Onboard Sound Has Bit The Dust

[Spadfan]

My sound board has bit the dust. It is built in on the mother board. If I disable the onboard sound in the bios, can I plug an after market board, such as a sound blaster, into one of the available slots on the mother board? Will there be any conflicts?

T 6/7 Complete
Injured 4/20/74

[jimnms]

Yes you can disable it and use a PCI sound card. No it shouldn't conflict. In fact you can run both at the same time if you wanted to.

_____
Learn from the mistakes of others, you won't live long enough to make all of them yourself.

[mattblan]

no conflicts

[Spadfan]

Thanks for the reassurances about not having any conflicts. http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif

Now, any suggestions for a sound board in the 50 to 75 dollar range?

T 6/7 Complete
Injured 4/20/74

[jimnms]

What do you use your computer for? Do you play games, need 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound, or do you just want something to listen to music with?

_____
Learn from the mistakes of others, you won't live long enough to make all of them yourself.

[Spadfan]

I just play CDs occasionally. I am not much of a gamer, so I don't need anything very fancy. I guess what I am trying say is I just need a basic sound board.

T 6/7 Complete
Injured 4/20/74

[jimnms]

Wether gaming or just music and DVD's, you can't go wrong with this (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=29-118-101&depa=1) card.

You can get cheaper basic cards, but I'd try to stick with a trusted name brand. If you're looking to buy online, here's (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?catalog=57&DEPA=1&submit=list&mfrcode=0&propertycodevalue=) a good place to look. You might also want to check some local places, so if it doesn't work or you don't like it, you can take it back.

_____
Learn from the mistakes of others, you won't live long enough to make all of them yourself.

[Spadfan]

Jim,

Thanks for your help. I told my wife I was going to order the board you recommended and I found out she had already ordered a Soundblaster 5.1 after talking to our son. Damn, I never get to spend any money. http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

T 6/7 Complete
Injured 4/20/74

[Scott Pruett]

I know I'm a little late, but I'll toss in my $0.02.

I broke off part of a 1/8" headphone jack in my Powerbook's audio out port... NOTHING could get it out (tweezers, pliers, super glue, etc), and I think I bent something in there. So, I was screwed. My OS thought I had something plugged in, and wouldn't do squat... couldn't even get sound from the notebook speakers.

So I bought one of these, and it rocks: M-Audio 7.1 Sonica Theater (http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.main&ID=eee876ef2e6cbb4ac377f83c406e8885).

Being a laptop, I needed something external. I think this was around $100... and it does sound better than the on-board sound card did.

[jimnms]

Originally posted by Spadfan:

Jim,

Thanks for your help. I told my wife I was going to order the board you recommended and I found out she had already ordered a Soundblaster 5.1 after talking to our son. Damn, I never get to spend any money. http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

T 6/7 Complete
Injured 4/20/74

The SB 5.1 is a good card. I have an Audigy2. I used to own a SB 5.1. I hope they've fixed their WinXP drivers. After upgrading to XP, I got a horible static in all my games unless I disabled the sound card's hardware acceleration. The card was flawless in Win9x. They've come out with new drivers since I got rid of it, but since you don't play games it shouldn't be a problem. Playing MP3's and DVD's always sounded good on my old SB 5.1.

If you still want to spend some money, go buy some nice digital 5.1 speakers. http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

_____
Learn from the mistakes of others, you won't live long enough to make all of them yourself.