should I buy a sound card

memory · 03-10-2008, 06:00 PM

I have been putting together a new machine and the motherboard I bought has 8 channels onboard sound. I just wondered would it be worth it to put a sound card in it? Will I notice a increase in performance and sound quality with a sound card?

I have been looking at them and noticed lot of sound cards only have 4 connections on the back. I have one in the machine I am using now and it has 7 connections which is a couple years old. Why do the newer ones have less?

Nevakonaza · 03-10-2008, 06:36 PM

unless your planning on buying a realy good card like the creative fatility then i would stick with onboard.
but tbh with newer motherboards the sound is realy amazing.

i had a soundcard in my old rig and when i got my new computer it has onboard high definition and it sound ALOT better than my sound card did.

memory · 03-10-2008, 06:52 PM

That is what I figured. The motherboard I bought also has HD audio, I believe. I think I will use onboard sound for now.

Vipernitrox · 03-10-2008, 10:01 PM

isn't really worth the money. Unless you're an audiophile and you have very good speakers. Then you might hear the difference. But you'd have to spend over 60$ on for example the creative x-fi.

memory · 03-10-2008, 10:39 PM

I am using a set of Logitech X-530 speakers and do listen to a lot of music. Would I notice a difference between onboard sound and a sound card?

My motherboard supports HD audio. Is there a big difference between HD audio and regular audio?

Vipernitrox · 03-10-2008, 11:24 PM

don't think you'd notice the difference. i'm using a creative soundblaster right now. Got it for free wouldn't buy it.
Your music has to be top quality to.

bumblebee_tuna · 03-10-2008, 11:45 PM

If you are a gamer, you should get a card from the X-Fi series. EAX support and 3D-SMS or something, is well worth the price.....

hermeslyre · 03-11-2008, 12:19 AM

The onboard on my gigabyte mobo, bit older, isn't shielded very well. The sound itself is perfect, but I get a volume dependent static, very annoying.

I would normally be fine with onboard, but little problems like this can make a dedicated sound card worth it.

Vizy93 · 03-11-2008, 01:19 AM

Yea, a sound card isnt necessary. i wasted $40 on mine...i feel really retarded. You won't really notice a difference. if u do, then next day ull be used to it so its cool. Ur mobo onboard should be fine.

It also true that ude need to spend over $60 to get a good x-fi. My card doesnt even have the real x-fi chip. 2 bad i didnt know that before

memory · 03-11-2008, 01:45 AM

Okay, thanks guys. I am going to stick with onboard sound.

03-10-2008, 06:00 PM	#1 (permalink)
memory Gold Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Southern Indiana Posts: 399	should I buy a sound card I have been putting together a new machine and the motherboard I bought has 8 channels onboard sound. I just wondered would it be worth it to put a sound card in it? Will I notice a increase in performance and sound quality with a sound card? I have been looking at them and noticed lot of sound cards only have 4 connections on the back. I have one in the machine I am using now and it has 7 connections which is a couple years old. Why do the newer ones have less? __________________ New rig soon to be built: Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS\|Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L \| EVGA 8800GTS(G92) 512mb \| OCZ Gold 4gb DDR2 800 \| OCZ GameXStream 700 watt \| WD 250gb SATA 3.0 \| Samsung 20x dvd burner with lightscribe \| Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit \| 19 inch widescreen Hanns G monitor Old rig for sell: Dell Dimension 9100 Pentium D 820/ Corsair 2gb of ram/Pny Geforce 6800GS OC/2 dvd burners/Maxtor 250gb HDD/WD 120gb HDD/Soundblaster Audigy 4

03-10-2008, 06:36 PM	#2 (permalink)
Nevakonaza Diamond Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: C:/Windows Age: 19 Posts: 6,855	unless your planning on buying a realy good card like the creative fatility then i would stick with onboard. but tbh with newer motherboards the sound is realy amazing. i had a soundcard in my old rig and when i got my new computer it has onboard high definition and it sound ALOT better than my sound card did. __________________ Core 2 Duo E6300 OC'd @ 2.7Ghz AC Freezer 7 Pro MSI P35 Neo Combo(45nm ready) 3Gb GeIL DDR2 @ 772 Mhz (Dual channel) Asus Extreme 8800GT G92 512Mb with Glaciator cooler WD Caviar 400Gb Sata II Gigabyte GZ-X1 Black case Lite-On 48X DVD writer Dual layer. Windows Vista Ultimate x64 And soon MacOS 10.5.1 Leopard

03-10-2008, 06:52 PM	#3 (permalink)
memory Gold Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Southern Indiana Posts: 399	That is what I figured. The motherboard I bought also has HD audio, I believe. I think I will use onboard sound for now. __________________ New rig soon to be built: Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS\|Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L \| EVGA 8800GTS(G92) 512mb \| OCZ Gold 4gb DDR2 800 \| OCZ GameXStream 700 watt \| WD 250gb SATA 3.0 \| Samsung 20x dvd burner with lightscribe \| Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit \| 19 inch widescreen Hanns G monitor Old rig for sell: Dell Dimension 9100 Pentium D 820/ Corsair 2gb of ram/Pny Geforce 6800GS OC/2 dvd burners/Maxtor 250gb HDD/WD 120gb HDD/Soundblaster Audigy 4

03-10-2008, 10:01 PM	#4 (permalink)
Vipernitrox Platinum Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Hilversum, NL Age: 20 Posts: 571	isn't really worth the money. Unless you're an audiophile and you have very good speakers. Then you might hear the difference. But you'd have to spend over 60$ on for example the creative x-fi. __________________ Samsung Syncmaster 226BW 22" @ 1680x1050 Antec P182 - 3 Nexus Real Silent 120mm Fans P5N-e Sli - Southbridge: Thermalright HR-05 C2D E6420 @ 3.3 Ghz - Scythe Infinity Cpu Cooler 4GB (4x1) Kingston DDR2 HyperX Memory @ 825mhz - 4-4-4-12 Sparkle 8800 GT Coolpipe 3 512MB Creative Audigy Soundblaster - Logitech X-540 5.1 Speaker Set 500gb Samsung Sata HD Ichbinleise 700 Watt Silent Psu Pics: 1 2 3 4

03-10-2008, 10:39 PM	#5 (permalink)
memory Gold Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Southern Indiana Posts: 399	I am using a set of Logitech X-530 speakers and do listen to a lot of music. Would I notice a difference between onboard sound and a sound card? My motherboard supports HD audio. Is there a big difference between HD audio and regular audio? __________________ New rig soon to be built: Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS\|Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L \| EVGA 8800GTS(G92) 512mb \| OCZ Gold 4gb DDR2 800 \| OCZ GameXStream 700 watt \| WD 250gb SATA 3.0 \| Samsung 20x dvd burner with lightscribe \| Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit \| 19 inch widescreen Hanns G monitor Old rig for sell: Dell Dimension 9100 Pentium D 820/ Corsair 2gb of ram/Pny Geforce 6800GS OC/2 dvd burners/Maxtor 250gb HDD/WD 120gb HDD/Soundblaster Audigy 4

03-10-2008, 11:24 PM	#6 (permalink)
Vipernitrox Platinum Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Hilversum, NL Age: 20 Posts: 571	don't think you'd notice the difference. i'm using a creative soundblaster right now. Got it for free wouldn't buy it. Your music has to be top quality to. __________________ Samsung Syncmaster 226BW 22" @ 1680x1050 Antec P182 - 3 Nexus Real Silent 120mm Fans P5N-e Sli - Southbridge: Thermalright HR-05 C2D E6420 @ 3.3 Ghz - Scythe Infinity Cpu Cooler 4GB (4x1) Kingston DDR2 HyperX Memory @ 825mhz - 4-4-4-12 Sparkle 8800 GT Coolpipe 3 512MB Creative Audigy Soundblaster - Logitech X-540 5.1 Speaker Set 500gb Samsung Sata HD Ichbinleise 700 Watt Silent Psu Pics: 1 2 3 4

03-10-2008, 11:45 PM	#7 (permalink)
bumblebee_tuna Diamond Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Mission Viejo, CA Age: 19 Posts: 1,322	If you are a gamer, you should get a card from the X-Fi series. EAX support and 3D-SMS or something, is well worth the price..... __________________ Dell Inspiron 1520 Jet Black Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2GHz / 2GB DDR2 667MHz / 160GB 7200RPM nVidia GeForce 8600m GT 256MB 15.4" WXGA Anti-glare Display (1280x800) Microsoft Windows Vista Premium w/ Media Direct boot hack into Ubuntu Gutsy Haikus are easy. But sometimes they don't make sense. Refrigerator.

03-11-2008, 12:19 AM	#8 (permalink)
hermeslyre VIP Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Portland, Oregon Age: 18 Posts: 4,535	The onboard on my gigabyte mobo, bit older, isn't shielded very well. The sound itself is perfect, but I get a volume dependent static, very annoying. I would normally be fine with onboard, but little problems like this can make a dedicated sound card worth it.

03-11-2008, 01:45 AM	#10 (permalink)
memory Gold Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Southern Indiana Posts: 399	Okay, thanks guys. I am going to stick with onboard sound. __________________ New rig soon to be built: Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS\|Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L \| EVGA 8800GTS(G92) 512mb \| OCZ Gold 4gb DDR2 800 \| OCZ GameXStream 700 watt \| WD 250gb SATA 3.0 \| Samsung 20x dvd burner with lightscribe \| Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit \| 19 inch widescreen Hanns G monitor Old rig for sell: Dell Dimension 9100 Pentium D 820/ Corsair 2gb of ram/Pny Geforce 6800GS OC/2 dvd burners/Maxtor 250gb HDD/WD 120gb HDD/Soundblaster Audigy 4

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