Looking for low power sound card

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quicksilver
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2009 8:24 am
Location: VT

Looking for low power sound card

Post by quicksilver » Sun May 09, 2010 7:15 am

I'm putting together a new system. I'm trying to have it use as little power as possible while still having fast performance. I got all my parts ordered Friday, but I forgot to get a sound card!

Can someone recommend a low power PCI or MIO-PCI sound card? I'm using an Asus motherboard that supports an MIO-PCI sound card. The Asus card seems to be sold-out most places. I don't need more than two channels or ultra-high quality. I just want basic stereo sound with as little power consumption as possible.

psyopper
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 336
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 1:15 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon

Post by psyopper » Sun May 09, 2010 8:06 am

I find it hard to imagine that the motherboard you purchased doesn't already have on-board sound. Check the specs... though I admit to not being familiar with Asus' MIO-PCI thing.

quicksilver
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2009 8:24 am
Location: VT

Post by quicksilver » Sun May 09, 2010 8:17 am

It's a "server" MB, so no sound built-in.

System config so far -
Asus P7F-E Motherboard
Intel Xeon L3426 CPU
4GB Kingston 1333Mhz DDR3 ECC Registered RAM
Intel 80GB X-25M SSD
HIS Silent 1GB Radeon HD 4670
Asus DVD-ROM
Seasonic SS-300SFD PSU
Masscool variable speed CPU fan

I'll be getting a pair of Dell G2410 monitors next week. Also more memory and a big HDD fairly soon.

I'm hoping it'll idle around 100W including both monitors.

KayDat
Posts: 222
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 7:37 pm
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Post by KayDat » Tue May 11, 2010 10:45 pm

You could go for one of these cheap USB sound adaptors.

loimlo
Posts: 762
Joined: Thu May 03, 2007 3:58 am
Location: Formosa

Post by loimlo » Wed May 12, 2010 5:48 am

I doubt whether we can really find a lowest power sound card in the real world. After all, a discrete sound card draws so tiny power consumption, making the argument of power consumption meaningless. For example, my Onkyo SE90 PCI draws 1 or 2 watts at idle, so why bother with the trouble? That being said, you can just use 4670's built-in HDMI audio device to output sounds, thus saving a discrete sound card, money, and a watt or two.

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