Upgrading...suggestions please

J

Jahya

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I have a $400 budget and I need the following:

1) New Soundcard (currently have Soundblaster Pro 64 AWE ISA w/ 64 meg onboard memory -- card is about 6+ years old)

2) New DSL modem (currently have a SpeedStream 5620 -- about 3 years old, no firmware upgrades available, model no longer supported and it seems to be getting more and more unreliable by the day)

If possible, I would like to have enough left over for some memory. I could really use another 256 meg. From what I've priced modems at I'm looking at about $75 - $100, and the soundcards that I looked at ranged between $150 and $300. I have no way of purchasing online, so I'm stuck with a local retailer, but the place I usually go to is pretty decently priced and has an awesome selection. The memory I need is $46.

I use my computer for a lot of audio recording/mixing/editing. Any suggestions?
 
Local retailers suck.

I'm guessing you can't buy off line because of no credit card/debit card but one suggestion would be eBay. Look for someone who'll accept checks or money orders. Money orders especially are cheap and easy to come by.

As far as good and cheap sound card, check out a Sound Blaster Live Value or Live Value 5.1. Good solid cards and usually under $40 new even with shipping.

Cisco 675 or 678 are good ones with built in NAT, DHCP, and a scad of other stuff. In the range you're looking for. Make sure it works with your local provider though.

Good luck!
 
Okay, I'm gonna say some things that I'm sure that I'm gonna catch alot of flack for but here it goes.

The soundcard that you have is not that bad. If you really want to upgrade, look for the following:

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
VideoLogic Sonic Fury
Hercules Fortissimo II or III
Anything by Terratec, M-Audio or Delta

All SoundBlasters Since the last batch of PCI 128's have a serious issue with resampling all audio to 48 kHz.
 
Originally posted by dreamliner77


The soundcard that you have is not that bad.

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
VideoLogic Sonic Fury
Hercules Fortissimo II or III
Anything by Terratec, M-Audio or Delta

Actually, the soundcard I have is awesome, that's why I still have it. But it is having an issue with the line out and what's the point of a soundcard if I can't run it to my stereo? But the main reason I want a new soundcard is b/c I plan on getting a new board soon and as far as I know it's nearly impossible to get a decent board that still supports ISA slots. So i figured I could kill two problems with one card.

As for the suggestions, I will definately look into all but the Turtle Beach b/c I will never buy another TB card again. The only TB card I ever owned was a TB (Oasis? -- can't remember it was trashed long ago) Pro Surround 64 that I replaced w/ the Soundblaster I currently have because the TB had so many issues and never would play more than two channels at a time no matter how it was configured, tweaked, cursed at, updated etc.. This was quite some time ago and I'd imagine that many issues have been resolved by now, but the experience ruined any chance TB ever had of me buying more from them.

Thanks!
 
i've haven't heard anything bad about the hercules cards at all. if i was looking for a sound card right now, i'd get that. haven't heard anything about the m-audio card, though, but it looks absolutely solid. but that revolution costs over twice as much as the fortissimo III. :huh:
 
Don't be prejudiced against TB. It is perhaps the best sub-$100 card on the market. The M-Audio is great too.
 
The M-Audio is considered one of the best consumer Audio cards out right now, I am considering upgrading to it from my nForce 2 Audio. (if I can find it up here in Canada)
 

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