Sound Card

[Gunther]

I'm having problems with my current sound card. I am unable to update the drivers and considering replacing. What are decent sound cards out there today? My current card is Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio. I'm not very impressed with this one.

[BigBossMonkey]

Depending on your Motherboard, the onboard audio might be pretty good.

Shame to hear about your card, I'm using a... 8 year old 7.1 Soundblaster and it's been holding up great

[Gunther]

I've never had problems with sound blaster in the past. My current computer is only 2 years old. The most recent drivers offered were set up in August, 2009. There is no update available. I've reinstalled the same driver twice now and it does not resolve the problem. I would like to be able to use a mic and cannot. I even had a tech smart guy come over to the house and look at my computer. He has arrived at that location where I found on my own. I just sent him another frustrated E-mail. I'll give him another chance. If his solution doesn't work, I'll replace this useless sound card that has a broken driver.

Looking online, it appears I may need to upgrade to Sound Blaster's Titanium sound card.

[roadrunner]

I'm with monkey on this one. I had a creative card in my PC but with the improvements in onboard audio I ditched the card. Even in my HTPC I use the onboard audio and don't notice any difference between that and other sources (receiver, cable box, ...). When I build my Ivy Bridge PC later this year I will use the onboard audio again.

[Gunther]

Do you guys have links to this "onboard audio"? where can I buy it? Do I have to replace my keyboard to use it? or is it inserted in the slot like traditional sound cards?

[roadrunner]

Onboard audio is built into the motherboard. Different MBs have better or worse chips integrated to support it. What is the make/model of you MB or do you see the mini rca plugs in the back of the computer that don't belong to you problem sound card?

[Gunther]

There are no RCA plugs at the rear of the CPU which are not part of the sound Card. There are RCA plugs on top which are allocated for a headphone and mic, but those don't work either. I have a Dell Studio XPS 435T/9000 with ~920 GB hard drive. I have no idea what sort of mother board is in this thing.

It really sounds like you guys are getting into something that is beyond my comprehension. I was just asking what is a decent sound card I could get to replace my existing one. IF I replace the mother board, isn't that like replacing the computer itself? I can't afford to do that. Forget about building one. The first time I do that, I break something and the money is shot. If there is away to break something, I'll find it.

[roadrunner]

I looked at Dell's site and it looks like that model should have onboard audio (whether it is good is another question). The link below is to the setup guide and look at page 20-21. Do you have these on the back of your PC?

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/435T/en/SG/sg_en.pdf

and yes I can say that I know if there is something that can go wrong on a PC you will find it

[Gunther]

IT is correct except that like I said before, the only RCA jacks are the ones on the Sound Card. There aren't any on the back of the CPU tower as depicted in that picture.

[roadrunner]

Looks like you are in the market for a add-on card since that is your only option. The card you stated earlier is a good card but is seems a little pricey. I have horrible hearing so I have not kept up with the technology and would have to rely on customer reviews. From what I read that one is pretty good.