monkeygod 0 Report post Posted September 16, 2006 (edited) Hey all, so next week I will regain possession of my small Shuttle chassis PC, and I'm faced with having to choose between leaving the existing sound card in ( a Chaintech AV710), which would mean running an extremely long cable from the router to my system for internet access (not really ideal) OR swopping it out for a wireless PCI card and using the onboard Nforce 3 sound. Alternatively, I could go with external USB devices for either component. The problem being I've heard that USB wireless adapters are slower and less stable than PCI (a big factor when bit torrentting), but I don't really know of any USB sound cards in the price/performance range of the Chaintech ! Any opinions/comments appreciated ! Edited September 16, 2006 by monkeygod Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
viix 0 Report post Posted September 18, 2006 It all boils down to usage. You BT more, or listen more? Then decide what you need. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
monkeygod 0 Report post Posted September 18, 2006 I do both A LOT - hence the indecision ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bluemoon39 0 Report post Posted September 18, 2006 ya u can try the usb dac..top-gun till tempt u will all the stuff..haha... OT: actualy pci and usb netwrk card dun really differ much (to me). i tried both and decided on usb as its more flexible n u can reposition it to get best netwrk Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
monkeygod 0 Report post Posted September 18, 2006 hmm ... so any recommendations for USB sound card ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aaron-xp 0 Report post Posted September 18, 2006 (edited) I think they would rather recommend you some external USB DACs such as the Fubar II from Firestone. Looks rather appealing to me, at around USD120... http://www.firestone-audio.com/cgi-bin/pro....asp?pdtseqnm=2 EDIT: Creative has some external soundcards, though it may not be really recommended. The headroom bithead also come to mind, though it doesn't seem to be a value-for-money choice, but it still includes an amplifer in the design. Edited September 18, 2006 by aaron-xp Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bluemoon39 0 Report post Posted September 18, 2006 jaben do sell fubar..can check it out... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xErTiNi 0 Report post Posted September 20, 2006 keep the pci for sound card i suggest wireless can use usb port pci sound card is better den USB Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
absolut 0 Report post Posted September 25, 2006 keep the pci for sound card i suggest wireless can use usb port pci sound card is better den USB What? Nonsense. To keep it simple, lets say there are two versions of a high end sound card, an internal PCI one and an external USB one. As most of you know, there is a ton of electronic devices inside a modern computer and these all produce some amount of noise. An internal soundcard would be more succeptible to this noise as the signal is transformed from digital to analong inside of the computer. An external soundcard, on the other hand, still has a digital signal as it leaves the computer. This prevents interference from components inside the computer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
monkeygod 0 Report post Posted September 25, 2006 yes, but really the goal here is to maximize my convenience and minimize my expense ... a high end external sound card is a priority while I need to budget to fix my sensaphonics having said that, I just found out that the wireless attachment for my Shuttle PC is available in Singapore ! so i'm going to wander down to Sim Lim and see if its capable enough to serve - a little pricey at $78, but if it seems reliable I guess its worth it to keep my already setup AV710 ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pegasus21 0 Report post Posted September 25, 2006 Seriously the cheapest would be to just leave the PCI soundcard and get a usb wireless dongle. It can be had for about 30 - 50 I think. Reception of wireless isn't bad unless you're far away and there are lots of obstructions. Anyhow, a connectivity of 11MBps is more than enough. Given that your connection usually won't be more than that... even if it is, the server you're getting from may not be fast enough to deliver that kind of speed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
monkeygod 0 Report post Posted September 26, 2006 ' date='26 Sep 2006, 01:56 AM' post='80382'] Try the wireless module, monkeygod, was so crazed over Shuttle systems before, due to their compactness and relatively high performance in a sense.. most important of all, they were sexy.. G5 was certainly for me at that time.. Ha, thats the model I'm using - the SN95G5 over the next few months I'm going to see if I can swop out a few parts to make it a 'quiet' PC. Right now both the HDD and Video Card are quite noisy ... dunno if I can fit anything too exotic graphics-wise into the small casing though ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites