[SOLVED] Which sound card wou you recommend for a MSI 890FXA-GD70 motherboard ?

My MSI 890FXA-GD70 motherboard arrives tomorrow. I'm looking for advice on which sound card to purchase. I prefer it to be full featured- not just for gaming or videos, etc. I prefer one that makes games, music and videos sound the way they should. Other current components involved are a XFX Radeon HD5770 video card and a Hauppage WinTV HVR-1850 t.v. tuner. Both of those are going to eventually be upgraded, as is my Phenom 965 BE cpu to a Phenom 2 1100T cpu. I'm also adding a 2nd 8.0 gb. kit of the G-Skill Ripjaws ram next month.

The board already has an excellent sound chip in the Realtek ALC889 chipset. Check out the reviews regarding this chipset and you'll see what I mean.

In this review a Realtek ALC889 goes head to head with the Creative XFI soundcard: http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-373-2.htm

When I was in audio and hi-fi sales in the early 70's the BIGGEST difference in how a system sounds is the speakers, plain and simple. It doesn't really matter, up to a point, on how much one spends on preamps, amplifiers, equalizers, etc., it's the speakers that make the difference time and time again. I have proved this point many times in the past during blindfold tests and people were amazed at the difference in sound there is between various brands and configurations of speakers.

Don't waste your money on a sound card, instead get yourself an topnotch computer speaker system designed by a dedicated speaker manufacturer such as Klipsch. You won't regret it as Klipsch has been known to make some of the finest audiophile speakers in the world and have been for over 50 years.

Check out the ProMedia 2.1 These speakers are KICKA$$ !! http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/product...a-2-1-reviews/

I agree with Nibs, quality speakers means everything. I used to spend over $1,000 on my car and truck audio systems, mainly on high power amps (which I usually fried). Yet only spent $150 of that on the speakers (usually 4 of them).

When I started spending $200+ for a pair of speakers, and less on amps, the sound was quite better, not to mention that the systems lasted longer.

Polk is my favorite (their better ones), but I've never seen those for computers.

Cat

Thanks guys. I currently have a 2005 era Cyber Acoustics 2.1 set of speakers. They sound pretty good. I'm a ex-drummer so I know what sounds good or bad. Just had to stop playing due to nerve damage and bone spurs in shoulders from Insulin Dependant (Type 1) Diabetes. I may get a Logitech 2.1 or 5.1 set, but that one's last on the parts list. I just found out through what MSI told Maximum PC, the 890FXA-GD70 and GD65 mobo's are Bulldozer ready. I'm upgrading to one of the 6-core cpu's around September/October. Next month I'm getting a 2nd 8.0 gb. kit of the G-Skill Ripjaws Series r.a.m. After that I'm getting a newer AMD video card and a Hauppage WinTV HVR-2250. Video card wise, it's going to be either a HD6790 2.0 gb. or a HD6950 2.0 gb. After those 3 are out of the way I'll get newer speakers.

Me, too Cat. I had a friend when I lived in California that did shows for Alpine. His car stereo system was worth a good $3000.00+ back in 97. If a drummer did a solo on a song, each drum or cymbal came out a different speaker and it kinda circled the inside of his car. It sounded wicked. It was basically like that with any instrument or vocals, but drums really stood out.

I was just looking at an MSI notebook that had a 2GB dedicated graphics card, at Newegg. But it was out of my price range.

For it's size, you'd think that it would be DDR5, rather than DDR3, but I'm not experienced enough to know the difference. Only what reviewers are saying as to it's size, and it's price ($1,299).

I'm going to be adding the max of RAM that my next notebook will hold, too. Most that I've looked at holds at least 8GB, a few as much as 12GB, and one that holds 16GB. RAM prices must be dropping again, Newegg sent me a few ads, 8GB DDR3 (2 x4GB), for as little as $59 through $69, on their Shell Shockers. I've never seen this much RAM sold for these prices before.

I agree with you, the speakers can be purchased last.

Good Luck with your build. My next PC will be self built too.

Cat

From what I heard the HD6790 is $179.99 and replaces the HD5770 which is what I currently have. However the HD6790 has a 1.0 and 2.0 gb. versions. It was in a article at Maximum PC either Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. I believe the HD6950 is just under $250.00. If you get the MSI version of the HD6950 it can be overclocked to the HD6970's performance. It's looking between one of those 2 for me and possibly 2 of them. However today I get to upgrade my motherboard/r.a.m. when they arrive later and update the bios. Then I'm leeting OC Genie Lite automatically overclock my 965 BE cpu and the r.a.m. Then re-install Windows and run Windows Easy Transfer. Then install my other software after updating the drivers. Time consuming, but a piece of cake. I already got in touch with all the software vendor's, so re-activations are already enabled on that end. I've already got a Macrium Reflect Image and Windows Backup from Sunday on my external drive. Plus that's where the Easy Transfer is going. I've got all drivers, SP1, bios updates and security software on a 8 gb. flash drive and Memtest+86 on a second flash drive. I'm reformatting both my internal drives after doing the 1st Easy Transfer. Before that doing full scans in Safe Mode with MSE, Malwarebytes and SUPERAntiSpyware. Hey, Nibs I finally got the DVD-D cable yesterday. Picture on screen looks magnifient now.

Here's the link about the HD6790.http://www.maximumpc.com/article/amd...radeon_hd_6790

I am curious. Why do you need a total of 16 GB of RAM? What are your plans for your new setup that requires so much RAM?

^^^+1

I've yet to see my RAM usage over 2.5 GB. My RAM usage is generally under 1.5 GB. I don't see buying rent houses when no one uses the address.