Could do with some advice here from all those who know about PC hardware.
I have an old PIII 700mhz desktop with 512mb RAM running Windows 2000 Professional SP4. The motherboard has onboard sound and graphics, but the onboard left channel occasionally 'crackles' (seems to be related to the hard drive being accessed).
I'm not even sure how good the onboard sound is, plus a couple of my game emulators won't recognise it so they work without sound
Anyway, what I'd like to know is:
I've had a look on GreEdyBay and found a few Creative Soundblaster cards. Seems to me that perhaps the 5.1 Live version might be best for my machine, such as this?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Creative-Labs...27QQihZ001QQcategoryZ3701QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Or can anyone suggest something else? I've seen a lot of 5.1 sound cards in FleaBay Hong Kong going for very little. Are they any good or best avoided?
What is important for me is for the card to have a stereo line in (mini jack is fine), a microphone line in and good quality of analogue/ digital sound processing. I will be converting some rare vinyl records and also tapes, so analogue to digital conversion quality is important too.
It also needs to be a PCI card as my PC doesn't have ISA connections.
What would people suggest?
I have an old PIII 700mhz desktop with 512mb RAM running Windows 2000 Professional SP4. The motherboard has onboard sound and graphics, but the onboard left channel occasionally 'crackles' (seems to be related to the hard drive being accessed).
I'm not even sure how good the onboard sound is, plus a couple of my game emulators won't recognise it so they work without sound
Anyway, what I'd like to know is:
- Would installing a soundcard actually help free up the CPU (as the motherboard wouldn't have to use the onboard sound) and make the computer faster?
- Which sound card would people recommend for the spec of my PC?
I've had a look on GreEdyBay and found a few Creative Soundblaster cards. Seems to me that perhaps the 5.1 Live version might be best for my machine, such as this?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Creative-Labs...27QQihZ001QQcategoryZ3701QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Or can anyone suggest something else? I've seen a lot of 5.1 sound cards in FleaBay Hong Kong going for very little. Are they any good or best avoided?
What is important for me is for the card to have a stereo line in (mini jack is fine), a microphone line in and good quality of analogue/ digital sound processing. I will be converting some rare vinyl records and also tapes, so analogue to digital conversion quality is important too.
It also needs to be a PCI card as my PC doesn't have ISA connections.
What would people suggest?
This post contains affiliate links which may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.