Should I sell my sound card and use onboard sound?

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So, I currently have a z370-h motherboard, and a strix soar sound card, the sound card was bought for my old PC which had no onboard 7.1 surround sound for my 7.1 tiamat razer headphones, but this one does. Here's the thing, my friend wants to buy a sound card right now, but idk if I should sell my current because although I dont work with sound, I rely on it heavily in games like csgo and such, so will the onboard sound be ad good or atleast good enough for the average gamer? I would like the money too as I'm saving for a new case for my pc.
 
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I found the on board soundcard of my motherboard was not strong enough to drive the Tiamat 7.1’s and have to use an ASUS Phoebus. You should definitely try your onboard soundcard before making any decision.

USAFRet

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Remove the sound card.
Try it

If it meets your audio needs with out, sell it.
If you find the onboard audio is lacking for your ears, keep it.
 
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gn842a

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Oct 10, 2016
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I guess it depends on what you do. I run my sound into the receiver/tuner amp and run the speakers (or very rarely, headphones) out of the amp. So I don't need the power to drive headphones coming from the computer.

Sometimes I think about the virtues of a sound card with this rig but then I tune into a stream where the you can hear the bow of the cello bite the strings and the whole sound makes you jump. When it's that good it's hard to think that a sound card would make it better.

I think that the truth is that the main variability in sound quality is in the nature of the recordings we play. MP3s and horrid stuff like Sirius radio have no sound quality. You get lossless format or tune into an internet radio that streams high quality you're in a whole new world. I think I-tunes are probably pretty medicore but I'll leave that to the experts.

In the upstairs secondary build I'm using an inexpensive speaker and woofer set probably worth about $50. It is surprisingly good (if the input is good) and runs out of the motherboard output. Downstairs the Tos link also runs out of the motherboard connection but goes off to the aforementioned tuner amp which feeds into much pricier speakers and woofer. The sound is hugely better all the way around. Sometimes I think "you should try a sound card" but then the feeling goes away. Bottom line is I think the mobo sound output is very good and maybe even excellent if you send the signals into better quality components.

It's certainly better than the other sound systems I encounter, and when I switched to a pc based sound system from old style (phono player, cd player, tuner amp, speakers) to this way it was unambiguously BETTER. But that was years ago.

Greg N
 
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