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- Xref: sparky comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard:5890 comp.sys.ibm.pc.games:28478
- Path: sparky!uunet!gatech!destroyer!ncar!noao!arizona!bakken
- From: bakken@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Bakken)
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games
- Subject: Best soundcard for a non-audiophile
- Keywords: Gravis UltraSound(GUS), SoundBlaster, Thundercard, games, educ. SW
- Message-ID: <29017@optima.cs.arizona.edu>
- Date: 31 Dec 92 05:14:11 GMT
- Sender: news@cs.arizona.edu
- Followup-To: comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard
- Lines: 43
-
- I will be getting a low-end 486 PC this week. The main two uses
- for it will be educational software for my daughter and typesetting
- my dissertation and other papers (mainly just editing LaTeX and
- occasionally previewing). I will probably also play a few games,
- but while I'm a student (esp. with a family) I won't do too much
- of that, hopefully. :-} I'm not an audiophile who expands
- perfection. And if I fool around with recording and/or
- playing digitized sounds (besides from games or education SW)
- I won't care that much if it isn't great.
-
- The one peripheral I'm thinking of now is a sound card. I
- followed the discussion on SoundBlaster vs Thundercard,
- and since I can get a Thundercard with speakers for $119 the
- perceived minor Thundercard problems don't worry me. But I've
- also read of the Gravis UltraSound (GUS) is really good, and I think
- I read it could be had for $130.
-
- Oh, yes, the machine comes with 2MB RAM, but I will be adding more.
-
- So my questions:
-
- - Would the GUS really buy me that much more? I guess
- that $130+speakers is probably $170, or $50 more than
- my Thunderboard setup. I don't mind spending $50 if it
- will buy me something, but I don't want to waste $50 if
- it won't.
-
- - Where can one buy a GUS mail order? I looked through
- the entire Computer Shopper and didn't find one. Is
- the best price really $130?
-
- Finally, an unrelated (to soundcards) question I'll throw in
- since many probably know it:
-
- - How much memory will I want to add? I don't care
- if the games aren't blazing in speed.
-
- Thanks for any feedback!
- --
- Dave Bakken Internet: bakken@cs.arizona.edu
- Dept. of Computer Science; U of Arizona Voice: +1 602 621 4098
- Tucson, AZ 85721; USA FAX: +1 602 621 4246
- The fact that you're paranoid doesn't prove they're *not* out to get you.
-