Are sound cards worth it?

Razargh

Razargh

Razargh

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Hereford
Hey guys, i'm currently thinking about upgrading my pc early next year and currently i have a X-Fi Titanium 7.1 SS Card, but i am selling it along with the rest of my pc

So my question to you; is it worth buying a sound card for gaming as many high end motherboard come with decent on-board sound.

If so whats a good cheap card to buy?
 
In gaming i found my onboard to be fine for me personally but it lacked when i was listening to music.
There is a definite improvement in buying a dedicated card instead of the onboard for this.

Like everything else good and cheap dont really go together.
 
Razargh said:
Hey guys, i'm currently thinking about upgrading my pc early next year and currently i have a X-Fi Titanium 7.1 SS Card, but i am selling it along with the rest of my pc

So my question to you; is it worth buying a sound card for gaming as many high end motherboard come with decent on-board sound.

If so whats a good cheap card to buy?
Click to expand...

I think If you have a good set of speakers then get a decent soundcard. .

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-002-AS&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat=

That is what I use and tbh the difference in sound compared to onboard for me is absaloutely fantastic. It's up to you, if you want to budget your new build perhaps the money for you can be spent elsewhere. But I definitely would purchase a soundcard with your new setup. (That is a PCI-E soundcard btw).
 
Razargh said:
Hey guys, i'm currently thinking about upgrading my pc early next year and currently i have a X-Fi Titanium 7.1 SS Card, but i am selling it along with the rest of my pc

So my question to you; is it worth buying a sound card for gaming as many high end motherboard come with decent on-board sound.

If so whats a good cheap card to buy?
Click to expand...

They dont, any onboard sound device sounds weak and underpowered in comparison to an add in card.

In august I upgraded to a Z68 motherboard with realtek "HD onboard audio", running through a set of creative labs 500watt THX certified 5.1 speakers, thinking I could get away without using my Extreme Music 5.1 add in card and free up a pci slot.

No chance, onboard audio is just as rubbish as it always has been in my opinion.
 
well my mainboard cost around £170, and i have to put up with realtek hd audio, until christmas at least, when i will hopefuly be getting a xonar DG or maybe some kind of soundblaster.
 
I was using onboard sound a while now and recently brought the asus d2x and its made such a big difference, sound is much much better then i would have expected.
 
Asus Xonar Essence STX Sound Card @ £139.99 inc VAT

SC-005-AS_400.jpg


The Xonar Essence STX PCI-Express is the latest sound card from Asus that provides high quality audio performance. Its integrated headphone amplifier produces less than 0.001% distortion to accompany its industry-leading 124dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR). The sound cards also boast Hyper-ground technology, EMI Shield design, AV100 high-definition sound processor, 24-bit Burr Brown PCM 1792A D-A converters, Nichicon Fine Gold capacitors, Optical digital output, Two pairs of RCA jacks and Input and output 6.3mm stereo jacks. The new Asus Xonar Essence STX PCI-Express is also perfect for gaming and entertainment PCs since it supports ASIO 2.0, Dolby Digital Live, Headphone, Virtual Speaker, Pro-Logic II home theater sound technologies and DS3D GX2.5 3D gaming engines.

- Optical digital output
- EMI Shield design
- Dolby Digital Live
- Pro-Logic II home theater sound technologies
- DS3D GX2.5 3D gaming engines
- 24-bit Burr Brown PCM 1792A D-A converters
- 124dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)

Only £139.99 inc VAT.

ORDER NOW



The single best purchase I have made for listening to music on my PC.
 
Andrew Moore said:
Asus Xonar Essence STX Sound Card @ £139.99 inc VAT

SC-005-AS_400.jpg


The Xonar Essence STX PCI-Express is the latest sound card from Asus that provides high quality audio performance. Its integrated headphone amplifier produces less than 0.001% distortion to accompany its industry-leading 124dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR). The sound cards also boast Hyper-ground technology, EMI Shield design, AV100 high-definition sound processor, 24-bit Burr Brown PCM 1792A D-A converters, Nichicon Fine Gold capacitors, Optical digital output, Two pairs of RCA jacks and Input and output 6.3mm stereo jacks. The new Asus Xonar Essence STX PCI-Express is also perfect for gaming and entertainment PCs since it supports ASIO 2.0, Dolby Digital Live, Headphone, Virtual Speaker, Pro-Logic II home theater sound technologies and DS3D GX2.5 3D gaming engines.

- Optical digital output
- EMI Shield design
- Dolby Digital Live
- Pro-Logic II home theater sound technologies
- DS3D GX2.5 3D gaming engines
- 24-bit Burr Brown PCM 1792A D-A converters
- 124dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)

Only £139.99 inc VAT.

ORDER NOW



The single best purchase I have made for listening to music on my PC.
Click to expand...

some shameless salesmanship there xD

No...

i think £50 is enough for a sound card haha :p
 
acme15 said:
some shameless salesmanship there xD

No...

i think £50 is enough for a sound card haha :p
Click to expand...


Not so shameless really :p ... It is seriously the best product I have bought in a long time. I was told to take the plunge, on paper its brilliant but in reality is is simply superb!
 
depends how much you value sound from what ever you use your pc for. most on board sound paired with nice speakers are more then enough!
 
Andrew Moore said:
Not so shameless really :p ... It is seriously the best product I have bought in a long time. I was told to take the plunge, on paper its brilliant but in reality is is simply superb!
Click to expand...

hehe, fair enough then :)

if i had £140+ to spend on a sound card, i would i guess :p

if i happened to be on a considerably lower budget (£30 - £50) how is the Sound Blaster XFi Xtreme Audio? (PCI-e) (bearing in mind that i only ever use 2.1 speakers and sterio headsets)

Even with my cheap-as->insert word here< Logitech X-210's, this onboard audio makes my music sound flat, washed out, hollow, distant, distorted, fuzzy, dirty etc etc etc..
 
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I find that for music, theres a huge difference between onboard and a dedicated sound card. I guess on a budget, you could get the Asus Xonar DX. You can typically get one for about £55 nowadays.
 
This may be a newbie questions, but all PCIe soundcards seem to be x1 but all I have free is a x4 slot. I know in theory I should be ok, but realistically is that something I would want to do?
 
Razargh said:
Hey guys, i'm currently thinking about upgrading my pc early next year and currently i have a X-Fi Titanium 7.1 SS Card, but i am selling it along with the rest of my pc

So my question to you; is it worth buying a sound card for gaming as many high end motherboard come with decent on-board sound.

If so whats a good cheap card to buy?
Click to expand...

I went from onboard, which BTW on a Crosshair V Formula is very good already, to a X-Fi Titanium fatal1ty Pro and the difference was night and day.
Sound quality in games goes up aswell as films and music, it sound so much more, well, MORE :p
Get one and you will not regret it :)
 
My mate has a Xonar, can't mind which one, with creative t40 speakers but the difference is amazing compared to an onboard soundcard. I'd add one to my dream rig. At the moment though I'm happy enough with my onboard and t20's.
 
What about just using digital audio via HDMI.. That's going through your GFX card and having an external sound card isn't going to help diddly squat there.

HDMI audio is pure digital, so ..................
 
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