Do I need a sound card?

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Novakane_

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Nov 29, 2015
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Ill be editing and gaming a bit. Not sure if I need a sound card or the motherboard one is fine. Haven't gotten any recommendation for it either.

HELP

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kRdR7P
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kRdR7P/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($77.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($149.99 @ Micro Center)
Case: NZXT Phantom 240 ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.88 @ OutletPC)
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($21.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $760.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-03 17:19 EST-0500
 
Solution
Rogue Leader
For reference onboard sound is generally fine. In fact for 95% of users it is perfectly fine. In order to take advantage of a really good sound card you need to be willing to dump an additional good chunk of change into your output source. Those $50 special computer speakers aren't going to cut it. On top of that while many new games have high quality sound when it comes to music, if you're playing low fidelity files or sources thats also not going to do anything for you.

In my case for example I have a $200 sound card running a $200 pair of studio monitors, connected via RCA cable to use the sound card's high quality built in DAC. I play CD's or high resolution files, or in game sound which takes advantage of some of the card's...
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Rookie_MIB

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Jul 27, 2013
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Motherboard based sound is usually sufficient for most use cases for inputting audio from separate sources. Some are better than others, and most use Realteks audio solutions. For Realtek, higher numbers are usually better.

If you really wanted to go upscale, find yourself an Asus Xonar card. Those are pretty nice.
 
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Rogue Leader

Rogue Leader

It's a trap!
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Dec 22, 2014
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For reference onboard sound is generally fine. In fact for 95% of users it is perfectly fine. In order to take advantage of a really good sound card you need to be willing to dump an additional good chunk of change into your output source. Those $50 special computer speakers aren't going to cut it. On top of that while many new games have high quality sound when it comes to music, if you're playing low fidelity files or sources thats also not going to do anything for you.

In my case for example I have a $200 sound card running a $200 pair of studio monitors, connected via RCA cable to use the sound card's high quality built in DAC. I play CD's or high resolution files, or in game sound which takes advantage of some of the card's fancy features. Thats when its worth it. Otherwise don't bother.
 
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