Windows 7 - Sound cards in general

Was surprised to learn that many (if not most) of the mfgs. are putting out cards with no internal hookups (or perhaps 1 at best). So, if you have need for two internal plug-ins you probably will have a problem, be those two CD-ROMs, or 1 CD & 1 DVD-ROM, or whatever combination you might have. Perhaps you will be fortunate enough to have a MB that has 1 plug-in built in. I did, but the new card I bought had none (and I was too ignorant to realize that there was going to be a probem with this)!!!! That left something out in the cold unless I bought a different card. I did just that with a Creative SB XF-I Extreme Audio which has one plug-in on it. So, I have to wonder out loud about this issue - since CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs have been out for quite some time why don't these MB manufacturers provide more than 1 built in plug-in??? Perhaps they are also in the business of selling sound cards??? Understand, I am not into buying really high-end MBs, video cards and sound cards. It may well be that some of that high-end stuff has those other capabilities?? Not really causing me a problem but I did not realize this (about no plug-ins on the sound card). Seems funny why they no longer have two or three on a card!!

I have never used high-end sound cards, but I can't recall the last time I needed any sort of connector on the card itself. Not sure I ever did that. It's been a good 10 years if ever. Everything I need runs through the slot in which the card is inserted.

I haven't used 2 CD/DVD drives in at least 5 years and can't recall if that was a problem.

But I am probably misunderstanding the gist of your question.

You do realize that those CD/DVD connections on a sound card aren't needed and haven't been needed for years. Unless you have some antiquated drive that will only work with an analogue connection (and that is what those are), everything from the drive is all carried digitally over the IDE (or SATA) bus. That is why you don't see them as they are redundant.

So, are you saying I (we) can throw away the sound card??? I hesitate to do this before trying out what you are claiming. That seems to be that the sound from the CD or DVD rom is carried via the IDE or SATA cable to the MB??? The CD and DVD roms I have are not new stuff but likely 6 to 7 years old and possibly analog. I imagine this leaves me requiring a sound card with connectors. With my current card and MB this leaves me with another question - can I use both the on-board sound hook-up and the sound card at the same time??? I see no indication of being able to disable nor enable on-board sound in my BIOS setup with this MB. Unfortunately, with my dual-boot, my Win XP had no problem with my old Sound Blaster Live but Win 7 does. I am no so sure if the new Sound Blaster X-Fi Extreme Audio card is really totally compatible with both of these operating systems. Likely not!!

You are misunderstanding both of us unless I am misunderstanding you.

No one says to throw away a sound card.

The question is do you need to use any of the connections that might be ON THE CARD ITSELF as opposed to relying on the slot (bus) itself.

Your first post uses the phrase "internal hookups" and "internal plug-ins". I can only assume you are referring to on-card connectors.

But I could be wrong about that.

As far as I know, you don't need any such connections for standard purposes. I can't recall ever using a connection on the card.

There may be exceptions, but I have never heard of a PC motherboard on which the onboard sound could not be disabled in the BIOS.

Generally, you use onboard or separate board sound--not both. But there may be some weirdo way around that.

Sorry, the terms 'hook-ups and/or plug-ins' relate to those sound card on-board connectors. I have had these in use for years thru the Win98SE, WinME & WinXP periods. It wasn't until Windows 7 came along that my sound card got rejected!! I may have upgraded somewhere between Win98SE and XP but I can't really recall where or when. Former MBs may not have had on-board connectors although I won't swear to this either. If, in fact the sound is carried via the IDE and/or SATA cables to the MB, then it is moot point unless my CD or DVD rom is to old for this technology. If the latter is true then I need a card with at least the two connectors for the CD and DVS roms since I can not utilize both the MB connector and a sound card connector at the same time!! Or spend a bunch of bucks for new stuff. My wife will kill me - $200 for Win 7, $100 for new MB, $60 for new HD, $100 for new DDR2 RAM, $100 for new CPU, $75 for new video card, $50 for new sound card, $90 for new power supply - surely I must have forgotten something!!! But, I lost my train of thought now and do not want to digress. THANX!!!

And if you got any of these,

http://www.pacificcable.com/photos/Audio-Y.jpg

you can throw it out, as like I said previously they are not needed and haven't been needed for a very long time. Even Windows 98 had the ability to set the audio from a cd drive to digital (and since removed from 2000 and up).

I have thrown out more of those (and removed from computers) as they are totally useless in today's computers. That is why you aren't seeing those CD-Audio connecrors on sound cards and motherboards.

You still need a sound card (either onboard or actual card) if you want sound from your computer, you just don't need those cables.

those cables are useless in today's modern computer builds.
you have a dedicated sound card, just insert it in a PCI available slot, reboot, install the drivers, and enjoy.

the sound blaster x-fi cards are pretty much compatible with everything considering it is the most dominate sound card on the market right now. naturally after a time period manufactures are going to stop supporting older parts and if you haven't by the time they do you will be forced to upgrade, this is natural, and to be expected. it's irrational to expect that hardware nearly a decade old will have any kind of priority when it comes to writing new drivers.

Are you referring to the "CD_IN" header? If so, this connection is now 99.9999999% not needed. This type of connection is used by VERY OLD CD player application. Very Old CD Player application will tell the CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive to "play" (as in sending a "Play" command) the CD and "capture" the analogue audio signal from the analogue out header on the drive it self. Newer players (effectively every audio player that are released after 2001) will fetch only the digital data over IDE/SATA bus (as in sending a "Seek data starting on this sector" command), decode it internally, then output it directly on your soundcard's output. Same thing with a DVD, DVD drives can't decode the 5.1 compressed audio signal, it doesn't have the hardware to do so. Do you see the difference?

I think you're misunderstanding something about these internal hookup ports, but honestly, I don't know what, I hope I got the right one...

zzz2496