Sound card question

[whiteking]

looking to put a new sound card in my computer. i have a dell dimension c521 ,windows vista, brisbane 5600 2.9 processor, 4 gb of ram, 5570 radeon vid card,500 gb hard drive (not sure if need that info but its there). im not sure on what sound card to be looking for or if it even matters what kind i get but right now my issue is, i want to have my ventrilo chat going through my head set i got now and my game sound going through my main speakers. i was told i had to get a new sound card to do this even though i had it working on this sound card i have now some then just messed up and i cant fix it. if i can get help on fixing this that would be fine unless i need to upgrade the sound card that wont be a problem either any help would be good. also the speakers im planning on switching to is some sort of coby speakers i believe is the name its just 2 speakers with a subwoofer added to it if this helps any.

 

[gamerk316]

If your headset is USB, then you do NOT need a new soundcard.

This is what you do:
1: Set the default output audio device from teh Windows Control Panel to Speakers
2: Set the output device within Ventrillo [theres an option] to use your USB headset

When you are in Ventrillo, the chat will come out the headset, while everything else will come out the speakers.

If your headset connects to the onboard sound device, then yes, you do need a second soundcard, and the line output is already taken by the headset.

 

[whiteking]

yeh i have a head set with the jacks on the end, so what kind of sound card should i be looking for really then

 

[gamerk316]

yeh i have a head set with the jacks on the end, so what kind of sound card should i be looking for really then

Well, then I'd go with something cheap, but would still be a decent upgrade. On the low end, you have the ASUS Xonar D1/DX and HT Omega Striker, and if money is really tight, then the ASUS Xonar DS might be a bit more appealing.

And just to clarify, your headset uses the standard Green/Pink jacks, and isn't using 6.3mm [1/4"] jacks, right? Otherwise, I'd recommend the ASUS Xonar DG just for the built in amp.

Essentially, the setup would be:
Windows: Default to using Soundcard's analog output; connect to speakers
Ventrillo: Set to use onboards input/output; connect to headphone


The other option would be to use the motherboards optical out [if you have digital speakers], then you could do analog out to headphones for Ventrillo and digital out to speakers for everything else.

 

[whiteking]

well its not really ventrilo for the chat program its called mumble, as for the head set im not really sure because both male pieces are just black with the silver tip that i have plugged into front of the computer in the headset/mic spots. i did try them in the back of the comp tho into the green spot and it fit there so i would think its the standard

 

[gamerk316]

^^ Just checking.

Before buying, make ABSOLUTLY SURE your chat program gives you the option to manually set what audio device is the output. If you can, then a second card will work for your needs.