on board sound vs sound card

Pc_Pimp · 01-07-2008, 11:37 PM

For watching movies, listening music and gaming how much of a difference will i notice going from on board sound to a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channel sound card?

OvenMaster · 01-07-2008, 11:49 PM

When I moved from RealTek onboard to a $20 Diamond 5.1 card, the stuttering and distortion stopped during multitasking, and the sound was a LOT cleaner... especially mp3's and DVD playback. A lot also depends on your speakers and/or headphones.
Tom

footballdude2k3 · 01-07-2008, 11:53 PM

I would say go to the soundcard, always a much better, cleaner sound, and they arent all that expensive

PohTayToez · 01-07-2008, 11:58 PM

I've never thought the sound difference to be worth the price. If you're upgrading to a quality sound card, then you're going to want a nice speaker setup as well, or else it's not worth doing. I'd say to make it worth upgrading at all you'd have to put in at least $200, and at that point unless you have an awesome rig to start with, I'd rather put that money into a graphics card or a second/bigger monitor.

Pc_Pimp · 01-07-2008, 11:58 PM

Is there really any difference in the different X-Fi cards such as the audio one vs the gamer one?

StrangleHold · 01-08-2008, 02:43 AM

The Audio is just a beefed up Audigy, doesnt really even have a X-Fi chip. The gamer does it own processing with its onboard chip and the Audio uses your CPU time

PunterCam · 01-11-2008, 10:59 PM

If you need 7.1 then sure, change it, but for sound quality? No difference. Chances are you'll be listening to mp3's anyway, and they're compromised in the first place. I just use the onboard sound on my mac pro as opposed to my m-box2 (which technically should be far higher quality) for simlplicity, it sounds just as good, and unless you have a pair of £2000 speakers hooked up, you aint gonna notice.

JLV2k5 · 01-12-2008, 03:22 AM

You'll be fine with onboard sound. I think if you are questioning it, then you really don't think you need a sound card.

jds21 · 01-14-2008, 01:17 PM

I have the Logitech G51 speaker system and when I finally build my PC, I am making sure that I get a good sound card to gett eh most out of my system... they are quality speakers and in order to get the best, i suppose you have to spend the money

Tho saying that, onboard sound is pretty good these days. If you have the money then go for it otherwise you'll be fine without

GSAV55 · 01-14-2008, 01:43 PM

I've been thinking about getting a soundcard for a while. I think my onboard sound is messed up. I get a really nasty distortion ranomly during games, and my mic channel, and a couple of the speaker channels don't work at all. But I might just get a new mobo, and use that onboard sound. hmm...

01-07-2008, 11:37 PM	#1 (permalink)
Pc_Pimp Platinum Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Age: 17 Posts: 640	on board sound vs sound card For watching movies, listening music and gaming how much of a difference will i notice going from on board sound to a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channel sound card? __________________ Custom Rig - Still to come: Razer diamondback, sound card, tv tuner, 4gb ram kit, 8800gt, vista & more HDD space E6400 @ 3.0GHz (1500MHz FSB) \| Zalman CNPS 9500 CPU fan Asus P5K Deluxe WiFi-AP edition \| (2x1GB) Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 Evga 8600GT 256MB \| Dell E228WFP 22" LCD Western Digital 320GB SATA HDD \| Nec 16x DVD Burner \| XP Home Thermaltake Armor VA8000BWS \| Antec SmartPower 2.0 450watt

01-07-2008, 11:49 PM	#2 (permalink)
OvenMaster VIP Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Away for a while Age: 49 Posts: 1,961	When I moved from RealTek onboard to a $20 Diamond 5.1 card, the stuttering and distortion stopped during multitasking, and the sound was a LOT cleaner... especially mp3's and DVD playback. A lot also depends on your speakers and/or headphones. Tom __________________ Frankenbox III: CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ * MOBO: Biostar K8M800 Micro AM2 * RAM: 2x1GB Kingston DDR2 667 HDD: WD 80GB Master, Seagate 320GB Slave * DVD: Pioneer DVR-115DBK & LiteOn SOHW-812S DVD/CD burners PSU: Antec SmartPower 2.0 350W * GPU: PNY GeForce FX5200 256MB AGP 8x * MON: ViewSonic LCD VA721 CASE: eMachines * SND: Diamond Xtreme 5.1 * PRN: Epson C88+ * OS: XP Home SP2 *** ROUTER: Linksys BEFSR41

01-07-2008, 11:53 PM	#3 (permalink)
footballdude2k3 Gold Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: sheboygan, wi Posts: 424	I would say go to the soundcard, always a much better, cleaner sound, and they arent all that expensive __________________ case- antec 900 Dell d840 cpu-intel e8400 @3.00ghz p4 2.0ghz memory- 4gb corsair 800 mhz 512 mb ram hdd- 500 gb western digital psu- 700 ocz video- evga 8800gt speakers- logitech 5.1 X130 dvd- lite on 20x os-vista home premium if anybody has any input on the left column thats what i want to get right now.

01-07-2008, 11:58 PM	#4 (permalink)
PohTayToez Diamond Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Illinois Age: 19 Posts: 2,541	I've never thought the sound difference to be worth the price. If you're upgrading to a quality sound card, then you're going to want a nice speaker setup as well, or else it's not worth doing. I'd say to make it worth upgrading at all you'd have to put in at least $200, and at that point unless you have an awesome rig to start with, I'd rather put that money into a graphics card or a second/bigger monitor. __________________ Desktop / Laptop ASUS A8N-E / Compaq Presario v6420us AMD Athlon 3200+ @ 2.50Ghz / AMD Athlon X2 TK-53 @ 1.70Ghz MSI GeForce 7800GT / GeForce Go 6150 2 x 512MB DDR / 2 x 1GB DDR2 250GB SATA II / 80GB 5400RPM SATA 2 x DVD Burner / 8X DVD±R/RW

01-07-2008, 11:58 PM	#5 (permalink)
Pc_Pimp Platinum Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Age: 17 Posts: 640	Is there really any difference in the different X-Fi cards such as the audio one vs the gamer one? __________________ Custom Rig - Still to come: Razer diamondback, sound card, tv tuner, 4gb ram kit, 8800gt, vista & more HDD space E6400 @ 3.0GHz (1500MHz FSB) \| Zalman CNPS 9500 CPU fan Asus P5K Deluxe WiFi-AP edition \| (2x1GB) Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 Evga 8600GT 256MB \| Dell E228WFP 22" LCD Western Digital 320GB SATA HDD \| Nec 16x DVD Burner \| XP Home Thermaltake Armor VA8000BWS \| Antec SmartPower 2.0 450watt

01-08-2008, 02:43 AM	#6 (permalink)
StrangleHold Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: In a realm of unknown Wonders Posts: 6,830	The Audio is just a beefed up Audigy, doesnt really even have a X-Fi chip. The gamer does it own processing with its onboard chip and the Audio uses your CPU time __________________ NZXT Apollo Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Gigabyte GA MA770 DS3 G Skill DDR2 800 2gb PNY 8800GT Spinpoint F1 500gb. Too bad stupidity isn't painful.

01-11-2008, 10:59 PM	#7 (permalink)
PunterCam Gold Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 423	If you need 7.1 then sure, change it, but for sound quality? No difference. Chances are you'll be listening to mp3's anyway, and they're compromised in the first place. I just use the onboard sound on my mac pro as opposed to my m-box2 (which technically should be far higher quality) for simlplicity, it sounds just as good, and unless you have a pair of £2000 speakers hooked up, you aint gonna notice.

01-12-2008, 03:22 AM	#8 (permalink)
JLV2k5 Diamond Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: University of Delaware Age: 21 Posts: 1,290	You'll be fine with onboard sound. I think if you are questioning it, then you really don't think you need a sound card. __________________ Can't wait to finish college and build my system.

01-14-2008, 01:17 PM	#9 (permalink)
jds21 Silver Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 110	I have the Logitech G51 speaker system and when I finally build my PC, I am making sure that I get a good sound card to gett eh most out of my system... they are quality speakers and in order to get the best, i suppose you have to spend the money Tho saying that, onboard sound is pretty good these days. If you have the money then go for it otherwise you'll be fine without

01-14-2008, 01:43 PM	#10 (permalink)
GSAV55 Gold Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: FL Age: 18 Posts: 417	I've been thinking about getting a soundcard for a while. I think my onboard sound is messed up. I get a really nasty distortion ranomly during games, and my mic channel, and a couple of the speaker channels don't work at all. But I might just get a new mobo, and use that onboard sound. hmm... __________________ Acer 24" wide screen 2ms 1920x1200 Asus M2N-E nForce 500 SLI 2x XFX GeForce 7900GTX SLI 2gb OCZ DDR2 RAM AMD 64 x2 5600+ 3.02Ghz 550watt X2 Ultra modular PSU 250gb Seagate Barracuda G15 Gaming Keyboard

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