I have been asked to add a sound card to a system owned
by a friend on a budget.

The local dealer has some sound cards for about $20.  I
hypothesize that these cards probably would have been
state-of-the-art five years ago, and, therefore, would do
fine for her - as opposed to spending nearly $100 for a
current SB or the like, which would have all sorts of
bells and whistles that she does not need.

Am I correct, or are these cheapie sound cards likely to
turn out to be junk?  (Sound-Quality wise.)

(Her system is a P100, 32meg, Windows 3.1, DOS 6.1)


I would advise her to bite the bullet and get a decent soundcard for a
number of reasons.

First and foremost, most cheap cards depend on the system processor to do
their work for them, meaning system performance can take a mean hit. On a
P100, where there isn't a whole lot of room for piggybacked operations, this
could get downright boggy.  Other bad ideas include keeping samples and
instruments in system memory, another performance hit.

Second, a good card like a SB Live! (available for about $60-$70 online)
will have a WIDE range of compatibility, and will be a good sound card for
years to come, meaning your friend can use it in her next computer/upgrade.

Of course, if that price tag is out of the question, then you can probably
find a simple utilitarian soundcard out there, but I really would think
about getting a reliable workhorse card.

-Peter Ramins

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