please help me pick a decent soundcard

[mamadu]

Hi,

I was given an old computer upon which Debian GNU/Linux runs really
well, but it does not have a soundcard. I have very little money and
here are the three I have found which would be cheap and recognized for
sure (creative labs soundblaster cards are very common).

1) Sound Blaster® Audigy® SE PCI Sound Card
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2262055

2) Creative Labs Sound Blaster® Audigy® SE PCI Sound Card
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2268373

3) Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy SE Sound Card, SB0570
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4978926

They all sell for the same price: 29$

(The reason why I picked Radio Shack and Walmart is that they have
stores nearby where I can return the cards if there is a problem)

Which of these three is the best one for the price?

Many thanks for any pointers,

Mamadu

PS: I run Debian-Sarge on an old 500MHz/256MB machine with spare parts
from all over and an HP Pavillion motherboard

 

[John-Paul Stewart]

Hi,

I was given an old computer upon which Debian GNU/Linux runs really
well, but it does not have a soundcard. I have very little money and
here are the three I have found which would be cheap and recognized for
sure (creative labs soundblaster cards are very common).

1) Sound Blaster® Audigy® SE PCI Sound Card
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2262055

2) Creative Labs Sound Blaster® Audigy® SE PCI Sound Card
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2268373

3) Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy SE Sound Card, SB0570
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4978926

They all sell for the same price: 29$

(The reason why I picked Radio Shack and Walmart is that they have
stores nearby where I can return the cards if there is a problem)

Which of these three is the best one for the price?

All three of those URLs describe the same sound card. (Look at the
"part number" field on each page. You'll see what I mean.)

 

[Paul]

Hi,

I was given an old computer upon which Debian GNU/Linux runs really
well, but it does not have a soundcard. I have very little money and
here are the three I have found which would be cheap and recognized for
sure (creative labs soundblaster cards are very common).

1) Sound Blaster=AE Audigy=AE SE PCI Sound Card
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3D2262055

2) Creative Labs Sound Blaster=AE Audigy=AE SE PCI Sound Card
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3D2268373

3) Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy SE Sound Card, SB0570
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3D4978926

They all sell for the same price: 29$

(The reason why I picked Radio Shack and Walmart is that they have
stores nearby where I can return the cards if there is a problem)

Which of these three is the best one for the price?

Many thanks for any pointers,

Mamadu

PS: I run Debian-Sarge on an old 500MHz/256MB machine with spare parts
from all over and an HP Pavillion motherboard

The cards look the same to me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALSA_(Linux)
http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/index.php?vendor=vendor-Creative_Labs

http://groups.google.ca/groups?q=ca0106 (search based on audio chip used)

Other possible solutions, are to find a prehistoric CMI8738 based
card. The sound quality is probably not as nice as the Audigy SE
with a Windows driver, but it may give you fewer problems. ($9.99)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829120102

http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/index.php?vendor=vendor-C-Media

The CMI8738 cards vary in price from $7 to $70, and you may be able
to find the cheap ones locally. In many cases, different brand names
are actually manufactured in the same factory. I bought two of the
cards (not knowing that the second one had the same sound chip as the
first), and both had problems with the faceplate of the card fitting
properly in the computer. The inspection stickers on the two cards,
were from the same factory.

The only benefit to the CMI8738, is it has been around for longer,
so the ALSA driver is more likely to work.

I use a CMI8738 on my gaming machine, and while the sound is
"uninspiring", the output is in fact more technically correct,
than the sound I could get from the sound chip built into
my motherboard.

I would buy the Audigy SE for $30, and if you cannot get it
to work, a purchase of the $10 card will at least give you
some sound.

Paul

 

[mamadu]

Thanks for the explanations. I noticed this on the Radio Shack webpage
for this card:

You'll also need

* Intel® Pentium® III, Celeron® 1GHz or equivalent AMD®
processor
* 128MB RAM for Microsoft® Windows® 2000 SP4, Windows® XP SP 1
or Windows XP® Pro x64



My CPU is only a Intel Celeron 500MHz with 256MB RAM

Should I worry about not having a 1GHz proc?

 

[John-Paul Stewart]

Thanks for the explanations. I noticed this on the Radio Shack webpage
for this card:

You'll also need

* Intel® Pentium® III, Celeron® 1GHz or equivalent AMD®
processor
* 128MB RAM for Microsoft® Windows® 2000 SP4, Windows® XP SP 1
or Windows XP® Pro x64



My CPU is only a Intel Celeron 500MHz with 256MB RAM

Should I worry about not having a 1GHz proc?

I wouldn't worry about it. I suspect the CPU requirement pertains to
the included (Windows) software, rather than anything to do with the
hardware. But do be sure you can return the card, just in case.