A good sound card for gaming?

[ThunderPower]

Hi, I really need to update my sound card (I have an onboard Realtek ALC888) and I need to stay within a $100 price range. I want a good, clear card that won't crackle or anything like that, and is good for gaming. It doesn't need to be perfect, but anything that's good for gaming and better than a Realtek ALC888 would help.

So, any suggestions?

 

[nismo91]

Is ALC 888 that bad? I thought ALC has 5.1 setup already? (20-bit)
I suggest that you put a 24-bit card like X-Fi, but the most important thing is your speakers, if your speakers level is higher than the soundcard (in terms of quality and price), then upgrading to X-Fi is a good choice.

 

[sghiznaneck]

The X-Fi is a lot more than the $100 he wants to spend.

 

[rmdl51]

Any Card from Creative Sound Blaster line is way much better that Realtek, I have the Creative Audigy 2ZS along with the Inspire 7700 speakers and they are great for gaming, I paid $100 each a couple of years ago but now should be cheaper, Last time I checked I saw the Audigy for $79.99, check on that one I highly recommend that card.

 

[Fred G]

you guys are are right, an X-FI card is the way to go. Its not true that all x-fi cards cost over a $100, i recomend getting the x-fi extreme gamer, it costs only $94 and can be found here:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2687632&Tab=0&NoMapp=0

I'm considering this card for my new pc myself. I also recomend getting good speakers to go with that card, but i think inspire p7800 7.1 speakers will be better, but thats just my opinion. they cost about $80.