Onboard or dedicated

[Crash55]

I am about to build a new PC for gaming and was wondering if I should use the on-board sound or buy a dedicated card. Currently I am looking at either an ASRock z77 Extreme 9 (when they are released) or an Asus Sabertooth Z77 for the motherboard.

In the past I have always used dedicated cards but I was wondering if on-board has finally caught up. My current PC uses a X-Fi Fatality FPS. My speakers are Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1

So if on-board is not good what should I get to pair with the Klipsch? 90% of its use will be gaming - Skyrim, SC2, Diablo III

 

[al360ex]

Hello !

To answer your question, some motherboards have good enough on-board audio, but your mobo is not one of them...
I'd go with a dedicated sound card if I were you. Even a 50$ one will be way better than what you have, especially since you have a good sound system.

Good luck,
al360ex

 

[willard]

With those speakers I'd definitely recommend investing in a decent sound card. You wouldn't put regular unleaded in a Lamborghini, would you?

 

[foscooter]

Try onboard first.

Make sure you install the specfic drivers for the onboard sound from the motherboard drive disk. This will allow you to "tweak" the sound to/from specfic ports.

Do your speakers run indepedently, of all off one plug into the card?

 

[Crash55]

Speakers use three plugs.

What is a decent soundcard these days? I hear that the latest Creative cards are junk. The header of the sound card recommendation thread seems dated or has there just been nothing new? The thread itself was just too long to read

 

[geekapproved]

Why not try the onboard sound, and if your not happy with it, get a soundcard?

Honestly I don't know anybody that uses soundcards anymore, but then again I dont know anyone with Klipsch pro-media's either.

 

[Thrin]

I have a motherboard (MSI Z77A-GD65) with the Realtek ALC898 and it sounds great to me.

I'm not an audio fanatic so if you are, you may notice the little things that I happily ignore due to ambient sounds from the fans. I have Klipsch speakers.

The ASRock Z77 Extreme9 has the same Realtek ALC898 on board. I'd give it a whirl first before buying a separate sound card.

 

[Guest]

If you want decent 5.1 surround sound output (analogue or digital), and aren't bothered about having any more than that, i would recommend;

Creative SoundBlaster Live! 5.1

It is an old card but it beats pretty much any onboard audio for it's price; only £5 ($7-8) look on ebay for it,

plus it's only PCI, so frees up PCI-e slots for more powerful stuff

I bought it for an old pc with dead mobo sound, and it beats the quality of the onboard Realtek ALC898 i would say!

 

[Crash55]

OK. I will give the onboard a try. I suppose I could also pull the X-Fi from my old PC as well

 

[whooleo]

Shouldn't be much of a difference with those speakers. You'll need a decent home theater setup to notice a difference not something with a 2-3inch mid driver and a baby tweeter.

 

[Crash55]

Best answer selected by CRash55.