Sound card vs onboard (performance)

[goudwijzevis]

Would buying a cheap soundcard (£10) increase gaming performance by a significant amount?

Since the CPU wouldnt need to process sound, It got me thinking that spending £10 would get me a few extra FPS in most games.

Do any of you have any figures on performance gains?

 

[Flakes]

extra 2-3 fps in games depending on what cpu you have now, if your cpu is a AMD64 or dual core, youll probably not see much of an increase cause the cpu has enough power for onboard sound.

 

[sturm]

Goud.... is correct. Unless your running an older cpu - say sub 1600 mhz, you wont see any real world benefit from getting a seperate sound card.
And a few fps wont do anything for your gameing anyway.

 

[Codesmith]

You won't get noticible FPS increases.

But most games are tailored to sound best on the latest Creative Sound Card.

Upgrading to an XFi-Extreem Music and Sony MDR v6 Studio monitor headphones has greatly enhanced my gaming experience.

I can almost close my eyes and hunt my prey by the sound of their footsteps.

(PS if don't confuse the v6's with the v6000's which suck, and definately mod them with velour earpads, pleather doesn't cut if for long gaming sessions.)