QuestionQUESTION: I was going to buy a DELL XPS 8100 desktop. They said it has a THX TRU STUDIO sound system. Isn't it also supposed to have a sound card OR is the THX TRU Studio an actual sound card? Dell wasn't sure about it and I don't know a lot about computers. Is this an area of your expertise? Thanks
ANSWER: Hi, Patty.
Sound is my gig, yes. :-)
The THX Tru Studio is a Creative sound card.
I would be much more worried about a Dell Product (or any other proprietary system) since Dell cannot even answer this simple question for you (and if you do not know much about computers you very well may be dealing with their India based support quite often).
Food for thought.
It may be an actual PCI slot card or it may be integrated into the motherboard of the PC. Either way, you will be able to hook to it as you would any sound card
http://www.creative.com/oem/products/s_cards.asp
Jm
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: OK thanks very much. One last thing, do you know how the THX TRU Studio Creative Sound Card is in comparison to the Soundblaster x5 Extreme Audio?
AnswerSorry, I was in the field.
It really depends on what you plan to do with them but for the record, both support THX.
I believe that both provide 96Khz sample rates, 24bit Digital audio, 7.1 Dolby and have extremely low noise (-108Db) while supporting a wide host of ports, though you may be slightly limited on additional connections for the on-motherboard versions.
In most cases, you should do fine with either of these 'soundcards'.
When in doubt, buy a PCI or PCI-x soundcard.
The PCI X-Fi is about $50.00 USD
Jm
