Sound Problems/Buying Opinions (MB, Speakers, Video Card?)

[Banik]

Howdy, First, my speakers crackle/static up a lot when doing graphics intensive stuff. ie. intro to AoM, playing videos & suchnot, etc. Here's my comp-
K7S5A
AMD XP 2100+
GeForce4 MX 420
SoundBlaster Audigy Gamer
2X 512meg Kingston PC333
1 80GB ATA100
1 120GB ATA133
1 Cendyne Burner
Win2K

This happened even with the onboard sound, I've tried spacing the soundcard and graphics card, disabling drivers, etc, but noting works- Any Ideas?

And this leads me to my next question- What should I buy. I feel some cash burning a hole in my pocket, so I need to figure out what to buy-
1. a New MB
2. a New Graphics Card
3. a set of speakers

1. Ok, I realize that a K7S5A is pretty solid, but it's not the best out there, and might (?) help with performance. What type should I get if ya choose this?

2. Mmmmm, Graphics Cards... Mine isn't all the great... At All. I need dual monitor support, would like 128megs, but what would be the best cost/performance ration choice? 9700 Pro really worth it? What type?

3. Speakers... I have a set of LAbtech LCS-1025's. They're old, going on 8 years now, but I also have a splitter sending a signal to my bookshelf stereo system, giving a bit more power. not bad speakers, but I've been eyeing thos purty z-560's, and those expensive z-680's.

Opinions please? I'm not gonna spend more than 300 bucks, and that's the outter limit as it is (mmm, books for next semester). Thanks a lot for your help and opinions folks, g'day!

[Sterling_Aug]

What OS are you running?

It sounds like a driver/resource issue to me.

Your equipment is working fine. Save your money till you break something before you upgrade it.

[NJEnviroguy]

If you really want those z-560's, just picked up a set this past weekend at Best Buy for $150US after rebate. Not bad at all. Just a FYI.

[Banik]

Running Windows 2000

Ya like those z-560's?

[Peter M]

The graphics card isn't by any chance on the PCI bus?

[Banik]

Yes, it is a PCI graphics card

[Cyan]

get an AGP Gfx card if anything.

I used to have this problem on my old PIII - I fixed it by building a new computer with a faster processor

I think it just couldn't handle the load when I layered some stuff onto it.

Any way, if you get an AGP card hook it in and dont use the PCI slot directly under it for anything - Especially the Sound Card.

[omega31]

Get an AGP video card.
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthre...123#post783123

Click on link above.