Sound Card?

Depends on a few factors.

1st off what motherboard do you have? What drivers does it run?

2nd what's your audio set up and what do you use your computer for the most.

If you don't get a chance to respond

assuming you don't have a brand new High end motherboard with op amps and all the stuff.

The Asus D2X is one of the best All rounder sound cards it will definitely be better than most on-board soundcards. I would go as far top say better than All but I haven't extensively tested the newer soundcards on the Z97 range. Certainly better than Rampage III onboard or Sniper 3 series and before.

If that's a bit too much to invest then the Creative Z OEM or the Asus Xonar D1/ DX1 7.1 would be the next in line. Again good devices would enhance your experience over the normal sort of Audio you get from on-board.

After that I still think there is an improvement over most on board sound cards but some of the better motherboards do offer similar performance which kind of negates the point of cheap sound cards. With many higher end motherboards coming with their own audio processing units and headphone amps it's hard to say definitely you'll benifit from a soundcard.

So if you're running an old gigabyte motherboard with a realtek on-board then Yes a cheap Xonar DG/DGX will be a step up not a huge one but one all the same. If you're running a Gigabyte Sniper M5 then no I would say you'd have to spend D2X money or more to truly get any marked improvement.

As an example I upgraded from on-board Core 3D Sound blaster on my Sniper board to a Creative Zx there is a marked difference in the sound definition to my headphones. And the amplifier I use for my speakers now turns up Half as much to get the same volume. More importantly though It lets me have both plugged into the back and switch between them as the click of a button. Features like that are what usually separates soundcards from onboard.

Another example is some of the older motherboards offer 7.1 if you use the front two channels for 2 of the 7 no one wants speaker cable hanging off the front of their PC what a silly idea. so for convenience alone a cheap 7.1 soundcard would be the remedy.
 
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Depends on a few factors.

1st off what motherboard do you have? What drivers does it run?

2nd what's your audio set up and what do you use your computer for the most.

If you don't get a chance to respond

assuming you don't have a brand new High end motherboard with op amps and all the stuff.

The Asus D2X is one of the best All rounder sound cards it will definitely be better than most on-board soundcards. I would go as far top say better than All but I haven't extensively tested the newer soundcards on the Z97 range. Certainly better than Rampage III onboard or Sniper 3 series and before.

If that's a bit too much to invest then the Creative Z OEM or the Asus Xonar D1/ DX1 7.1 would be the next in line. Again good devices would enhance your experience over the normal sort of Audio you get from on-board.

After that I still think there is an improvement over most on board sound cards but some of the better motherboards do offer similar performance which kind of negates the point of cheap sound cards. With many higher end motherboards coming with their own audio processing units and headphone amps it's hard to say definitely you'll benifit from a soundcard.

So if you're running an old gigabyte motherboard with a realtek on-board then Yes a cheap Xonar DG/DGX will be a step up not a huge one but one all the same. If you're running a Gigabyte Sniper M5 then no I would say you'd have to spend D2X money or more to truly get any marked improvement.

As an example I upgraded from on-board Core 3D Sound blaster on my Sniper board to a Creative Zx there is a marked difference in the sound definition to my headphones. And the amplifier I use for my speakers now turns up Half as much to get the same volume. More importantly though It lets me have both plugged into the back and switch between them as the click of a button. Features like that are what usually separates soundcards from onboard.

Another example is some of the older motherboards offer 7.1 if you use the front two channels for 2 of the 7 no one wants speaker cable hanging off the front of their PC what a silly idea. so for convenience alone a cheap 7.1 soundcard would be the remedy.

Thanks for the reply, sorry been in work.

I have the asrock extreme6 mobo, mainly use it for gaming and would like to enhance my experience but do sound cards actually make that much difference? And I have 7.1 surround sound speakers, got them about 2 years ago for around 90 quid..
 
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