Audio Card or No Audio Card

[peterpetter]

What is the point of the audio card now days? Do they help the cpu or just better sound? I'm a little confused. thx

 

[dmroeder]

Some people say that the onboard ones don't cut it. For the majority of the population, they are just fine.

Oh, and read this

 

[emp]

They do offload some from the CPU, I don't know yet if it's a day and night difference as far as sound quality goes, but I ordered an X-Fi XtremeGamer to pair with my 5.1 speakers, because I can sometimes feel the unbearable lag if I try to use 5.1 sound with onboard while on multiplayer.

If you're on a budget, I don't recommend it, however if you have some cash to spare (Like me) then get one. If you are, I recommend you get at least the X-Fi XtremeGamer ($80 on newegg), this is the cheapest model that does Hardware processing, unlike the X-Fi Xtreme Audio that does Software processing (meaning the CPU still takes the plunge).

 

[derek2006]

It makes a world of difference. For BF2 I cannot play on a computer with onboard it sounds just so crappy.

 

[Gravemind123]

I think it depends on the onboard chipset too. There are some that are nicer then others, and personally I've never had an issue with onboard, but I use a 2.0 setup and before that a 2.1 setup.

 

[buzznut]

I can tell you about my experience, very fresh indeed just went through it this week. I have a top rated motherboard (ASUS Crosshair) which touts it's onboard HD sound, even has a sort of mini soundcard. Says it's got 24bit high definition sound and all the other goodies that are supposed to come with sound cards today. I hooked it up and heard..something. Well, it did ok I suppose, but I could really tell the difference from my old sound card which is an Audigy 2 zs gamer. So, out came the onboard card and in came my trusty 3 year old Audigy. It sounds amazing with my Logitech THX speakers. You can find an Audigy on new egg for about $40, money wisely spent in my opinion.

For gaming, creative sound cards are the only way to go because they are the only ones with the latest EAX (5.0 now?) effects for games.

Gravemind is right about one thing, it depends on your needs. If your not a gamer or audiofile, onboard may be just fine for you.

 

[yabyab]

I think a sound card helps with performance more than what the majority think. Since I have a low end system I can SEE the difference. I will give you only two examples of what made me make a sound card a must for my system.

My system is very low end, so maybe this is not as noticeable in other systems as mine. But it surely means that the sound card is doing something.

I used to lag a lot playing City of Heroes in a 8 players team. But when I disable my sound, wow I jump +20fps! Same as Vanguard, I get +10-15FPS when I disable sound.

So, I spent many hours playing these games without sound. Because whenever I turn the sound on, lag happens. So, I decided to buy a new sound card. Turned the sound on and wow, no more lag.

Maybe am playing MMORPGs and there are lots of sound involved in these games specially the way CoH is designed. But it sure gave my poor processor some breathing room.

Sound in games reduce your performance, if you buy a sound card you'd improve that wasted processing power. Not only that, you would also get better sound quality too. Better gaming experience.

Get the XtremeGamer Xfi cards. I am getting the XtremeGamer Xfi Fatal1ty Platinum myself

 

[rickpcnerd]

of course a high end sound card will make a huge difference. Today modern motherboard onboard sound does Ok, but a sound card will take you to the next level. Battlefield 2042 sound so awesome, u cant even compare it to a onboard sound. For action movies, I will highly recommend sound card. Gun shots will not sound detail on onboard, and explosions sound nasty, and explosion with no detail, sound like a bass woofer that does not know how to produce a Boom!

 

[0p3n]

Yeah Soundcards make a world of a difference, I am using an HT Omega Claro soundcard, sounds much better than my previous X-Fi.

 

[peterpetter]

Well I guess I will put a sound card on my list then, thanks guys for all your input.