Benefits of a dedicated sound card?

Misiowiec

Misiowiec

Misiowiec

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I have a Asus A8N-E motherboard with built in sound, but I've been toying with the idea of getting and external sound card like the "Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 7.1 EAX" for £35.

I understand a dedicated sound card might off-load my system and add features such as EAX (what is this anyway?), but does it make a difference in the real-world games such as BF2 and Oblivion? I don't have a surround sound system, but do have good pair of speakers connected to a dedicated amplifier.

Appreciate any advice.

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AMD X2 3800+ @ 2500Mhz
XFX 7900GT Extr Ed (550/1630)
G.Skill 2 x 1Gb PC4000 @ 250Mhz
Asus A8N-E
 
i went from on board to an audigy 2 and from that to an x-fi and the difference is amazing. its brings clarity to music, dvd's and games. And battlefield 2 in xfi mode is just amazing imho :D
EAX is a sound tech. like THX or dolby digital.
look it up on the wiki :D
 
I'd definitely get a sound card if I were you. I went from onboard sound to an X-Fi and the difference was amazing. Music is just so much punchier and clearer, it just sounds so much better. Games sound much better as well - all the effects sound really good.

EAX is for providing environmental effects as far as I know, it simulates stuff like reverb really well. Works very well in games. As for reducing the CPU load, I wouldn't get too excited - I didn't really notice any performance increase so I wouldn't but a soundcard just for that.

Since you have an amp and some good speakers, you should notice a really big difference in sound quality from your current onboard sound.
 
I would buy M-Audio instead of Creative, if all you're interested in is music sound quality (ie source for lossless music collection)
 
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