Onboard or expansion card?

[bront]

I'm going to be building a new computer, and wondering what to do about sound.

Most of the MBs I've looked have have a realtek chip in them, is it worth spending much on upgrading the sound? What's in the low end affordable range? ($50 or less preferably) Is it worth spending more?

 

[apache_lives]

i got an Audigy 1 and its by far better then onboard sound - i aint going back. Performance increase, better sound quality and depth and so on.

People say there aint a diffrence but there is, it can make crappy speakers sound a whole lot better especially when a sub is involved - it'll push more bass and trebble out and much clearer at the same time.

 

[sturm]

Listen for yourself. Use the onboard to start out with. If you dont like the sound then get you a good sound card. Just remember the best sound card in the world wont do you a bit of good if you dont have the speakers to go with it. Basically I would get a good set of speakers first, if you dont already, before spending money on a card.
Listen for yourself and then decide.

 

[bront]

I've got a fairly decent set of speakers, so we'll see. Thanks for the input