Buy Creative or Turtle Beach?

bondfan · 03-19-2007, 01:24 PM

I'm building a middle of the road computer:
DFI LANParty Crossfire Mobo with AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 939 processor
450 W power supply
2 GB PC3200 RAM
BFG 6600 OC video card (512 MB)
Lightscribe DVD burner
Sony DVD player.

I need a sound card... Any suggestions?I'm kinda leaning towards the Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Gamer 24 bit card (about 100 bucks here in Canada).

Thanks from a newbie pc builder.

**Deleted090308** · 03-19-2007, 02:32 PM

Hi,
I think that PSU is a little 'weak'. Go for the X-FI.

Nicholas

**smz** · 03-19-2007, 02:56 PM

In the earlier days I may have suggest Turtle Beach. I owned a pro audio card from them that I got a serious discount on when I went to the comdex show one year. But when you are talking about today's computers, Creative Labs is sort of the household name for 3rd party sound almost like Windows is the household name for What operating system are you going to run... Heck, even a Current Mac with OSX can run Windows XP.

Don't get me wrong. Turtle beach is a great company, but as far as how software authors test their products, I would certainly think most test beds have creative cards in them.

**TheMatt** · 03-19-2007, 03:43 PM

Hi,

Creative and Turtle beach are both great brands. If you are looking for a card with digital audio out, then lean toward Turtle Beach. If you want top of the line sound, go for Creative.

Just a note, most onboard sound, including yours, is pretty good these days, so you probably won't even need a dedicated sound card unless you are a serious audiophile.

BTW, what brand PSU is that? You should be looking at a quality 550 w PSU for that system. I would look at this:
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index...023&cid=PS.808
Take a look at this thread.
http://www.techsupportforum.com/hard...selection.html

bondfan · 03-21-2007, 08:58 AM

Thanks for all the advice on the cards. And on the PSU. I checked the box; it's a Raidmax Scorpio 902 case with a 450 W PSU. I have read some of that thread on choosing a power supply and realize now that my 'good deal' may have been just a fair deal. The case seems okay, but I think I'll look into a bteer PSU.
No point in driving a Beemer with only a 40 HP motor in it!

I think I will go with Creative on the sound card... now where's that lottery ticket..

**smz** · 03-21-2007, 03:34 PM

I also have a Scorpio case that came stock with the 450W. I quickly changed it out for a 600W because at the time I was running an AMD Athlon System and 450 was just barely enough. It's a cool case though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bondfan

Thanks for all the advice on the cards. And on the PSU. I checked the box; it's a Raidmax Scorpio 902 case with a 450 W PSU. I have read some of that thread on choosing a power supply and realize now that my 'good deal' may have been just a fair deal. The case seems okay, but I think I'll look into a bteer PSU.
No point in driving a Beemer with only a 40 HP motor in it!

I think I will go with Creative on the sound card... now where's that lottery ticket..

**TheMatt** · 03-23-2007, 01:05 PM

You should take a look at this PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371002

03-19-2007, 01:24 PM	#1 (permalink)
bondfan Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 14 OS: Win XP	Buy Creative or Turtle Beach? I'm building a middle of the road computer: DFI LANParty Crossfire Mobo with AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 939 processor 450 W power supply 2 GB PC3200 RAM BFG 6600 OC video card (512 MB) Lightscribe DVD burner Sony DVD player. I need a sound card... Any suggestions?I'm kinda leaning towards the Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Gamer 24 bit card (about 100 bucks here in Canada). Thanks from a newbie pc builder.

03-19-2007, 02:32 PM	#2 (permalink)
Deleted090308 Not... Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 22,277 OS: Xp	Re: Buy Creative or Turtle Beach? Hi, I think that PSU is a little 'weak'. Go for the X-FI. Nicholas

03-19-2007, 02:56 PM	#3 (permalink)
smz Hardware Tech Specialist Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 705 OS: Mac OS X / W2K3 Server / XP Home/MCE/Pro / Vista Ultimate / Ubuntu Linux My System	Re: Buy Creative or Turtle Beach? In the earlier days I may have suggest Turtle Beach. I owned a pro audio card from them that I got a serious discount on when I went to the comdex show one year. But when you are talking about today's computers, Creative Labs is sort of the household name for 3rd party sound almost like Windows is the household name for What operating system are you going to run... Heck, even a Current Mac with OSX can run Windows XP. Don't get me wrong. Turtle beach is a great company, but as far as how software authors test their products, I would certainly think most test beds have creative cards in them.

03-19-2007, 03:43 PM	#4 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,701 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: Buy Creative or Turtle Beach? Hi, Creative and Turtle beach are both great brands. If you are looking for a card with digital audio out, then lean toward Turtle Beach. If you want top of the line sound, go for Creative. Just a note, most onboard sound, including yours, is pretty good these days, so you probably won't even need a dedicated sound card unless you are a serious audiophile. BTW, what brand PSU is that? You should be looking at a quality 550 w PSU for that system. I would look at this: http://www.canadacomputers.com/index...023&cid=PS.808 Take a look at this thread. http://www.techsupportforum.com/hard...selection.html __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

03-21-2007, 08:58 AM	#5 (permalink)
bondfan Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 14 OS: Win XP	Re: Buy Creative or Turtle Beach? Thanks for all the advice on the cards. And on the PSU. I checked the box; it's a Raidmax Scorpio 902 case with a 450 W PSU. I have read some of that thread on choosing a power supply and realize now that my 'good deal' may have been just a fair deal. The case seems okay, but I think I'll look into a bteer PSU. No point in driving a Beemer with only a 40 HP motor in it! I think I will go with Creative on the sound card... now where's that lottery ticket..

03-23-2007, 01:05 PM	#7 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,701 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: Buy Creative or Turtle Beach? You should take a look at this PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371002 __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides