Are sound cards important?

[hat]

Sound cards are cool if you have multi channel speakers and your onboard only has one channel. For example my 5.1 speakers have front, rear and subwoofer channels and my onboard only has front, headphones and mic. My sound card has front, rear and subwoofer channels needed for my speakers. Also, sound cards let you use nifty effects like EAX and X-Fi.

 

[intel igent]

what if your one of the freaks like i am who has 8 threads at there disposal? and less then 3 is always being used? Then the "extra processesing" power is pointless. Even the kentsfield and Yorkfield days, programs just started coming out for quadcores.

TBH i would say you wasted money on thing's you will never use, but you like to bench so ENJOY

it's ALL about the E-PEEN baby

 

[Darknova]

Also... i am willing to bet you will not hear the difference between onboard and dedicated sound card if you were playing them off a 2.1 channel speakers. Well not on the decient priced boards at least.

Want to bet? My Razer Barracuda sounds cleaner and crisper, compared to the "muted" sounds of the onboard and the Auzentech X-plosion I own. Doesn't matter how many speakers, it's all about the sound quality

 

[JATownes]

Same here. I was creating a set of modded drivers for the Barracuda (Razers last drivers are WAY too old), and I was also messing about with an Auzentech X-plosion and my onboard. There was just no contest, the X-plosion was SLIGHTLY better than onboard, but the Barracuda was head and shoulders above them both.

Personally I won't use onboard anymore, I have to have a discrete card.

I would love to try your modded drivers...if you don't mind sharing 64bit or 32bit??

Edit: Just caught up on the posts...I use a pair of Everglide S-500 headphones for LAN, and there is a HUGE difference between onboard on the card, not only in quality, but also in volume. Also, adjusting the timing and individual volumes of the speakers is a requirement if you are an audiophile...Onboard won't do that I also use optical outputs...so a soundcard is necessary. The only soundcard I have found to compare to my Barracuda is the HT-Omega Claro...and they are FREAKIN AWESOME. Onboard vs discrete??? Discrete FTW...my 2 cents.

 

[ste2425]

Doesn't matter how many speakers, it's all about the sound quality

thank you

 

[Easy Rhino]

if you are only listening to mp3s and games on it then dont bother.

 

[intel igent]

what are people's thought's on the ASUS Xonar HDAV 1.3?

i'd like to pair it up with my Yamaha HTR-6290b

 

[ShadowFold]

Cheap sound cards are worthless. The only sound card that's worth it are the high end ASUS Xonar. Don't even look at creative, their drivers just ruin their cards.

 

[JATownes]

Cheap sound cards are worthless. The only sound card that's worth it are the high end ASUS Xonar. Don't even look at creative, their drivers just ruin their cards.

Totally agree. Asus Xonar is good, but I still lean toward the HT Omega Claro if you have the $$$

 

[Reventon]

Personally, I'd much rather spend my money on something that will get me good graphics with good framerates than something where I will hardly notice a difference in my sound. But that's just me.

 

[intel igent]

Personally, I'd much rather spend my money on something that will get me good graphics with good framerates than something where I will hardly notice a difference in my sound. But that's just me.

and just as you are, there are people who appreciate quality sound, myself included

i noticed a HUGE difference when i went from the on-board on my p4p800e-dlx to an audigy 2zs! and this was using altec lansing vs2121's for speaker's!

i don't know about today's rig's but i added stability + frame's to my rig when i addd that card as well....

 

[Kursah]

I just have a couple more things to buy for my gaming rig, and it will be done. I want to know if it's important to have a dedicated sound card in a PC. I know, you don't need one whatsoever to get sound, but what benefits do you get from them? I don't have any real surround-sound headphones (just a cheap plantronics headset) although I do have a 5.1 surround sound speaker system I can connect to the PC. I've never had the 5.1 on a sound card before, but it's always sounded pretty surrounding to me. You know, if something makes a noise in-game behind you, you hear it behind you, so they work find with just the motherboard's sound.

-SJ

As has been already pointed out, no you don't NEED an add-in sound card, most onboard solutions sound pretty damn good, have good driver support, plenty of features including up to 7.1 channel, digital audio output, etc. Load on the CPU isn't a worry with multicores, it isn't gonna hurt your game to run onboard. Now saying that, in the last 5 MB's I've had since P965, 2 have had onboard fail. One was Asus P5B Deluxe the other was a DFI P35 LP Dark, both had decent sound, the Asus' sound chip at the time was known for issues so I wasn't suprised to see it go. I ended up getting an X-Fi Xtreme Music, it might be bottom of the line, but it sounds good, well a whole lot better to me than onboard ever has, clearer to my ears than onboard ever could, better bass response, better at picking up things I never noticed in music, plus I've had no issues with it in the last at least 2 years I've used it, including Vista (for those that dog X-fi and Vista, really the lower-end X-Fi's at least mine has done great while those that spent waaay more than my 50 bucks had issues), and now that I have it I use it. But had my onboard not failed me, I would still be using it most likely. Less junk in your rig, less driver hassle, but more limited, creatives EQ is brilliant compared to any onboard solutions' I've ever used which goes way beyond just my personal rigs/builds. But saying that, every generation of onboard gets that much closer to add-in cards' quality, they'll never match a dedicated card, but they're also not that far behind. If you're not used to a sound card, find a rig that has one and listen, if you can use the same headset or speakers, and then compare with your onboard. But I say for now, you don't necessarily need to worry about one unless you want to claim yourself an audiophile or what-not. In the end if your ears are happy, then it's worth it.

 

[Soylent Joe]

Can someone recommend a good sound card brand or model? A brand that makes good stuff, but is affordable.

 

[ShadowFold]

Can someone recommend a good sound card brand or model? A brand that makes good stuff, but is affordable.

ASUS Xonar is the best. They have some for 90$, I have the 150$ version in my HTPC and it's amazing

 

[Kursah]

Can someone recommend a good sound card brand or model? A brand that makes good stuff, but is affordable.

If you don't want to spend almost 100 or way more on a Xonar a cheap X-Fi Xtreme Music refurb from Creative directly for about 50 bucks or an X-Fi Xtreme Gamer can be found for around the same price (just a revision of the same card), both are low end X-Fi but still true x-fi, drivers are solid in XP, 7 and Vista, have been for a loooong time, has good features, get's the job done quite well. Some suggest spending uber amounts of dollars on a sound card, if you think onboard is good enough, even an old SB Audigy will be an upgrade for ya. So start out with affordable territory, see if it's something you want to deal with. Many dog creative, and I don't blame them, but the X-fi's are worth a look, the Xtreme Audio is also a good card, it's not an X-Fi per-say but a rebadged Audigy (I think NV and ATI got the trend from creative lol!), all 3 are solid, cheap, put out damn good sound to my 2.1 speakers, my 5.1 headset, the software works quite well for me, I've been happy for years on my cheap-ass X-Fi, I've heard Xonars and modded sound cards, sure they are clearer and can go even louder, but for the price it wasn't worth it to me. Especially when others biggest complaint of drivers and issues w/drivers hasn't bothered me.

I still say start out with onboard, if you don't like it for some reason, then get a sound card, tbh even tho I can notice a difference as I said before I wouldn't have one had my onboard sound not died on me...sure I'd be missing out on some clarity and overall better quality, but oh well.

 

[intel igent]

unless you want to claim yourself an audiophile or what-not. In the end if your ears are happy, then it's worth it.

another one directed at me, you are incredible!

even a $50 soundcard will make your gaming experience more enjoyable, buy a cheapo card install it and game for a few hour's and make a comparisson yourself if you don't like it/notice an improvement retun the card and get a case of beer

on a side note: Kursah don't hate cuz you can't relate

 

[Kursah]

another one directed at me, you are incredible!

Haha! I couldn't help it intel! I just gotta poke the bear!

even a $50 soundcard will make your gaming experience more enjoyable, buy a cheapo card install it and game for a few hour's and make a comparisson yourself if you don't like it/notice an improvement retun the card and get a case of beer

Not that I disagree at all, even an Audigy2 would kick ass compared to most onboard solutions. But onboards have come quite a ways in the last few years, and for most out there, that's plenty. I do agree try one out or find someone that has one to borrow or similar, buy and return, I'm happy with my x-fi, I don't plan to replace it anytime soon. I definately enjoy it's output compared to onboard, but I also agree you can snag a great sound card for around 50 bucks that'll be more than enough for most.

on a side note: Kursah don't hate cuz you can't relate

Haha! Good play sir, good play...

 

[intel igent]

Haha! I couldn't help it intel! I just gotta poke the bear!

if you gonna be a bear be a mother fackin' GRIZZLY!

 

[RadeonProVega]

I say yes they are very important, better sound? Not really. My onboard sound on my computer is from realtek/8-channel (7.1) high-definition. But they have more features, like recording, which for some reason i can't do with this onboard. I am buying this soon:
http://www.staples.com/office/suppl...ness_Supplies_1_10051_SC3:CG6:DP1928:CL140474
Its only 20 bucks.

 

[HossHuge]

While I didn't notice a difference in FPS in games, I did notice the sound quailty was much better in both music and games and my sound card is just a cheapo.

 

[MKmods]

The onboard of the Newer Gigabyte mobos is pretty good (Realtek ALC889A).

The Asus D1 or DX are VERY GOOD cards for its cost (especially with the $30 rebates). If you use headphones you will be treated to louder clearer sound as well on the Asus cards...

 

[Jeffredo]

In my case a sound card is important. An older AMD dual core with Windows XP works nicely with an Audigy 2 Value. The sound is better than the onboard Realtek by a slight amount, but the real benefit is taking most of the audio processing load off my X2 6400+. I get about 3-10 FPS more in games using it over the Realtek (and that's nothing to sneeze at when you won't go higher than a vertical sync limited 60 FPS).

 

[7.62]

Well my old sound card died and I had to revert back to Onboard sound, and games became unplayable.
I had the latest drivers and everything, but when I bought a new sound card... I was playing the same level of the same game with about 40-50 FPS higher

 

[ste2425]

http://www.alesis.com/multimix8usb

well this is my sound card, thought id pop it in here somewhere haha i love showin it off its the only proffessional part of my rig

 

[7.62]

I guess thats one way to show your onboard sound. Its on a fricken board alright.