Audio Need a cheap soundcard

Gryph0n

Gryph0n

Adept
I think i broke my onboard integrated soundcard with my tom-foolery. So I'm looking to get a cheap soundcard (PCI or USB, whichever works cheaper).

Here are my usage profiles soundwise:

- Music (Rock, Pop, Western Classical). Formats are MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, and CD-Audio

- Movies.

- Gaming (Civilization & Age of Empires mostly)

I need recording capability for VOIP calls. And if it has a HD-Audio connector for the front-panel plugs, it would be icing on the cake.

I don't really need 5 channel or 7 channel output as my speakers are only 2.1 (Altec Lansing ATP3), and won't be changing. (No space for a Surround sound setup :()

Although I'm usually running WinXP, i also use Linux & FreeBSD frequently. Linux compatibility is a significant factor.

I'm hoping for something around 1K, but am willing to stretch upto 2K.

My system specs are as below:

CPU - Intel C2D E6750

Mobo - Intel P35

OS - WinXP, Linux
 
Look for Audigy Value sound card. Should be available for 1.7k though :(

For 1k, if you are lukcy, you may find Creative Sound Blaster Live 7.1 24-bit sound card.
 
If you want Very cheap sound card you can buy TAG sound card for around 250 Rs. Actually this is very very cheap solution for the time being.
 
Can someone tell me about the Linux compatibility for Audigy Value?

I sorta remember Creative refusing to provide drivers for Vista for their older soundcards, and so am somewhat doubtful if the soundcard has Linux drivers.
 
Gryph0n said:
Can someone tell me about the Linux compatibility for Audigy Value?

I sorta remember Creative refusing to provide drivers for Vista for their older soundcards, and so am somewhat doubtful if the soundcard has Linux drivers.
Click to expand...

Have installed Linux many times on my pc which has Creative live value which is a 4yr old card and never faced any driver issues :)
 
The Sorcerer said:
Elaborate please :).
Click to expand...

Long story

My mobo has 2 connectors labelled Audio. As I found out later, one was the High Definition Audio Link header, and the other for the Front Panel Audio Connector.

I had pulled apart the system for dust cleaning. There were dust balls choking up all of the fant vents. Unfortunately, while pulling it apart, I didnt pay close attention to where the front panel plug was attached (Front Panel Audio Connector) :ashamed:

Putting it back together, I couldn't locate the Front Panel Audio Connector. So I attached the plug to the High Definition Audio Link header.

Even then, I should have realized it wasn't the correct header since there were a lot more pins on the mobo than there were connectors on the plug. But I went ahead, and booted up the system.

Even so, there was no problem immediately. I fired up Foobar for some music, and plugged in my earphones on the front panel. No joy. Couldnt hear anything.

Wondering if I had the pins in reverse, I attached the earphones to the recording plug on the front panel. :'(

The system immediately powered off by itself. I guess that must have shorted something. Disconnected the earphones totally and rebooted.

I downloaded the Motherboard manual from Intels website, and figured out I had used the wrong mobo connectors. So shutdown the system, and connected the plug to the correct connector.

No joy again. Tried to install the drivers again, but the installer quits in a short while saying it doesn't recognize the hardware.

My guess is I've shorted out something related to the audio circuitry. Very luckily, nothing else seems to be affected, by the grace of God.

I've pulled apart my system quite a few times before, but I usually had the printed mobo manual to help me put it back. This time I couldnt find the manual and decided to just wing it. Guess I grew too overconfident in my knowledge.

So there, end of long story :ashamed:
 
Huge post but still you haven't even said which Intel p35 board you're using or given any remote idea of which onboard audio chipset you're board has nor if the connectors in the I/O panel works.

Heck you didn't even give any discription of the front panel connectors- are they like this:

imga0673aw1.jpg


or

42020usb20audio20connec.jpg


If this is the type of connector you used, I don't see how you could have reversed it since connector 8 is always blocked (unless somehow someone manage to punch a hole through it) and connector 2 for analog and HD audio is for grounding. Unless your grounding is really screwed up (if it is, how can one say it short circuited only the headers?), i don't how can you or anyone even manage "reverse" the connectors.

:|.

Intel p35 is a chipset and there are many companies with even more models with the same chipset out there and IIRC they either come with ac97 or sigmatel audio chipset- both of which have their own unique set of problems and troubleshooting.

=

You can do 2 things:

1. Either you can spend the money on a new soundcard without even knowing if there's a way to troubleshoot or not. Maybe there is and maybe there isn't.

2. Troubleshoot! provided you say which board :p. If this still doesn't work, you could either RMA the board that they would either repair/replace the board or spend and get a new card.
 
I didnt think you'd be interested in the details. So here goes:

-Motherboard model is Intel DP35DP.

-The integrated soundcard is a Sigmatel IDT STAC9271D.

The front panel connector looks very much like the one labelled "HD Audio" in your 2nd pic.

Here's a pic of my front panel plug:

e200912281394.jpg


The front panel plug has 10 pins on the connector, one of which is blocked.

e200912281395.jpg


Like I had mentioned in my earlier post, my mobo has 2 connectors for Audio.

e200912281397.jpg


If you expand the pic, you'll see that I've circled them in green. One is labelled "FP Audio" and the other is labelled "HD Audio Link". Both of these connectors have a pin missing.

"FP Audio" is missing a pin from the Top Row, 2nd last from the right.

"HD Audio Link" is missing a pin from bottom row, 3rd last from left.

A close up of "HD Audio Link":

e200912281399.jpg


Due to blindness caused by stupidity :ashamed:, I couldn't locate the "FP Audio" connector. I instead hooked up the front panel plug to "HD Audio Link", aligning the blocked pin on the plug to the missing pin on the mobo connector.

Even when I had later connected the front panel plug to the correct connector, I couldn't hear anything from the front panel audio plug. I tried the real panel audio plugs on the mobo, but still no joy.

I disabled the onboard sound in BIOS, and booted up. Then rebooted, and enabled the sound in BIOS. Still no joy. :'(

I'm willing to experiment to troubleshoot, if you have any ideas.:clap:

The mobo was bought in Dec 2007. I think its probably past its warranty. Even if it is within warranty period, I cannot send it for RMA. I need it for my daily work, gaming, music, .... Just having the sound gone makes me feel somewhat crippled. :( It would be just too awful to endure the weeks it would take for RMA

Maybe I should get a netbook :)
 
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