First soundcard

Raj · 29 Jul 2006 at 14:04

Im building my first PC and its my first soundcard, ive chosen the following:

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 7.1 EAX Sound Card - OEM - £30.50

I already own a set of 7.1 medium okish Creative speakers and was wondering a few things.

1) Is this the best soundcard for its money for playing games and listening to music (im no audiophile)

2) Does OEM just mean no manuals, no shiny box and no driver CDs? or is there more to it?

Thanks in advance, Raj

Shakey_Jake33 · 29 Jul 2006 at 14:12

The card is an absolute steal for the price. Most people won't notice any real difference between this card and the X-Fi (I can, but it's not night and day), and it's massively cheaper. Best bang-for-buck card out there I reckon.

They usually do come with the driver CD though (my old OEM Audigy2ZS did anyway), as you can't get the control panel etc from the Creative page.

Raj · 29 Jul 2006 at 14:14

Are there any wires missing? like the wire that goes between the CD/DVD drive and the sound card thing?

Sweetloaf · 29 Jul 2006 at 17:50

Raj said:
Are there any wires missing? like the wire that goes between the CD/DVD drive and the sound card thing?

Not needed with XP and beyond

Raj · 30 Jul 2006 at 21:11

Is it likely that i will notice the differance between onboard sound of a Gigabyte DS3 and this, i know its a personal thing, i cannot tell the differance in bit rate past 192 kbs?

Basically is it worth spending it on the sound card, i do play a lot of games, just coudl spend the money on going from E6300 to E6400.

Thanks in advance, Raj