Sound Card vs Onboard Sound?

Deathz

Deathz

Deathz

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Joined
12 Jul 2010
Posts
7
Hi all,
I just wanted some opinions regarding a dedicated Sound card vs Onboard sound.

If one JUST uses headphones for gaming, listenening to music is there any point in getting a dedicated sound card compared to the ones built into the
X58 motherboards?

I currently have a SOUND BLASTER X-FI XTREME, would the onboard be similar?

Lastly, does a dedicated sound card really improve fps in games these days?
 
What X-Fi is it? Which Xtreme model? Audio, Music etc?

It won't improve FPS to any decent degree. You will get EAX effects in some games.

Also what speakers are you using?
 
I dont use any speakers, just headphones.

From what i can make out its a Creative sound blaster X-fi, cant find the specifics but it seems to be an oldish card. (sorry if it doesn't help)
 
going back about 6 years i remember it used to give me about a 5% boost.......now how important that 5% boost is only you can answer.
 
Sound quality will be better and more alive with a dedicated sound card.

I installed my old soundcard in my machine and put up with a few pops and crackles rather than listen to the lifeless sound coming from my X58 mobo.

I'm no audiophile but I noticed the difference straight away.

As for FPS, I think this used to be the case years and years ago. Playing game sounds, even in glorious surround doesn't tax modern CPUs all that much.
 
Can only speak of the onbaord audio I have used, but using headphones is when the difference between onboard audio and a sound card is more noticeable. As Tealc said, a sound card provides sound that is more alive. Using headphones, onboard audio sounded harsh and devoid of musicality in comparison to both the Xonar Essence and X-Fi Xtreme Music that I have.
 
I have just gone from onboard to using the creative soundblaster x-fi xtreme gamer card and the difference is noticeable with headphones but not huge. In future if I buy a new rig I will spend money on other things and making sure my other hardware is decent before thinking about a soundcard.
 
It wont boost FPS much if at all these days, quad cores and fast dual cores dont benefit as much as the pentium 4 and athlon XP/64's did back when creative and x-fi were all the rage. Most games dont use hardware accalerated sound these days anyway making the x-fi chip rather useless.
 
Going from the onboard sound on a P6T to a Xonar DX I found:

Sound quality was improved greatly, with things sounding much clearer, and it was easier to pinpoint instruments and directional sounds (which I believe is known as the sound stage).

Interference was greatly reduced. I had a lot of problems originally with a buzzing that was generated by EMI from my graphics card. I could tell it was my GPU because the buzzing was greater when there was more load on it (and would change appropriately to how high the FPS was), during games it was incredibly annoying. After getting a sound card, that was completely gone. I'm not quite sure how, as the analogue/digital conversion is now done closer to the GPU, not further, but whatever.

However, going from the earbuds that came with my generic MP3 player to some CX300 II's made a bigger difference in sound quality than from onboard to soundcard, and although there was very noticeable difference with a soundcard, I do wonder if there would have been much of an improvement, had I still been using my original earbuds.

Oh, and today, I had some HD555's delivered, and I must say, they sound FREAKIN AWESOME! Easily my best purchase since I actually built my computer, and apparently they will only get better as they burn in :D
 
Deathz said:
Hi all,
I just wanted some opinions regarding a dedicated Sound card vs Onboard sound.

If one JUST uses headphones for gaming, listenening to music is there any point in getting a dedicated sound card compared to the ones built into the
X58 motherboards?

?
Click to expand...

what headphones have you got mate ? and are you into serious music listening ?
 
I do more listening to music than anything on my pc and I have an amp and seriously revealing headphones(akg 702s) and going from an essence ST to onboard isn't drastic. I'm not deaf either, my hearing is pretty good.

Good soundcard vs bad onboard is a no-brainer, but onboard has come a long way and not all soundcards are very good. Despite popular opinion, a soundcard wont have as much of a dramatic impact as things like an amp or headphones. Speakers or headphones will have the biggest impact on sound, an amp behind that and lastly the dac/soundcard, cables all sound the same if properly shielded.

If you are very serious about music listening or want something like 3d sound for games/movies, get a soundcard and get a good one, otherwise decent on board will do fine. If you are really unhappy with your sound, change the speakers/headphones first, unless of course you have good headphones or speakers that aren't being driven to thier potential, then look at amps.
 
Last edited:
Cutshaw said:
If you are very serious about music listening or want something like 3d sound for games/movies, get a soundcard and get a good one, otherwise decent on board will do fine. If you are really unhappy with your sound, change the speakers/headphones first, unless of course you have good headphones or speakers that aren't being driven to thier potential, then look at amps.
Click to expand...

ive only quoted this part as you were talking sense in the other 2 paragraphs. if hes into music a dac /amp is betetr than a soundcard by a country mile .... i went from my onboard mobo ( in sig ) to dac( mf v-dac ) which fed a very bad yam av amp ... that got upgraded to a nad 315 bee amp which had sennhieser 600 hd headphones .

that combo will kick any pc soundcard into touch
 
TALON1973 said:
ive only quoted this part as you were talking sense in the other 2 paragraphs. if hes into music a dac /amp is betetr than a soundcard by a country mile .... i went from my onboard mobo ( in sig ) to dac( mf v-dac ) which fed a very bad yam av amp ... that got upgraded to a nad 315 bee amp which had sennhieser 600 hd headphones .

that combo will kick any pc soundcard into touch
Click to expand...

We aren't comparing external dac/amp combos to soundcards here, right? I didn't suggest a soundcard was better either. He was asking for advice on soundcards vs onboard sound and I said that he should only bother with a soundcard if he's really serious about music listening and/or wants some sort of 3D sound/virtual surround. I certainly don't think he needs to be splashing out on £150 dacs and high end stereo recievers when he's not sure he needs anything more than onboard and headphones.

Out of curiosity, have you done any sort of blind testing with a soundcard and DAC as a source?
 
Thanks for all the feedback guys.

TALON1973 said:
what headphones have you got mate ? and are you into serious music listening ?
Click to expand...

Just some cheap £10 sony/panasonic headphones.

But ive decided i'll get a soundcard for music/games. Is the
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio any decent with a windows 7 64bit setup?
Or should i splash out for the Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Gamer?

Thanks
 
Xtreme Gamer is better than the Audio. The Audio isn't an X-Fi, it's just crafty repackaging by Creative. The Audio is actually an Audigy SE in fancy dress. Not a bad card in itself, but it actually uses an audio chip that is older than the original Audigy, that came out 10 years ago. The only issue I have with the Gamer, it's basically the same card as the Music, which was released 5 years ago. It's still a great card, but the Music cost £50 when it was available, the Gamer is £65 :/ So, the question is, to you, is that £65 worth the extra sound quality? In Guitarman0's case, it appears as though, what extra quality he got with his Gamer, was not worth justifying buying a new sound card for. Which is fair enough, everyone is different. I have seen a few people buy a sound card, and felt the gain in sound quality over onboard audio is not worth paying £50-£60 for. Depends on the individual, some will pay to get a gain in sound quality, some are not bothered, aslong as it sounds good enough. When I bought my Xtreme Music a few years ago, the gain in sound quality over the onboard audio I got was definitely worth it for me.

External DAC's are for people who want that better sound quality, and are willing to pay for it. Just because a DAC is better than any sound card, doesn't mean £150 is a justifiable purchase for some.
 
Cutshaw said:
Out of curiosity, have you done any sort of blind testing with a soundcard and DAC as a source?
Click to expand...

not side by side no :( closest ive got is i had my sennhiesers plugged into a creative extreme music soundcard . while i'll admit not the best soundcard to judge , i can tell the difference when using my dac ... and thats not including using my nad for amplification.

i was my senns into the onboard sound of my mobo ( in sig ) until i got the dac ( the creative set-up was in my old rig , which is now down gf house ).
 
I bought an X-FI ages ago, honestly cant tell the difference between that and the onboard. The x-fi just sits in its box in a cupboard :)
 
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