Installing a sound card.

[chief barker]

I am thinking of buying an audigy 2 ZS sound card from creative.

As i have never done this before i need some help in doing this.

Currently i am running my sound on the motherboard (ASUS P5GDC DELUXE)

I have looked in the BIOS and i cant find the part where is says 'onboard sound' to disable it.

Do i only need to disable this in the Device manager?.

Will i need to connect a cable to the cd rom drive?.

Will Installing this card give some performance gains (less load on the cpu...ram etc).

Also as this mobo is pci express will this card be compatible.?

Any other help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks in advance.

ASUS P5GDC DELUXE
P4 3.2 PRESCOTT (540)
X800 XT PCI EXPRESS
1536MB PC3200 (DDR400)
MAXTOR 140GB HDD
460W PSU

 

[Nodsu]

You don't have to disable the onboard sound at all, just tell Windows to use the Audigy as the primary sound device. And yes, disabling it in Device Manager will do too.

The analog cable to the CDROM is a bad idea. You will get much better quality from digital CD audio and the cable will introduce noise to your soundcard. Only use it if you can't get any sound from the CD otherwise.

You will get better performance with a dedicated soundcard. Whether you will actually notice it is another matter.

Your motherboard has 3 PCI slots. If you haven't filled those already then you can use that soundcard.

 

[chief barker]

Thanks for your swift reply......

Can you tell me exactly how to tell windows to use this card as the primary device......

Or can i just use the device manager?.

Also will the card work without the lead plugged into the cd rom?

Many Thanks.

 

[Nodsu]

You set the primary sound device in Control Panel->Sounds->Audio

Yes, it would work. Would I tell you not to use the CDROM cable if doing so rendered your soundcard unusable???