Do I need a sound card?

eballard

eballard

eballard

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Hi everyone,

So I'm new here and this is my first gaming pc build and I was wanting some information on wether or not I need/should get a sound card.

I have just just got the MSI MPower mobo and from reading it sounds like it has a good onboard sound (sorry for the pun!) however I have read that having a sound card can make a huge difference in terms of quality.

I have been looking at the Asus Xonar STX and would primarily be running headphones/stereo speakers. I would want a card that could deliver in gaming and music/movies.

Can anyone help me out/give me some guidance?
 
Hello and welcome to the OcUK forums. :)

That board has ALC898, which is one of the better onboard audio offerings. Some think it's good enough not to need a sound card, others think even a budget sound card is better than any onboard audio. So it will vary depending on the user. Ultimately though, it boils down to what you are using in the way of headphone and/or speakers.

Any sound card can only be as good as whatever is connected to it. The connected headphones and/or speakers play a much larger part in the over all sound quality than the sound card itself. Sure a decent sound card is nice to have, but the headphones and/or speakers need to be good enough to make having a decent sound card worthwhile. Just as an example; if someone has £150 to spend on headphones and a sound card, they are going to get better sound quality by spending at least £100 on headphones than they would by spending £100 on a sound card and the rest on headphones.
 
Hi thanks for the quick response!

Ok, I think I will put it together and see what I think of the onboard sound to start with I can always add a card later on I think!

I normally use my on ear Bose headphones but they are about 5 years old now and getting a bit tatty, so will probably look at getting a new pair of headphones.

The other reason I'm not convinced about the sound card is that It would likely make my nice SLI cards look ugly. Getting some nice custom backplates made for them :D
 
Just an update,

I just received a home audio system from my parents as they upgraded to a new one and was wondering if I could use this as my external speakers. Its an LG HT805SH 5.1 set, I was planning to hook it up via an optical connection.

What I was wondering if would I need a sound card to do this or can I still use the onboard sound?

Any info would be great.
 
Just had a look on LG's site, and that does have optical input, so you can certainly connect it up to your PC.

You could just use it connected to your motherboard. I assume you are going to use them for gaming?
 
Ok great! Will I see a big difference with a sound card or does the theatre itself do the converting? I am a complete newbie when it comes to audio!

Mostly gaming and some music possible a movie here and there.
 
You might want a sound card, but not for better sound quality. When using digital connection, it's not sound that is sent along the optical cable, but digital data. That data is converted into sound on the speaker system side. A sound card, whether it be a cheap one or an expensive one is going to send that data, just the same as a motherboard will.

The reason you might want a sound card is for Dolby Digital or DTS 5.1 encoding when gaming. In order for 5.1 audio to be sent along an optical or coaxial cable it needs to be encoded with either Dolby Digital or DTS. Without either of those, optical/coaxial (S/PDIF) is only capable of sending stereo. DVDs contain 5.1 audio tracks that have already been encoded with Dolby Digital and/or DTS, so when playing a DVD on a PC, these 5.1 audio tracks are passed by the software from the disc to the decoder in external receiver or speaker system. Any optical/coaxial connection on a motherboard or sound card will be capable of doing this. This is what catches many people out, because they get 5.1 when playing a DVD, they also expect to get 5.1 when playing games as well. Depending on what motherboard or sound card they are using, they may only be getting stereo when playing games. The problem is that PC games do not use DD/DTS like DVDs do. If the audio is not encoded with either DD or DTS then 5.1 cannot be passed along the optical cable and it will come out as stereo.

This where Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect come in. They are real time 5.1 encoders, primarily used for converting any game audio into 5.1, which can then be sent to the receiver or speaker system to be decoded as 5.1.

Some motherboards have these features, but it tends to be the higher end boards. If the motherboard doesn't have either then a sound card with DDL or DTSC is required. I've checked your board on the MSI site and it doesn't, so if you want 5.1 when gaming, you're going to need one.
 
Thanks for the great information. Thats cleared up a lot of questions I had. However will I still get a stereo signal when playing games from the 5.1 speakers or will it simply not work (I presume it will)?

So a card like the Asus Xonar STX would give me this Dolby Digital Live and allow me to run 5.1 for gaming? I presume the sound card would help as well for when I am using headphones also? I know its one of the higher end cards but I think I can stretch for it and it is one of the only ones I can see DDL with an optical out (also its on sale and looks awesome! :)
 
It will work if you connect the speakers to the motherboard. You should get 5.1 as the speaker system most likely has Dolby Pro Logic, which is used to upmix stereo to 5.1 when Dolby Digital is not present. It's not ideal from a positional sound point of view, as it's still a stereo signal that is spread across all speakers. Most sound cards have optical and certainly all Xonar's do. Most use a mini toslink connection, to which an included adaptor can be connected so a standard toslink cable can be connected to the sound card.

Xonar DX and D2X both have DDL and optical connection.

If you plan on investing in a pair of really nice headphones, then buying a Xonar Essence does make sense. It's a card primarily designed for higher end headphone use. You're probably looking at £100+ headphones to really get the benefit of such a sound card.
 
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I will likely hold off on the sound card for now until I upgrade headphones. I have a particular liking to my old Bose ones, I know they are not likely the best but I tend to get attached to old tatty equipment :) Also not sure how much I will be using them if I end up liking the 5.1 home theatre set.

Thanks for your help!
 
Before you go buying a card make sure you have thx studio pro installed that board supports it, if you havent already.

Then decide if you need a card but for stereo sounds its really good enough. if you venture into surround sound and i mean surround should not virtuall surround sound then a good card is worth the cost. and yes the spdif supports 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound but again install thx studio pro and see a lot of you sound quality will come from your home systems built in amp also.
 
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