Sound card

[beefhole]

Was wondering if y'all had any suggestions on a good, CHEAP sound card-the realtek chip that came with the computer (which I suspect of being integrated) is absolute crap-I also suspect that it's fried, because I've been getting crackly noises in most of my games, particularily FS.

PS. It might not be integerated-I only have one card in the white slots on my motherboard, a small green card-could that be it? (n00b )

[the_autopilot]

Ac97 realtek sound "card" right?

I recommend a creative soundblaster Live: 24-bit.

Its a great card for its price which is about $20 USD at my local computer hardware store.

EAX, 7.1 support and all that.

[beefhole]

Ac97 realtek sound "card" right?

Yup, that sounds about right.

I'll look into that audigy

[congo]

The realtek onboard my nforce2 and especially the nforce4 mainboard had better sound than my soundblaster Live! cards. I used to get crackle on the nforce2 sometimes, so i would use driver cleaner and reinstall the sound with an updated realtek driver.

Latest driver is 3.74 I believe and I found it here:

http://www.softwarepatch.com/utilities/ac97.html

and Yes, it's a generic driver for all the realtek AC'97
chips as far as I'm aware, and it's released by Realtek.

The onboard on my nForce4 mainboard is the best sound I've had so far......... but then, I'm easily pleased.  8)

[beefhole]

Ahh, all I ever do is update my video drivers (which usually creates more problems than it ever solves ), I'll try updating drivers before I buy a new card.

[the_autopilot]

The realtek onboard my nforce2 and especially the nforce4 mainboard had better sound than my soundblaster Live! cards. I used to get crackle on the nforce2 sometimes, so i would use driver cleaner and reinstall the sound with an updated realtek driver.

A live should sound better. Its supports EAX, which when combined with a game that supports it and some good speakers, blows on-board sound away.

If you willing to splurge a little, get an soundblaster audigy 2. Thats definitely much much much better than on-board audio.