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How to find out what sound card is on your PC. How can I determine which sound card is installed on my computer? The easiest way is Device Manager

Today it is impossible to imagine a computer that does not reproduce sound. In the same way, as in a situation with a power outage, sometimes the sound on the computer disappears. The user immediately wonders what happened and tries to find out a solution to the problem from friends.

Usually, in such cases, the advice given is to reinstall the drivers for sound card. If the speakers do not produce any sounds at all (or they produce, but just some wheezing and grinding noises), then the problem is definitely in the drivers: either they are simply not installed, or they were damaged as a result of something.

All sound card models have their own drivers, but what to do if the manufacturer and brand are not known? You need to somehow find out what sound card is on your computer.

Quick navigation through the article

device Manager

Click the "Start" button in the lower left corner of the screen.
Hover over "My Computer" and right-click. In the menu that appears, select "Properties".
You are in "System Properties". Click the Hardware tab, then select Device Manager.
A fairly large list will appear. various devices- all these are components of your computer, you need the item “Sound, video and gaming devices”. The top line will be the name of your sound card.

If you need more precise information, you can right-click on your audio device:

Select the "Properties" item, then the "Information" tab and find the "Property" item (with a drop-down list in which select "Hardware ID").
In the properties window, you will see a list with different meanings. Hover over the lowest value and right-click.
Select "Copy".
On the Internet, open a search engine, Google or Yandex, and paste the copied value.
Next, follow the links, you will find the required driver by following several links (and if you’re lucky, then the very first one).

Other options

Good to know

Considering that Windows family systems are very similar, the methods described above are perfect not only for XP, but also for Windows 7.

Once you know the card model, you can find the necessary drivers. To do this, write its model in a search engine and look for desired results by following the links. When you find what you need, download and install them. After this, restart your computer. The sound should now work again.

The sound card is a component that gets very little attention. Quite often, even experienced users do not know what sound card is on their computer.

If you also no longer remember what is responsible for sound playback on your computer, then this article should help you. Here we will look at three ways to get information about a sound card.

Method No. 1. We use the AIDA64 program.

Most reliable way to find out which one is on your computer, use the AIDA64 program (previously this program was called Everest). This program is paid, but you can download its TRIAL version, which works for 30 days. The TRIAL version is enough for you to view information about your sound card.

So, download the AIDA64 program, install and run it on your computer. After that, open the “Multimedia - HD Audio” section. This section will display information about your sound card.

In order to get the exact name of the sound card, you need to study the information that is displayed at the bottom of the window. In our case, correct name The sound card was displayed only if the name of the chip (Realtek ALC899) was selected.

Method number 2. We use the Piriform Speccy program.

Another way to find out what sound card is on your computer is the Piriform Speccy program. Unlike AIDA64, this program completely free.

After launching Piriform Speccy, go to the "Sound Devices" section. Here, in the “Sound Cards” block, the name of your sound card should be displayed.

Method number 3. Use built-in Windows tools.

This method may not work if the sound card drivers are not installed on the computer. Therefore, it can be considered an additional option.

If you want to find out which sound card is on your computer using the built-in Windows tools, then you need to press the combination Windows keys+ R and enter the command “mmc devmgmt.msc” in the menu that appears.

This will open the "" window. Here, under "Sound, Game and Video Devices" the name of your sound card will be displayed.

If there is nothing in the “Sound, game and video devices” section or an unknown device is displayed, then most likely the problem is that the drivers for the sound card are not installed on the computer. Try the first two methods.

First, how to find out which sound card is on your computer using the operating system itself. In Windows 7/8: in the “Start” menu, open “Control Panel” → “System and Security” → “System” (or press the key combination Win+PauseBreak, or right-click on the “Computer” icon on the desktop, then "Properties") . Here in the left panel there will be an item “Device Manager” - left click on it: a device manager window will open, where, among other things, there is a line “Sound, video and game devices” - left click on it. Audio devices can be recognized by the word "Audio" that usually appears in their name. Not every sound device is a sound card, so it is better to rewrite all the device names in this section and use them to search for drivers on the Internet, if that is the task. Usually this is still the very top line on this list.

Of course, the easiest way to identify a sound card is to look in the documentation for your computer. IN modern computers The sound card is usually built into the motherboard, so you need to look there. Also, many companies that sell computers describe in detail the parts included in the computer on the receipt itself. IN the latter case You need to search in the line “Motherboard”; the word “Audio” usually appears in the name of the component. Another “iron” way is to open system unit and see. But there are two difficulties here: firstly, many companies that sell computers seal the system unit, and if the seal is broken, they refuse to continue warranty service. Secondly, if the sound card is plug-in, then without special knowledge you can still find it yourself, but with a built-in one this is already problematic.

More accurate ways to find out the sound card on a computer require installing a special software. Most of these programs are paid, but there are also a few free ones. For example, you can use DirectX, a free software package from Microsoft: it is necessary for most multimedia applications, especially games. Its installer can be found on any game disc or downloaded directly from the company’s website: http: //www. microsoft. com/ru-ru/download/details. aspx? id=35 - then in the "Start" menu select "Run..." and enter "Dxdiag" - the DirectX hardware check will start and the diagnostic window will appear. On the “Sound” tab, the first line will display the name of the sound device (in brackets). And the last way is using the paid program Everest (Ultimate or Corporation Edition). After installation, you need to launch it, in the program window follow “Computer” → “Summary information”. In the “Multimedia” section, find the “Sound Adapter” item - this is the name of the sound card.

On a computer or laptop. This problem may be due to either missing or damaged drivers or an inoperative sound card. In any case, even to reinstall sound drivers, you need to know the sound card model. There are several ways to determine the model of a component part. Read also: Where to download and how to install sound drivers on Windows 10?

Software method for determining the sound card model

Find out the sound card model on a PC running an operating system Windows systems 7 and higher can be done using standard means: using the Device Manager and the DirectX Diagnostic Tool. In the first case, to determine the sound card model, perform the following steps:

Click “Start” and right-click on the “Computer” icon and select “Properties”.

In the new window, click “Device Manager”.

In the manager we need the “Audio audio inputs and audio outputs” branch.

However, it is worth noting that this section does not always display the data correctly.

The sound card detection through the DirectX Diagnostic Tool is as follows:

Press “Win+R” and enter “dxdiag”.

A new window will open. Go to the “Sound” tab. Using the specified code you can find the sound card model.

However, again this method is not 100% accurate. Therefore, if you want to know exactly the model of your device, you will have to install additional programs. Among the software, we recommend PC Wizard and Everest.

Determining the sound card model using the first program is as follows:

Download and run the program on your PC.
The program will open. Click on the “Speakers” icon. The “Device Audio” parameter is exactly the sound card model.

You can determine the sound card model using the Everest program in the following way:

Download and install the software on your PC.
Go to the “Multimedia” branch and select “Audio PCI/PnP”.

Physical way to determine the sound card model

This method is more suitable for stationary PCs, since disassembling a laptop and searching for small parts can cause difficulties and lead to damage to components. To physically find out the sound card model, perform the following steps:

Remove the side cover of the system unit.
Looking for motherboard small chip. It might look like this. Near it there will definitely be a power stabilizer for the sound chip.

Also, the sound card can be built-in, then it will be located near the audio inputs and outputs and look like a small board.

In any case, the chip will contain information that is necessary to find suitable drivers.

For other ways to determine the sound card model, watch the video:

Often, after reinstalling the operating system, the drivers of many devices need to be updated. Today we’ll look at how to find out and where to see what sound card is on your computer in Windows 10. First, let’s get acquainted with what a sound card is and what its purpose is in a computer, although many users already understand this.

Sound card features

At first, the sound card was a separate device, but now it is a component of the motherboard and is responsible for processing audio data. Without it or without a driver that controls this hardware codec, the computer will not be able to process sound files: play and capture sound from the microphone.

For most tasks, the built-in sound card is excellent. People who professionally process sound (music, for example) lack the functionality of a standard device and have to purchase a discrete sound card.

Drivers are programs and libraries that allow operating system interact with the equipment.

Before updating drivers for a sound card on Windows 10, you should determine its manufacturer. This is done in the following ways:

we study the documentation for the system unit, motherboard or laptop, or look under the cover of the system unit;
using the tens tools;
through third-party information utilities.

To receive new version low-level software that controls all aspects of the audio system, you can use the Update Center, various applications for updating drivers, or ready-made DriverPack, but this is not recommended. The safest thing to do is visit the official device support website and download the latest version of the software.

Classic

If the first option is not clear to anyone: take the instruction manual for the computer/laptop or motherboard and find it in it necessary information. Often a sticker with hardware data is applied to the laptop body. IN as a last resort, if the system unit is not under warranty, unscrew a couple of bolts with the power off and find information about the manufacturer sound card. Although it is miniature, it is not difficult to determine the location of the device: it is located near the connector for connecting speakers/headphones.

Even without finding the inscriptions, any user will recognize the Realtek corporate logo. These devices rank first in popularity on the market by a wide margin.

Operating system tools

The methods given in the next two sections and their subsections will help determine the manufacturer of the audio card if sound card drivers are installed on the PC.

DirectX to help us

System set of libraries for common name DirectX will output the required information.

The method works not only on Windows 10, but also on all windowed versions of this operating system.

1. Press Win+R.

2. Enter dxdiag and execute the command by clicking Enter or clicking OK.

3. We confirm our consent to verify the digital signature of drivers.

4. Go to the “Sound” tab and find the name of the device responsible for processing, recording and playback.

MMC console snap-in

Let's use Device Manager for these purposes.

1. Open Device Manager via Win→X.

2. Find items with sound devices and outputs and expand them.

Everything is fast and extremely simple.

Information and diagnostic utilities

Just like the system itself, in order for third-party programs to show the manufacturer and model of the audio card, the PC must have sound drivers.

AIDA

Previously, this program was known as Everest. It is downloaded from the “Downloads” section on the website www.aida64russia.ru.

Please note: whichever version you choose, you will only receive a trial version with a 30-day trial period. You can also acquire a portable edition of the software, the main thing is that the bit capacity of the utility matches the bit capacity of the installed OS.

After starting the program, go to the “Multimedia” section. In the “Audio PCI” subsection we extract the necessary information.

HWInfo

No less simple program, which has a portable version. Located on the website https://www.hwinfo.com/download.php.

After launching it, go to the Audio branch. Select your device and get everything you need in the right column. This is both its name and the driver used.

Speccy

An analogue of previous utilities from the creators of CCleaner, which is gaining popularity among beginners. You can download it from the website https://www.piriform.com/speccy/download. Unfortunately, the developer does not provide a portable version of Speccy.

There are many similar programs, but the principle of working with them all is the same: launch it, perform a couple of clicks and receive the necessary information.