Sound card options

[DJ85]

is It worth having a good sound card installed?
I have my gaming rig connected to my TV in my living room and play through that so is there any advantages to say like a creative sound blaster Z which I have been looking at?

 

[dholdi]

That would depend on how you intend to listen, if through the tv then probably not.
If however you have a decent set of headphones / speakers then yes a soundcard would fair better than the mb sound.

 

[DJ85]

Ok then thank you so far I just listen through the TV but I will upgrade to a better card once I get speakers and a monitor sorted etc just getting my build to the way I want I first, bit at a time

 

[hornetstinger]

TV speakers are terrible, so no it won't make any diffence. Dunno how anyone could use TV speakers. Even a £150 soundbar trashes flat panel speakers.

 

[DJ85]

I do have a sound bar under my TV but haven’t had the chance to run the optical cable behind my wall yet but tes that would probably be better than just the standard Tv speakers

 

[DJ85]

I have a 5.1HD card at the moment

 

[mistersprinkles]

Ok then thank you so far I just listen through the TV but I will upgrade to a better card once I get speakers and a monitor sorted etc just getting my build to the way I want I first, bit at a time

If you are using HDMI out to your TV, and the sound through TV speakers, your onboard audio is doing nothing. You are sending a digital unprocessed audio signal to the TV which is doing the D/A conversion and outputting sound.

If you want sound that will work for both the PC itself as well as the TV when watching TV, Xbox, playstation, bluray players, etc, get yourself a decent soundbar and send the audio to it via optical out from the TV itself. If you do this, you do not need (nor do you ever, IMO, a DAC is better) a sound card.

Yamaha makes some excellent soundbars. Get one with a subwoofer for added impact.