A sound card is only good give you have the equipment to back it up. Let's say you buy a pair $50 headphones, you probably wouldn't be able to notice a difference between the onboard and the sound card. To tell you the truth, between my $100 headphones and my $200 sound card, the difference is far from night and day from onboard to my sound card. If you are going to get a sound card, at least get a pair of headphones such as the ATH-AD700. Otherwise you aren't gaining anything.

And the XtremeMusic card is not actually that great of a card, because it isn't hardware accelerated, and in my opinion isn't really worth the difference over onboard for gaming. At least get something like the Xtremegamer edition which is much better.

Luminouslight

I am assuming this is also something I can add down the line if my son wants better sound without having to change anything else...correct? in other words, If I purchase down the line a new soundcard, like one you mentioned, then do i have to remove the integrated one? or does it just overlap it?

heres what it says about the audio card i added......

Get faster gaming performance over standard integrated HD audio and phenomenal surround sound with headphones

With more than 51 million transistors, Sound Blaster X-Fi is capable of up to 10,000+ MIPS (Millions of Instruction Per Second), delivering an unbelievable 24 times more power than its predecessor. Sound Blaster X-Fi delivers amazingly crisp, clear extreme FidelityTM audio playback, and a realistic surround experience --with headphones or multichannel speakers—for an audio experience beyond your imagination.

Sound Blaster X-Fi doesn't just power you through every audio task; it does so with newly designed efficiency and finesse. Featuring a flexible "Mode" architecture that harnesses and focuses all the incredible power in three key audio uses: Entertainment, Gaming and Audio Creation, Sound Blaster X-Fi ensures that the power you need goes exactly where you need it.

• For music, it remasters the music in real time to 24-bit/96kHz quality and then restores the rich detail that is lost during MP3 or WMA compression, so it can sound even better than it did on the original CD!
• For gaming, it delivers fast and smooth gameplay, providing more frames per second than common HDA integrated audio solutions. It also immerses you in a sphere of sound with 9 virtual speakers delivered over standard stereo headphones, and 128 virtual speakers over 5.1 or 7.1 speaker systems.
• For movies, it offers unbelievably realistic surround sound with regular headphones or multichannel speakers, plus more punchy and explosive movie audio. Your stereo DivX videos can sound like DVD surround sound movies.
• For music creation, it is the high quality, feature-rich recording capabilities many have been waiting for. With an SRC (Sample Rate Conversion) engine that is designed to be far more precise than the previous Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster X-Fi can convert audio to new and higher resolutions over what has been "ripped" to your system.

Todays onboard sound is alot better then it was say 5 years ago today most have 5.1 surround, unless you have a 5.1 - 7.1 speaker system that X-fi sound card will be juat a waste. Now about the video card what size screen will he be using? anything upto a 22" 1680x1050 the 5770 will be good, 5850 1680x1050+ and 5870 is just for extra AA and running games in 1080p or higher and for bragging rights simply put. 04dcarraher

I was informed to not go any higher than a 22" monitor. 19' to 22" was best for gaming. So than are you thinking that the integrated sound will be fine or would you go with the other? It was $ 85 for the sound upgrade. Guess I should see if I can find out what the integrated sound is in the darn thing...

Okay so i checked and it has 6 connections and is integrated Surround. Is the card better? someone else said it is good to havein games like CallofDuty so you can hear their footseps and them coming in the game.

like for watching movies on your PC? I am not getting the Blue rey, dont need it on the comp.As for speekers he uses head phones. So is the Sound card also over kill? Does anyone here ever put in a better sound card? Whay about with headphones on in shooting games, will a different card make any difference in that?

well hoepfully he will be here one day talking to another Mom or someone elseas you and the others did telling his story and explaining why one thing is a better idea than another....lol....

As for the sound card.This was my choices and from what I understand Integrated Sound is not the greatest. These were my choices below? And I can always change the Video card to Single 2GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 for $250.00 more but would he really notice the difference :|

Integrated audio is included.

[QUOTE="04dcarraher"] Buts it Dell.... cough...cough I mean AlienWare., But everyone knows he is throwing his money away, and his son is worried about CS and a few other games that can run good on a $400 prebuilt Pc with a $60 video card. ravenguard90

Yeah, that's true. But if the TC would like it to be the best possible build for her son, then the one she posted is exactly that. Alienware is known as the overpriced money-muncher to us experienced builders; to the son, it's probably known as the epic godly company that makes awesome gaming computers. The only conclusion he would come up with when he gets anything else is that it's not Alienware, hence less powerful. You know, the whole fallacy with, "this has so-and-so many features, but is like $50 cheaper than the other brand," with a response like, "but it's not so-and-so brand. It must be crap."

Sorry for all the other quotes above without a response...my comp had a brain fart...anyway you have hit it right on the nail. He is 13 years old. To him alienware is the BOMB! He appreciates all my research but when it comes down to it it is not an alienware. He was willing to listen to me and show him other options and he did, but to him none of them compared to the over priced alienware. I get it and you get it, that it is a $$$ muncher, but to a 13 y.o that has dreamed of owning one...well. I told him when he asked again this year for it for Christmas that before I get anything I need to do some research to find out more about it and other systems. So I did and that is what brought me here and other boards. He has $$$ saved up and he told me yesterday that if I want he will give me what I need extra. So with that I went back and looked again at the Aurora that was to start at $1200 and upgraded. I will not take any of his $$$ but it was nice he offered. So I did really i did listen and take what every one said to heart and it really helped me.He is going to be buying with his other $$$ some new games to play also. He has other like Left for dead and some racing games and other fighting games but he said with a new computer he will play more games. He has to always buy his own games from his allowance. So ya need to rememer he is 13 and has jello for brains...lol

WOW!!!! I dont think he has listened to us at all :lol: , O well its his money to waste, even thou that ibuypower $920 Pc would have just done as good as that $1600 Pc for what his son needs it for. 04dcarraher

yes I listened...and I'm a girl :)...unless you are referring to my son...lol..than yes he's a boy. I have been doing research on 4 different boards. Getting all different opinions and YIKES, there are a lot out there...lol. I started doing price checking on parts to see what i would come up with. And found that the Aurora is over priced but not to bad that i cant handle the difference. But I learned a lot about what each part does and compatibility. I have been shown like 15 different computers to do instead and just started getting confussed and frustrated. I decided as my son so pointed out to me that I told him to never send $$$ or private info to people I dont know on the Internet and he is right. So that took the equation ofhaving someone on this board or another make it. Not that anyone here is untrustworthy..but you get my point.

I will let him learn and upgrade the old comp he has or mine and he can learn. I will learn with him. Although I chose to go this route with the Alienware , I did look at everything you all have sent me and told me. I have spent so many hrs on the computer doing research that my brain is fried. I as going to get the iBUY one but than figures since my amount was up to around $1600 I felt that getting the Alienware would make him the happiest. By the time it is in need of some upgrades, he will know at that time how to do it and it will have paid off in the long run.I will let you all know how he likes it and if he gets the WOW look on his face. Have a great Merry christmas! And am still interested on your input of the one I have chose.

know I'm off to hunt down a new monitor....UGH! ROFL .....anyone love the one they have?????

WOW!!!! I dont think he has listened to us at all :lol: , O well its his money to waste, even thou that ibuypower $920 Pc would have just done as good as that $1600 Pc for what his son needs it for. 04dcarraher

WOW!!!! I dont think he has listened to us at all :lol: , O well its his money to waste, even thou that ibuypower $920 Pc would have just done as good as that $1600 Pc for what his son needs it for. 04dcarraher

okay, if i do this to my brain any longer it will explode..lol....soooooooooooo I again went back to the drawing board and have decided on the below computer. Instead of making the Hard drive larger at this time, i decided that the 640 GB/7200 RPM is fine at this time since he has been on like a comp that has 250GB/5200? After looking at prices for stuff on newegg I decided that I will down the line just add to the HD a 10,000 RPM and use that as the primary ans swith the 7200 as a back up. With the saved $$$ I just changed the sound card out. That saved me a little bit. So I changed the Power supply from 520w to 875w, the video card from a 1GB NVideo GTS 240 to the 1GB ATI Radeon 5870, the sound card, memory from 3GB TChannel 1067mhz DDR3 to 6GB Triple Channel 1333Mhz DDR3, the rest is the same...the price is $1680. Tell me what you think..and yesI know the price is much higher than having someone build it for me and getting it somewhere else but his heart is set on the alienware.I have learned so much reading the boards and all your advice has been great! youall gave me so much to think about. I will always be greatful. Thanks so much and Merry Christmas!

CHASSIS COLOR Lunar Shadow,

PROCESSOR Intel® CoreTM i7 920 2.66GHz (8MB Cache) Quad Core Processor

OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64 bit, English

VIDEO CARD Single 1GB GDDR 5 ATI Radeon™ HD 5870

0edit MEMORY 6GB Triple Channel 1333Mhz DDR3

HARD DRIVE 640GB- SATA-II, 3Gb/s, 7,200RPM, 16MB Cache HDD

OPTICAL DRIVE Single Drive: 24X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability

Sound Card Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium

MONITOR No Monitor

KEYBOARD Alienware Multi-Media Keyboard

MOUSE Alienware Optical Mouse, MG100

WARRANTY AND SERVICE1 Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis - Important InformationeditIn-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis: for issues covered by Limited Hardware Warranty, technician and/or part will be dispatched, if necessary, usually in 1 or 2 business days following Remote Diagnosis. During Remote Diagnosis, you may be asked to access the inside of your system (where safe to do so) or to participate in troubleshooting until a cause can be isolated.My Accessories ALIEN FX Alien FX Color, Quasar Blue AVATAR Alien Cyborg

WALLPAPERAlienhead Chrome Red PRE-INSTALLED GAMES AND CLIENTS Steam and Portal TM Factory Installed

AUTOMATIC UPDATES : Enabled My Software & Accessories

ECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee® VirusScan Plus - 30-Day Free Trial (English)

ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM Alienware Aurora Desktop COOLING OPTION AlienwareTM High-Performance Liquid Cooling

Adobe Software Adobe Acrobat Reader