Sound And Vision Upgrades?

kellaway225 · 21 Mar 2010 at 14:42

So i am looking for a good Monitor and sound system but on a limited budget, though i would prefer sub £200, the extra £20 wouldnt be so bad if i can get get sound and images from it, this is what i have selected - what do you guys think :

it will be going with my current system :
Asus M4A785TD-V Evo AMD 785G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail
Coolermaster Storm Scout Gaming Case - Black

Would this be the best upgrade i can get for my money, would you reccomend something different?

Audigex · 21 Mar 2010 at 15:06

How's the sound on your motherboard? I find that the onboard from the 7xx chipset is pretty good, especially if you're only pairing it with a £20 2.1 speaker set.

Put the cash into better speakers, it'll make more difference.

kellaway225 · 21 Mar 2010 at 15:12

Yeah i wasnt too sure if the soundcard would be needed, havent been able to test the inbuilt sound from the motherboard as i dont have speakers for it yet.

Anyone with this motherboard - can you let me know what the sound is like with speakers? similar to the ones above?

stulid · 21 Mar 2010 at 15:34

I have the same chipset on a different board, the onboard sound is naff compared to my x-fi extreme music.

kellaway225 · 21 Mar 2010 at 15:39

So best to get a soundcard then?

stulid · 21 Mar 2010 at 17:03

Yes.

In this months custom pc mag they review a few sound cards, one of them is the asus xonar DS, it got a good 84% overall score, with 89% for its sound alone. Its £35.

kellaway225 · 21 Mar 2010 at 17:13

Thanks i will check that out

Gundog48 · 21 Mar 2010 at 18:17

Also, put more into the speakers. With them speakers, you wouldn't notice much of a difference between the sound card and onboard sound. Maybe you should take the audio thing to Sound City and get some pro advice.

shadowake · 21 Mar 2010 at 18:22

LG Flatron W2253TQ-PF 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor £124.98
(£106.37) £124.98
(£106.37)
Creative T6160 5.1 Speaker System (51MF4105AA003) £51.99
(£44.25) £51.99
(£44.25)
Asus Xonar DS 7.1 PCI Sound Card (90-YAA0F0-0UAN00Z) £38.99
(£33.18) £38.99
(£33.18)
Sub Total : £183.80
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £34.22
Total : £229.77

Slightly over

kellaway225 · 21 Mar 2010 at 18:22

Sound City? never heard of that place
yeah i am looking at better speakers with my birthday next friday might be able to get a better setup

maybe stretch to about £250 get the monitor http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-006-AS and a better set of 2.1 speakers - no point going higher as its a small room and not that much space

kellaway225 · 21 Mar 2010 at 18:24

shadowake said:
LG Flatron W2253TQ-PF 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor £124.98
(£106.37) £124.98
(£106.37)
Creative T6160 5.1 Speaker System (51MF4105AA003) £51.99
(£44.25) £51.99
(£44.25)
Asus Xonar DS 7.1 PCI Sound Card (90-YAA0F0-0UAN00Z) £38.99
(£33.18) £38.99
(£33.18)
Sub Total : £183.80
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £34.22
Total : £229.77

Slightly over

like the soundcard, thats what i was thinking of getting but pointless for the 5.1 as it will be on my desk in a small room so 2.1 will be good enough for now will check the monitor out but would prefer 24inch, but having had a 17inch laptop for over a year maybe i am not expecting how big a 22inch monitor would be?

OLDSKOOL · 22 Mar 2010 at 00:50

If you listen to music a lot,and have the room id advise saving up and looking around for some old hi-fi gear, there are some bargins to be had 2nd hand. Hook up the soundcard to amp and speakers and the sound quailty and stage will sound superb and destroy any pc setups at that point.

Get saving you owe this to your mp3's and you wont regret it!

stulid · 22 Mar 2010 at 01:09

^
that's actually not a bad idea.

kellaway225 · 22 Mar 2010 at 14:28

OLDSKOOL said:
If you listen to music a lot,and have the room id advise saving up and looking around for some old hi-fi gear, there are some bargins to be had 2nd hand. Hook up the soundcard to amp and speakers and the sound quailty and stage will sound superb and destroy any pc setups at that point.

Get saving you owe this to your mp3's and you wont regret it!

Sounds like a good idea, i love listening to my Music

and it would be good in games and movies as well? - one problem not enough space

i am VERY limited in the space i have, really need to find a bigger place - when i can afford it - til then a decent soundcard and pair of speakers will have to do