surround sound

[Darkknighttt]

hi just wondering how many of you have surround sound on your computer, im thinking of getting it. can someone please post a link or tell me what good quality surround sound speakers, and what sound card wil work for them?!


Also what type of monitor is best for gaming LCD, normal but with flat screen, or just a normal monitor with the curved screen?(im gettinga new monitor too. thx!


EDIT: wrong section sry, move it.

 

[JimmehH]

The Audigy series is good. Bit expensive though.
Videologic speakers are also good.

And CRT (normal) monitors are generally better for gaming. Flat screen being better than curved.

Here's what I recommend:
Soundcard:
Cheap
Medium
Pricey

Speakers:
Cheap - For surround sound speakers
Medium
Pricey

Monitor:
Cheap - Very good though
Medium
Expensive

Here are some links to some very good but pretty expensive TFT monitors: 1 and 2.

This company is based in the UK. I think they're very good and their website definitely makes things easy to find but you should look around to find the best price.

 

[Darkknighttt]

i have the money for those tft monitors but will they still be good for games?! and the bigger the monitor, does that make the graphics looks worse?!

 

[Darkknighttt]

The Audigy series is good. Bit expensive though.
Videologic speakers are also good.

And CRT (normal) monitors are generally better for gaming. Flat screen being better than curved.

Here's what I recommend:
Soundcard:
Cheap
Medium
Pricey

Speakers:
Cheap - For surround sound speakers
Medium
Pricey

Monitor:
Cheap - Very good though
Medium
Expensive

Here are some links to some very good but pretty expensive TFT monitors: 1 and 2.

This company is based in the UK. I think they're very good and their website definitely makes things easy to find but you should look around to find the best price.

thanks for the info it really helpeda lot.

 

[Darkknighttt]

what is surround sound really, 7 speakers, and a subwoofer? where does the subwoofer go?

 

[JimmehH]

Those TFT monitors are good for games. They have a nice low response time. The only problem is that you need to run the games (and Windows) at the monitor's native resolution*. In this case it's 1280x1024 for both of them. If your computer isn't up to this (if you can afford those monitors it probably is though ) then run Windows at 1280x1024 and have the games run in windowed mode at say 1024x768 or 800x600.

No worries about the info. Glad to help.

*Some useful info about native resolutions here.

Edit: Subwoofer goes on the floor. It can go anywhere; it doesn't really matter where but it works best on the floor. Dolby have a guide here.

 

[blackeye]

while we are on the subject of suround sound does anyone know if if doom3 or half life 2 support 7.1? I am buying a new sound system because I dont want to use headphones anymore. I wont have the sound up to load so im thinking that the cheaper versions of creatives 7.1 systems would be ok. The only problem some people have said they have with them is that at high noise levels the quality degrades.

 

[Cole]

Doom 3 has a built in sound system. So it wont take advantage of sound cards effects. Im not sure if it supports 7.1 then, but HL2 should.

 

[JimmehH]

Doom 3 has it's own sound effects system.
It does feature surround sound (probably to as many speakers as necessary) and various environmental effects. The only difference is that it runs on the main processor instead of a soundcard. This means that even really crappy AC97 onboard soundcards can sound decent if the rest of the computer is up to spec.

 

[Darkknighttt]

i see lots of surround sound speakers, is 7 with subwoofer the main amount of speakers that is considered "surround sound."

 

[JimmehH]

Anything from 5 speakers with a subwoofer up to 7 with a subwoofer is considered surround sound. Basically 5+ is surround sound.

(You also get Dolby Pro Logic which is 4 speakers and a subwoofer but it's kinda rare and not as good as the others)

 

[snak3y3z1001]

hehe. cant wait when i play doom 3 in the middle of the night w/my surround system at high. :farmer:

 

[Foxtrot]

Surround sound is over rated, mine doesnt work at all, seems more like a 3 peice speaker set that cost a lot more.

 

[JimmehH]

Have you tried the speaker test to make sure it's working?

 

[snak3y3z1001]

Surround sound is over rated, mine doesnt work at all, seems more like a 3 peice speaker set that cost a lot more.

are you sure you set it up rite? i have 2 speaker in the front,2 in the back a center and a subwoofer and they all work.

 

[Nick1814]

For my monitor i use this samsung flat panel thing. Its really awesome, its a HDTV and computer monitor combined. The only problem though is that its $1000. The computer screen looks just as good as a crt does, none of that blurring stuff that you see on some notebooks. Plus, you can be on your compouter doing whatever, and have picture in picture on so you can watch tv at the same time. Very nice. I highly recommend this thing to anybody who can afford it. I would post a link if i could find the model number.

 

[Foxtrot]

I have set it up right, the rear left speaker plays what should be coming out of the center speaker, and the rear right plays the sub woofer, it is all hooked in correctly too.

 

[JimmehH]

Dunno what's wrong.
Set up surround sound on the Sound bit of the Control Panel?
Properly installed the drivers for the soundcard?
Testing it properly?
That's all I can think of. Sorry.

 

[DreamThrall]

How is 7.1 any better than 5.1 .. and where the hell do the extra speakers go??