some questions about how sound card works and what card to buy

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darussiaman

New Member
Hey everyone. I'm trying to shop for a sound card, but I'm not sure of what I need. Right now I have this question, which is most important to me:

What will be the impact of getting a relatively nice, gamer-oriented sound card on my computer's performance? Do all those features like the "X-Fi 24-bit Crystalizer" and EAX put extra strain on the processor/memory? You see, I have a fairly old system, built about 6 years ago, with WinXP. My current sound card is really old: SB PCI 512 (it's from like 1998 or something lol).

The rest of my specs are newer but also quite old: 1800+ Athlon XP, ATI Radeon 8500 64mb, 512mb RAM (PC2100 I believe...), ASUS a7n8x MoBo. Running WinXP Pro. I'm considering getting an X-FI XtremeGamer 7.1 sound card. Will it fit into my system smoothly? I'm concerned it might actually make my computer more sluggish in games... (I'm not an expert on how sound card technology works.)

**

P.S. I play Battlefield 1942, which is where the 3-d sound stuff would help. Other than that, I pretty much only use my comp to listen to music. So, my sound requirements are not extreme at all.
 
if you want a good hitch-free video card that doesnt ever lack in anything, get
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102005

but, for gaming, you're better off with an entirely new computer. you might want to get a 64-bit processor and something that's dual core.

buying a new sound card for an old computer is like buying an entirely new radiator for a reallly old car. its not necessary, and unless the old one burns out its really not going to make a huge difference.
 
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Thanks for the suggestions. Well, for me, the sound card is kind of necessary because I want positional sound in games. I'm not planning to play new games in the near future, so my old computer is fine for now. My newest game is BF 1942, and I'm happy with that for now. Also, my old sound card isn't exactly burned out, but it does seem to be broken. The sound balance is all messed up. It plays much more sound from the right speaker than from the left, even though I put the volume balance slider almost all the way to the left. When I plug the same speakers into my laptop, no problem. I've investigated/asked around about this issue before, and it seems to be the sound card. So yeah, I still want a cheap sound card to replace it. That one you suggest is too hard core hehe.

Anyway right now I'm deciding between these two:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829270003
and
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102002

Thanks again for any help.
 
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