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Which M-Audio card?

743 Views 9 Replies 4 Participants Last post by obsidience, Oct 26, 2001

starscomeout

Discussion Starter · Oct 24, 2001

Hi All,

Some more newbie questions: I now have the case, a DC black desktop and I ordered the Mobo today, a Abit TH7II-RAID . I am putting together a P4 system and will probably go with a P1.7 or P1.8 cpu. I am now looking at what video and sound card to get. If this information makes a difference I will be using my system for mainly DVD watching. I will also later be capturing HDTV to the hard drive for time sifting (No games). The system will be used; temporarily on my Mits 65" TV, but later will be connected to a NEC 9pg crt projector. The sound will go through a Denon receiver. Naturally I want the best image and sound possible.

I have looked at the different sound cards on DC web site, but I thought I would check here first to be sure I was getting the right one for my system. I am leaning towards the Delta DiO for itâ€™s optical in/out puts. What is your opinion on this card?

I have also been looking at the Radeon video cards , but I donâ€™t know which one to go with. Is there one that is better for a htpc, then the others? What about the ATI Radeon 64MB AGP DDR RAM VIVO or the ATI All-in-Wonder card ? From reading this forum it seems that the radeon card is the card of choice, but which one? I am a little confused on what I would need. I would appreciate any help and opinions.

Don

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starscomeout

Discussion Starter · #2 · Oct 24, 2001

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Ross E

· #3 · Oct 24, 2001

I'm using an M-wave audiophile 24/96. It is being fed to a B&K ref 30 via coax digital. I have never heard much difference between a coax connection and an optical one. When I was building my Htpc, I was very concerned that the sound quality would suffer, as I was using a top of the line Sony DVD. I was very surprised to find that the sound quality is GREAT. I'm not sure of the differences between the Delta DIO and the Audiophile (which is also a Delta card), but can tell you that the 24/96 will amaze you

As for the video card....I am using a Geforce2 64mb DDR, that came with the computer I bought. Read some of the FAQ's floating around here.....but I beleive that the All in wonder is not comaptible with Dscaler...I could be wrong.... Good luck

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obsidience

· #4 · Oct 24, 2001

The Radeon AIW is not compatible with Dscaler and from my experience a cheap TV Tuner card with SVideo is twice as good as as the Radeon AIW. I know I have both.

It sounds to me like you are going high-end... I would suggest that you go with a Radeon 8500 with an Avermedia TV98 (I bought for $39 at buycomp.com) or wait for the Radeon 8500DV which should be coming out in a few months.

I would go with a Radeon over Nvidia because of the hardware video rendering of ATI cards are second to none. I know I have both.

As for the sound card question I have no experience with audiophile cards; I'm using a Philips Acoustic Edge hooked up to a Sony DD/DTS receiver in 5.1 mode. The Philips AE is a great card.

Best regards,

Obsidience

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