I'm building a new gaming pc. Should I buy a sound card or better yet how much of an sound improvement is there with a sound card? I've been away from the PC scene for a while now and I hear that the onboard sound cards have improved greatly over the past few years. Any info is appreciated.
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Building a new PC, should I buy a sound card?
It's not necessary, it sounds good without one. I get my sound out of my videocard right to the hdtv though hdmi, but still, I don't think it's necessary. I don't have a soundcard and alot of other ppl too. The mobo is good enough for sound.
" Unless you're a musician and you need advanced recording abilities, I don't think a sound card is very necessary anymore. Most modern motherboards have great on-board audio, and even optical ports for surround sound. "And even then, you'd want a USB card in that case, as they would have MIDI inputs and whatnot, where as standard PCI/PCI-E cards do not.
Thanks for the quick replies guys. Anyone know how good the onboard audio is compared to let's say a killer fatality sound card? The reason I used the killer fatality is because my old gaming PC from 2007 used to have that and the sound was crazy. Also I have pretty good speakers and I won't be using 5.1 for the PC.
Yeah it's crazy how far it's come really. I still use my creative X-fi from years ago because back then (Pentium 4 era) the on board sound quality was really tinny and crap. these days i can barely tell the difference from my sound card to a good modern on board audio set up.
" Thanks for the quick replies guys. Anyone know how good the onboard audio is compared to let's say a killer fatality sound card? The reason I used the killer fatality is because my old gaming PC from 2007 used to have that and the sound was crazy. "A single frame a second and, possibly, 7.1 surround sound vs 5.1? (depending on what board you have, of course).
I'd say if you do, go for a cheap one that's capable rather than a really expensive one. After years without one I finally grabbed one. It's nice, but not game-changing.
Then again, if you have some kickass headphones you may want to treat them right, but the onboard stuff can be really good.
If you use good quality headphones, you will need an amplifier, either external or one built in with a sound card. Don't buy creative sounds cards, good waste of money unless you're willing to customize. Most on board audio isn't atrocious anymore, but its no where seen dedicated sound card quality. It mainly depends on your speakers/headphones, if your using cheap headphones/speakers don't even think about it.
I have another suggestion, I don't have a hdmi reciever, but I used to use an optical out cable from my mobo to the home theater reciever with big speakers and stuff. I found this sort of distractingly loud though, but you can probally get 5.1 sound if you were watching a movie or something, or just set it to pro logic II. Again this isn't for everyone, but it's another suggestion you can consider. I know my nvidia driver at least has a driver that outputs surround and stuff.
I would like to thank everyone for posting. I decided that I am buying a sound card. I have all the equipment to really utilize it and I'm a big audio junkie. For me sound is just as important as video. For those who don't understand buy some beats by dre studios or pros and listen to some music and you'll get it.
To even further the fact, you wouldn't notice a difference even if you had the most hi-fi setup available to man. On board audio is more than fine and a lot of expensive sound cards extend the range being output is for one: further than humankind's hearing capacity and two: further than your speakers/headphones frequency response.
No, only get a cheap one if your onboard is causing problems (as Realtek is somewhat infamous for doing.)
" If you use good quality headphones, you will need an amplifier, either external or one built in with a sound card. Don't buy creative sounds cards, good waste of money unless you're willing to customize. Most on board audio isn't atrocious anymore, but its no where seen dedicated sound card quality. It mainly depends on your speakers/headphones, if your using cheap headphones/speakers don't even think about it. "This.
@137: Erm, actually, I've owned my Astro A40s and MixAmp for almost a year, and I've realized that I do, in fact, need a sound card to get the most of out them. My on-board sound doesn't output Dolby Digital Live, or Dolby Headphone.
@iDarktread said:
@137: Erm, actually, I've owned my Astro A40s and MixAmp for almost a year, and I've realized that I do, in fact, need a sound card to get the most of out them. My on-board sound doesn't output Dolby Digital Live, or Dolby Headphone.
Some mobo's have the pci slot sound card attachment, sounds like yours isn't one of them. the new xfi fatality got pretty good reviews at hard forums and it's around 150 bucks it's just the bloatware that creative installs with it to me makes it not worth it. Their only competitor in that market last I checked was turtle beach.
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