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Thread: Anyone have experience with external soundcards?

  1. #1
    iShot the Sheriff jdbnsn's Avatar
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    Default Anyone have experience with external soundcards?

    I need to free up a PCI slot and was thinking about either an external sound card or external TV tuner. I found this on ebay and was wondering if they are worth a damn. Any thoughts?


    Jon
    "At the midpoint on the journey of life, I found myself in a dark forest, for the clear path was lost..." -Dante Alighieri

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    I come from a land down under. simon275's Avatar
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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with external soundcards?

    Review

    http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-176-1.htm

    Doesn't seem that special.
    Need a sig

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    Religiously tolerant. Luke122's Avatar
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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with external soundcards?

    I'm using an M-Audio Mobile-Pre USB external soundcard. It's just a 2 channel unit with 2 inputs, each with a preamp and two different plugs for input (XLR or 1/4"). Also has it's own headphone amp with sep. volume control, and gain for each channel as well.

    Great for recording, terriffic sound quality output, but way overkill unless you need the preamp, and no 5.1 out.

    I paid $195 CAD for it last summer, and I'm happy with it.

    \m/ d(-_-)b \m/

    R9 290X+Kraken+Corsair H90, Xeon 5649@4ghz, Asus P6T-WS Pro

  4. #4
    That's classified.
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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with external soundcards?

    How good is your onboard sound? Any noticeable difference?

    I would think getting an external TV tuner would be better than an external sound card. The external ones often have cablecard support if necessary too.

    EDIT: How many PCI cards do you have, BTW?

  5. #5
    iShot the Sheriff jdbnsn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with external soundcards?

    Thanks guys,

    I was starting to lean towrds the TV tuner also, my soundblaster just kills my onboard. I have 3 PCI slots but because of the dual GPU's one of them cannot be accessed.
    "At the midpoint on the journey of life, I found myself in a dark forest, for the clear path was lost..." -Dante Alighieri

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    Anodized r0adawg's Avatar
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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with external soundcards?

    Hey,

    I have one of these:

    http://tinyurl.com/3cp6vd

    and I've been pleased with it for several years.... better price now than then. I've got mine hooked up to my home theater.... excellent sound.

    however, its no longer supported by sound blaster... if you go this route... I can dig up the drivers for it tho...

  7. #7
    Religiously tolerant. Luke122's Avatar
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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with external soundcards?

    Quote Originally Posted by MintyMadness View Post
    You could always get a PCI extention.. has a ribbon cable,and allows you to plug in a PCI card to it,and mount wherever you like.. But you would more than likely have to mod your case for it..........

    -Jeremy
    Lol.. well THAT wont do at all! We cant have modding around here!

    \m/ d(-_-)b \m/

    R9 290X+Kraken+Corsair H90, Xeon 5649@4ghz, Asus P6T-WS Pro

  8. #8

    Default Re: Anyone have experience with external soundcards?

    Quote Originally Posted by jdbnsn View Post
    I was starting to lean towrds the TV tuner also
    ... I'd chew on it a bit. I have experience with external TV tuners and they haven't been great. They tend to be usb and somewhere along the line they get bottlenecked and you get a jumpy picture or slow framerate. Or they need frequent rebooting and suchlike. It's happened on more than one occasion on more than one system. It might have been curable and others experience is perhaps different. But I do know computers and especially if you have other stuff running on usb I wouldn't jump in to it thinking you have your answer.

    Matthew

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    iShot the Sheriff jdbnsn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with external soundcards?

    Good to know, thanks for the advice. I was actually wondering about that but haven't met anyone who owned an external tuner so I had no input. I have thought of another solution that solves this problem. I just need to get a different pump that can connect directly to a molex and I won't need the PCI slot, I can use this pump on a different mod down the road.
    "At the midpoint on the journey of life, I found myself in a dark forest, for the clear path was lost..." -Dante Alighieri

  10. #10
    iShot the Sheriff jdbnsn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Anyone have experience with external soundcards?

    No, the pump is designed for aquariums so it runs off 110V. There are PCI cards built to control power to the pump. You plug the cord from 110V to the back of the PCI card and it simply senses when the comp is powered up, then switches on the 110V to the pump.
    "At the midpoint on the journey of life, I found myself in a dark forest, for the clear path was lost..." -Dante Alighieri

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