Old soundcard or stick with onboard?

steve45 · 10 Nov 2011 at 22:26

digging through my old parts, and came across an old soundcard, Creative Audigy 2 zs platinum to be exact, was just curious as to weather it would be worthwhile running this or just sticking with the onboard Audio, i have a Asrock z68 extreme7 with onboard 7.1 HD audio(with THX TruStudio).
is it even worth the bother am i likely to notice any difference.
its running a cheap logitech 5.1 surround sound setup.

cant say i've been left wanting soundwise with the onboard, just thought if i have it and it will make any difference then why not make use of it.

Vespasian777 · 10 Nov 2011 at 22:37

I'd put the card in. Every little helps. I've never owned an Asrock board, but onboard drivers can be buggy. That's the main reason you should use the card, imo.

Marsman · 10 Nov 2011 at 23:10

Audigy 2 is still a decent sound card, despite it's many years.

I've yet to hear onboard audio that sounds as good as a decent sound card.

Opinions will vary though. Some people can't hear much of a difference, for others, it's as clear as day.

You will either notice the sound card is better, or you may not. Until you try, you can't know for sure.

=XDC=FluphyBunny · 11 Nov 2011 at 10:02

Find my old faithful Audigy 2 ZS to be noticeably clearer than the on board sound

But again sound is often a personal thing

Gregry254 · 11 Nov 2011 at 13:20

I just made a similar decision!

I bought a set of Edifer R1600Ts and plugged them into my Extreme4 Gen3 and they just sounded like the £30 2.1 setup they replaced, I then put in my old, cheap sound card (X-Fi Extreme Audio) and now it is worlds apart

So I would try it if I were you.