A question for Sound Cards, and a question for Mice

I've seen people talk about both and always hear "External Is Better" for sound cards, but is that more of a personal preference or a "You have to try it out for yourself" thing. I've never bothered to use a seperate sound card for any computer I've had, aside from when the board itself didn't have a sound card built in.

Same with mice, I read that Wireless mice are bad for gaming, but I can play the FPS's I do with the Microsoft Mobile Mouse 4000 I bought without issue, I don't notice any real lag, or think that something more expensive would benefit me in any way, but it seems like this is more of a "Try it before you knock it" thing as well.


I hate being a poor college student sometimes, so many things I want to try, but none seem like good ideas to spend money on.

 

I'm not a gamer, but I will tell you that an external sound card can provide huge improvements. Not only will it get the chip out of your PC, making it so it picks up less noise, but you can also get sound cards with better sound processing hardware and software.

If you want suggestions then list your price range, and the other sound equipment you will be using it with.

 

I wouldn't be willing to spend more than 50 if anything, unless there's a dramatic increase past the 50 mark, then maybe.

I Half use the very-good-for-a-laptop speakers on my HDX, but I have a set of CA-3602 to use when no one is around ( http://www.cyberacoustics.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Home.ProductDetail&content_id=476 ) and these probably aren't good by most standards, but they sound decent enough for me.

 

That speaker system looks pretty good, although you'd probably want to use something a bit higher-end in order to fully reap the benefits of a dedicated sound card. Honestly, you just probably wouldn't notice much difference, if any, with the speakers you've got now.

As for mice, you don't need a "gaming" mouse with fast response, although they are very nice. The higher DPI ratings come in handy to a certain point as well.

 

Well an external sound card wont be useable with the speakers built into your laptop. And with those speakers you wont see a huge improvement. The most I would spend would be 30$ on the Turtle Beach Micro Advantage sound card.

But like I said, it wont be useful when using the speakers that are built into your notebook.

 

External sound would be great, if you have a $4000 7.1 channel surround sound system. You probably wont tell the difference otherwise. And if you do, it will be reallllly small. Integrated sound is really good these days.


*edit* as far as mice go, get something that has all the buttons you want, looks like a good shape, and has at least 2000 DPI rating. I have a microsoft sidewinder x5 and love the hell out of it. I think it has less lag, but its not super noticeable vs. wireless.

What is your integrated sound chip? some are better than others.

 

Nonsense, I notice a huge difference in sound cards with headphones that only cost 30USD. The difference may not be in the sound, but rather a lower noise level. And if your listening you will also notice the difference with cheaper speakers(150$ 2.1 system).