JohnJSal

I'm finding it very difficult to find a card that's not gettingn some pretty bad reviews on newegg, so I'm starting to even wonder if I should bother. I only plan to buy either a 2.0 or 2.1 speaker system, at least to start with, so I don't need anything fancy. Furthermore, I won't do much more with audio than just play music every now and then, and play games.

Does using onboard audio hurt gameplay noticeably enough that a dedicated card is desirable? I'm thinking specifically of the game Oblivion for this.

Thanks.

[-0MEGA-]

For just a 2.0 or 2.1 system, onboard audio is fine. And no, you won't notice any performance drop.

__________________
Pentium Dual-Core E2200 @ 3.3GHz
Gigabyte P35-DS3L
ATI HD 3870 GDDR4 @ (875/2272)
4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2-1000
500GB SATAII HD w/16MB
SilverStone 750W +12V@60A
3DMark06: 11515

JohnJSal

Thanks. I think I might just skip a sound card for now then. It's weird how this is the one component that no one seems to agree on (as far as newegg goes). None of them really have high ratings like other components.

The_Beast

a sound card is the last thing i'd buy

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ComputerGuru64x2

Lol, Intergrated Sound won't hurt your gameplay by a inch. Many Sound Card producing companies make you think that intergrated sound (Delays FPS, and Takes CPU Usuage Away by measureable amounts). Intergrated sound is only about .01 of your CPU usuage. Unless your one of those Quad SLI, 16Gb, X48, Quad CPU, and Phase Changing Cooling freaks, I don't think you have anything to worry about.

__________________
Gaming System/Media Center
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Windsor @ 2.2Ghz Socket AM2
MB: Abit AN-M2HD nVidia GeForce 7050PV nForce 630a HDMI mATX
RAM: 2Gb(2 X 1Gb) OCZ Platinum Revivsion 2 PC2 6400 @ DDR2 880 (3-4-4-15)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar 80Gb 7200RPM IDE
GPU: MSI GeForce 8600GT 256Mb DDR3 128bit
OD: LG DVD-RAM Black Sata
Case: nMEDIAPC HTPC 200BA Black
Speakers: Logitech X-240 2.1

JohnJSal

Thanks. It's not that I necessarily believe the sound card companies, but sometimes I read reviews about how a sound card improves performance because it does its own processing, etc. Maybe I shouldn't trust those people either.

Btw, my expected plans are the new E8400, a single 8800GT, 2GB RAM, X38 board. Not exactly high-powered, but still quite nice.

ComputerGuru64x2

That is going to be nice. Unless your going to be music, doing gaming, and recording, then you really don't need a sound card. Also, Some onboard sound can be really nice... However im a Audiophile, that does bunches of recording, music listening, and ripping. So i bought a bunch of extending sound cards.

__________________
Gaming System/Media Center
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Windsor @ 2.2Ghz Socket AM2
MB: Abit AN-M2HD nVidia GeForce 7050PV nForce 630a HDMI mATX
RAM: 2Gb(2 X 1Gb) OCZ Platinum Revivsion 2 PC2 6400 @ DDR2 880 (3-4-4-15)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar 80Gb 7200RPM IDE
GPU: MSI GeForce 8600GT 256Mb DDR3 128bit
OD: LG DVD-RAM Black Sata
Case: nMEDIAPC HTPC 200BA Black
Speakers: Logitech X-240 2.1

JohnJSal

No, I don't have any hardcore requirements like making my PC a media center or anything. I will be gaming, but I still wouldn't consider the PC I plan to build a "gaming machine," so I probably won't need the card.

[-0MEGA-]

That is true to a point, it may have been noticeable in single core processors, although now with dual and quad core CPU's, you won't be able to tell the difference at all since a different core is doing the sound processing.

__________________
Pentium Dual-Core E2200 @ 3.3GHz
Gigabyte P35-DS3L
ATI HD 3870 GDDR4 @ (875/2272)
4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2-1000
500GB SATAII HD w/16MB
SilverStone 750W +12V@60A
3DMark06: 11515

JohnJSal

Well that's good to know. Maybe now I don't have to worry about picking a sound card. I can use that extra money to not feel so bad about spending too much on the mobo!

Plus, a lot of the reviews do say things like the card doesn't sound much or any better than the onboard audio.