How to Buy One of the Best Sound Cards

This article will focus on choosing one of the best sound cards for your PC.

The world of computer sound has gone from beeps out of a tiny speaker to 7.1 surround sound that rivals that of a movie theater.

On Board or Seperate Sound Card

On board sound refers to a audio decoding chip located on your motherboard used to reproduce sound with the help of speakers. Most motherboards come equipped with this feature. These chips are manufactured by such companies as Realtek and Creative. They even offer 5.1 and 7.1 setups from the motherboard. These setups tend to be several generations out of date though. They don't even come close to the offered post-processing effects of a top sound card.

Remember though, if you don't like the quality, you can always disable the onboard sound and install a dedicated sound card in an available PCI slot on your motherboard.

There are a couple of strong arguments about spending the extra money for one of the best sound cards. First, most onboard sound is dependent on the CPU for audio decoding and processing. This steals CPU cycles away from more important stuff (like playing games or viewing movies). Secondly, sound cards are not that expensive any more.

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Features To Look For

To buy one of the best sound cards be sure to look for these important features.

• EAX Compatability (enviromental audio extensions). 3D positional and enviromental sound is a must for gamers.
• DSP (digital signal processor)- Look for this onboard the sound card. It's important so you aren't using the your computer's resources to decode and reproduce sound.
• Decoding Compatability-Look for the Dolby Digital, DTS and THX certification logos.
• Connections- Make sure you have you have connections for 5.1(or higher)surround sound, headphones, microphone jack, and a S/PDIF(Sony Philips Digital Interface)digital sound socket.
• Breakout Box- Some high end sound cards like the Creative X-Fi Fatality also have a break out box that fits into a 5 1/4" slot in your computer's case. The breakout box or front end gives you access to controls such as volume, tone, balance, headphone jacks, etc.
• Remote Access-Some soundcards come bundled with a remote control. This is pretty handy especially if you are using your computer as a media center.

Conclusion

Select one of the best sound cards based on the criteria listed above if you are an avid gamer, watch DVDs, or listen to music. Creative is one of the few companies spending money these days on sound card research. Their X-Fi sound card is simply the best card on the market. Click here to check it out online.

If sound isn't that important to you buy a less expensive sound card or use a motherboard with onboard sound. See the best sound cards online here.