How to Buy a Sound Card

A generic 32-bit Sound Blaster-compatible sound card will let you use a microphone and listen to audio on your computer. Higher-end cards provide significantly better sound quality, and some allow increased functionality through extra inputs and outputs.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer Cases
• Sound Cards
• Internet Access

1. Check reviews in computer magazines and on the Internet to help you narrow your choices.

2. Buy a sound card that uses the PCI bus.

3. Compare features of cards, which may include a headphone jack, multiple audio outputs (including multichannel for various surround sound formats), a MIDI connector, an S/PDIF (digital output for connection to an outboard converter), and software for gaming, playing CDs and digital files, voice recognition, telephone capabilities and answering machine capabilities.

4. Compare specifications, especially signal-to-noise ratio. Look for a signal-to-noise ratio of at least 90 dB.

5. Buy a 64-bit sound card if you want fast game sounds or more voices for music.

6. Compare limited warranties, which range from one to five years, and tech support hours offered by the manufacturers.

7. Expect to spend between $40 and $200 for a consumer product. Prices range from $10 for a no-name card to thousands of dollars for a professional music card.

Tips & Warnings

• Some higher-end sound cards contain their own RAM and/or processors.
• Some cards include MIDI software and cables.
• The inside of a computer chassis is a very noisy environment. Analog output from a computer will always be noisy.
• Some cheap motherboards come with a sound chip that may not be bypassed.

on 11/22/2005 When buying a sound card, look for its sound depth, frequency, signal-to-noise ratio, and polyphony support (of course the higher the better). Standard depth frequency would be 24-bit 96 khz for surround, or 24-bit 192 khz for stereo.

on 11/22/2005 Try to find a sound card that windows will identify it automatically during the it's installation wich will save you time in configuring it.

on 11/22/2005 Even if your speakers have a wide frequency response, they are limited by the frequency response of the sound card's output port. Buy a card with an equal or better frequency response than your speakers or else you won't hear all your speakers offer.

on 11/22/2005 Buy a card with a good software bundle - they help a lot with upgrading and peripheral tasks.