How can I tell which Sound Card is compatible?

Asked By Michael B Rodgers 45 points N/A Posted on - 08/04/2014

Hello There Guys! I want to upgrade the sound card of my HP Desktop. I have found a deal on Creative Sound Blaster reconditioned PCIE Sound Card. Can you advise please if this will work on my motherboard? How can I tell which sound card is compatible or not? Thank you.

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Answered By Paul Martine 0 points N/A #166455

How can I tell which Sound Card is compatible?

When you want to insert a sound card to your computer, or improve the sound card that it already has, you have several options. There are a number of specialized PC sound cards are available. These are for the discriminating audio connoisseur:

An MP3 card: If you’re an MP3 wizard with a hard drive’s worth of MP3 digital audio files, you will appreciate one of these dedicated audio cards. An MP3 card contains a hardware encoder/decoder, which speeds up your PC’s ripping (the procedure of creating MP3 digital audio files from obtainable audio CDs) and MP3-playing presentation.

A 24-bit card: For the absolute the best in audio replica, go for 24-bit audio (that’s 192 KHz, for you audio heads), which is far better to the sound shaped by virtually all audio CD players.

Surround sound card: The card is particularly considered for 3D environmental audio along with games. This is also for occupied Dolby surround sound hold up when you observe DVD movies. You require more than two usual speakers from a concession store to like the full effect. That is why the best set of speakers is usually included with these cards.

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Answered By Sharath Reddy 590495 points N/A #306683

How can I tell which Sound Card is compatible?

Unfortunately, you did not indicate in your post the model number of your HP machine to check the type of PCI slot it uses. Anyway, if your computer or you are using the built-in sound card of your machine and you want to replace it by installing a dedicated sound card, you need to check first the type of PCI slot your computer is using.

There are different types of PCI slots but the most common types a computer uses are PCI and PCIe or PCI Express. The first type, PCI, can normally be found on older motherboards. You can easily identify it because the texts “PCI1,” “PCI2,” and so on are printed on the motherboard.

The other type, PCIe, is the modern version of the standard PCI which modern motherboard nowadays support. You can see “PCI Express” printed on the motherboard to identify that the slots are PCIe.

Now, if you are planning on buying a new sound card for your computer, you need to check first the slots supported by your motherboard. If your board supports both PCI and PCIe slots then buying any sound card would be easy. But if your motherboard supports only PCI then buy a PCI sound card.

If your computer supports PCIe but not PCI, buy only PCIe sound card, that simple.

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