Upgrade the Sound Card

How to decide if a sound card upgrade is cost effective

Sound system quality is about the most subjective measure of computer performance you can make. You can get your PC to sound as good as your stereo if that's your goal, but it's not a logical thing to do. In fact, the easiest way to upgrade your PC's sound system is to run an audio patch cable from the "line out" on your sound card to the "line in" on your stereo, as many people already do with their television sets.

But, assuming you've decided you need to upgrade your sound card, probably for playing games, it's important to compare apples with apples. If your sound card doesn't support 3D sound and you want to set up four speakers and hear enemies shifting around behind your back, then buy a 3D sound card. If you want to record music, by all means, buy a sound card known for its A/D conversion. If you want to compose music on your computer with MIDI and wave table sound, go for the top shelf card.

3D sound, or Dolby SurroundSound, is primarily intended for game playing or watching DVD movies. Four channel sound is the old-fashioned quadrophonics, two front speakers and two back speakers. Six channel sound, also known as 5.1 audio, uses front and back speaker pairs, an additional midrange speaker for the front or back, plus a subwoofer. Eight channel sound, or 7.1 audio, adds a pair of speakers for the sides. 5.1 audio is incorporated in most new motherboards supporting sound, though an add-in PCI adapter costs less than $20. 7.1 audio is only included on high-end motherboards. I did an illustrated how to upgrade the sound card on another page.

But, if you want LOUD, look at your speakers first. You can pay anywhere from $5 to over $100 for PC speakers. Keep in mind that when you buy PC speakers, you're buying a built in amplifier with the speaker, and how much amplifier do you think you can buy for $5? The audio industry has been very creative about putting big sound in small boxes, but it costs more than big sound in big boxes, so don't get caught up with style unless you have the spare change.

If you have installed a speech recognition system and you suspect the sound card isn't up to snuff, start with a noise canceling microphone. If you hear static and pops when you listen to audio on the PC, it's probably got nothing to do with your sound system. Streaming audio over the Internet is subject to the quality of your connection, the capabilities of the server dishing out the sound, the quality of the initial recording and the audio compression codec used.

The best way to test the audio "quality" of your sound card is to play a simple music CD. If it sounds OK, your quality issue probably lays elsewhere in the computer or the delivery mechanism. The one definitive comment I'll venture about sound quality is that it's never a reason to replace your PC. Sound is not a processor or memory intensive application, you don't need big iron to play quality music.

The primary difficulty encountered when you upgrade a sound card is the software, and occasionally, the onboard motherboard sound balking at being cut out of the equation. The software problem is similar to that with video cards, the CD will usually contain drivers for a several related sound cards, and you might not be able to determine which one is actually yours!

Illustrated guide to replacing a sound card