATI. VIVO means Video In & Video Out. 3) Once all of the system is put together and my OS/Driver updates installed, I would like to ghost my C: drive. Can another reccommend reliable hard drive ghosting software? I'd like to do this so if I need to re-install my OS in the future, this might be easier. I was told a while ago that ghosting software of my brand is not entirely reliable ... is this true? P.S. Thanx for your response on this non-hardware issue. It's very important to me. Norton Ghost has been the most reliable for me. Need the latest version to deal with XP and NTFS. I expect that the latest won't work when Longhorn finally comes out. A ghost image of an install is a good idea, but so many things can change between the time you install and the time you need the image. Once you reload the image you have to reinstall anything that you did after creating the image, update drivers, do Windows updates, etc... It's not really worth it. The image is great if you're going to do a lot of experimenting, but if it's been more than a month since you installed, the image won't be much good. |
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On Sun, 15 Aug 2004 13:03:06 GMT, kony wrote:
with only 2 crap satellite speakers you may be content with motherboard-integrated sound... i'd put off buying sound card till you feel it's needed, later. Then again, might be a good time to upgrade the speakers, IMHO it's better to have decent speakers with onboard sound than poor ones with great sound card. There have been lots of sales on speakers recently. Not sure if there is one now but if you search around or wait the guy will probably find one. I bought the Logitech 640z for $49 , its been selling at many places for the same price off and on the last 3 months. When its not on sale though they sell it for much higher. Its a decent set for a PC speaker. I think they are getting ready to phase them out since theyve been out fora while. Also got the Altec Lansing 4+sub set for $29 and Ive seen it lower on line and some places. This gets OK surround sound for games but the power and sub is a bit marginal. Still better than many cheapo 2 speaker + sub systems but its sort of on the borderline between the tinny cheapo systems you see everywhere with sub for $29-39 and the decent more robust systems for usually $59-100+ that have decent power and bass. Way better than the two speaker cheapos with no sub though. You notice it more with music than with games unless you are games connoisseur and can tell that the explosions dont have enough dynamics to them or something. Ive seen some sales on more decent two speaker with sub systems lately for some reason . A while ago there were tons of sales of 4 and 5.1 systems. Cant remember how much you were going to spend but they are selling the Audigy 2Z at Compusa for 79 less 30 rebate this week. The Audigy 2 ZS is 7.1 and the Audigy 2 Ive seen for around 70 online bulk version - which 5.1 and then theres the Audigy LZ which I bought for $30 after rebate which some say is more like an Audigy 1 - relies on your CPU more and cant load more sound fonts and doesnt have the latest EAX version 4.0 I think. Another way to get way better sound though not surround sound unless you have a surround sound system. If you have a boom box with aux in or a stereo rec you can plug the sound out on the card to the aux in on the stereo amp and use those speakers, Generally most audio speakers are way way better than PC speakers which tended to be super cheap small paper full range speakers in a plastic box. Compared to that anything sounds better so the improved full range paper cones and and even two ways and puny 6-8" "subwoofers" sound great nowadays on the better systems. But a ministereo though generally very low in the stereo quality hierachy generally sounds much better compared to many PC speakers. Ive got some Paradigms and a tube hyrid amp I was using for both music and my PC but I got sick of the hassle of switching the lines since there arent that many inputs for the source on my minimalistic amp so I got the Logitechs. They sound OK. |
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