The following advises are based on many years of experience. They are provided as a free service to our customers and visitors. However, Computer Warehouse is not responsible for any damage as a result of following any of these guides.
The quality of onboard audio has been dramatically increasing in the past year or so. Many new integrated solutions such as the nVidia nForce/nForce2 chipsets and cheap 5.1 integrated solutions like the C-Media 8738 have taken onboard audio to level acceptable by many. Most new motherboards now have at least some form of onboard audio. If you are buying a new motherboard you may want to see how you like the onboard audio before purchasing a separate sound card. You may very well find that the onboard sound is more then adequate for your needs.
Most computer sound systems are designed for both gamers and music lovers at the same time. An inexpensive sound card of any brand, costing only Rs 300 to 500, together with an inexpensive pair of speakers, is adequate for most average users.
With the advent of DVD, new multimedia software, MP3 audio, and high bandwidth Internet access on the horizon, the reason to have sound on a computer is changing. A realistic surround sound system is a must if you want to watch movies on your computer monitor.
For gamers the good news is that the prices of high-end sound cards have been falling like a rock in the past years or so. One popular high-end sound card, the SoundBlaster Live used to cost Rs 3500, just a year and a half ago and now goes for a small fraction of that. As the Audigy is being replaced with the Audigy II price on them are also dropping.
Feedback from our customers and our own testing suggest that the result of high-end speakers with subwoofers does not correlate well with the price of such products.
The term 6-Channel audio and 5.1 audio are used interchangeable and mean basically the same thing.
