sound card hookup question

[BlueSite]

okay. im thinking of going to get a 5.1 sound card tomorrow. i bought a new system from tiger direct and it had a dvd player and i have a surround sound speaker set (from creative)...only have the sub and the front satellites running now with just the regular stereo card that came in the system.

so- im probably going to pick up the Sound Blaster Audigy2 card, because its about $85, and i dont want to spend obscene amounts. anyhow- im wondering...ive never put in a sound card before- will there be a hookup for both the cd rom and dvd drive, or will there just be a hookup to one and the other drive connects to the other itself? if that makes sense. i remember when i put in the cd-r drive in my last machine, i hooked the sound into the cd rom drive and it all ran thru that drive...would that be the same deal here?

also- when i install the new sound card, itll go in a pci slot, no? will i have to disable the original sound card or remove it or anything? im thinking XP will take care of all the settings, but i didnt want to get the card and be stuck wondering why i cant get it to work or whatever.

[teamantivir]

As long as it's a PCI card it will go into the PCI slot, there are still some EISA cards out there, so just make sure you put it in the proper slot. Yes, you'll have to remove the old card, I recommend removing it from device manager before shutting down the system, then when you reboot with the new card in, XP will have an easier time of it (make sure to have the CD ready).

As for the sound, Most cards only have one connection, so choose which one you plan for the CD music playing (I'd go with the DVD, so I could have better sound with the movies), adn connect that drive to your sound card.

[(jj)]

I can't say about the Audigy2 as I've not seen one of those yet, but many of the new higher end sound cards do have more than 1 audio input on them. Just RTF (Read The Manual) when you get it.

Typical new computers have the sound built into the motherboard. If that is how yours is, you will need to go into the BIOS setup and disable the onboard sound chip before you install the new card.

[BlueSite]

actually, i didnt even pay attention to the back until just now when i checked it out...the sound hookups are all right there in the long panel with the keyboard/mouse hookups, monitor, etc. does that mean its not a card at all and the sound is on the mobo? if thats the case- i wont have to remove anything, but instead just put in the new card and disable the original one in the BIOS?

[(jj)]

Yep, that means that the sound is built into the motherboard, nothing to remove. Just have to go into BIOS and disable the onboard sound chip.

Before you disable the onboard sound, it would be best if you removed the sound drivers first.

[BlueSite]

ah. as i thought. thanks a lot.

and how do i go about removing all this stuff? will all that info. (removing the sound card from the bios and the driver and all) be in the manual? because ive never had to mess with any sound card settings before!

[(jj)]

When you got your new system, it should have had a motherboard manual with it. It should explain how to get into BIOS and disable the sound chip.

As for removing the drivers, if you have Win XP I'm not 100% sure what the steps are as I don't run XP. Don't want to give you the wrong steps

[YvetteKuhns]

To find your sound driver, right-click on My Computer, select Properties to see the System Properties box. Select the Device Manager tab and look for Sound drivers to see which one is currently installed. You can make a backup before removing it, just in case.

Your motherboard manual should tell you about how to make changes in the BIOS to disable the onboard sound device.

[(jj)]

To find your sound driver, right-click on My Computer, select Properties to see the System Properties box. Select the Device Manager tab and look for Sound drivers to see which one is currently installed. You can make a backup before removing it, just in case.


That works for 98, but I think in XP you have an extra step or two to get to the device manager. I "believe" that you have to click the "Hardware" tab once you get to the System Properties.

[YvetteKuhns]

I don't remember for XP, because I removed that resource hog! I went back to 98 SE for now. ;)