Sound Cards... When to bother?

skeletonw00t · 18 Nov 2019 at 20:21

Hi guys,

My question is - in 2019, with massively improved onboard Audio... When does it start to be beneficial to use a seperate card.

Currently I'm using an SB Z PCI-E OEM model... but I have a Gigabyte Gaming Z170 motherboard (which looks like it has pretty much all the same connectors)...

Will my audio be any different? Or do we think that pre-£100, Audio cards are pointless?

I read somewhere that an SB Z is not a "real" audio card, whatever that meant.

Cheers

PapaLazaru · 18 Nov 2019 at 21:04

Entirely depends on what you're plugging into it.

skeletonw00t · 18 Nov 2019 at 21:10

Games?

RandomMonkeH · 18 Nov 2019 at 22:19

Examples:

Some on-board implementations are poorly implemented.
You may have higher impedance headphones which require an amplifier
You might require low-latency mixing
You might require inputs or outputs not available from an onboard implementation

Marsman · 19 Nov 2019 at 00:04

skeletonw00t said:
Games?

He means in the way of speakers, headset or headphones.

Grim5 · 19 Nov 2019 at 00:23

Some headphones (the expensive ones) can require an amp or soundcard to drive, the onboard solutions can't provide the impedance needed.
Some people still say the soundstage is wider from a soundcard - your mileage may vary.
Some soundcards can encode Dolby formats, which may be required for certain surround sound outputs to an AVR system.

Wegason · 19 Nov 2019 at 11:42

skeletonw00t said:
Currently I'm using an SB Z PCI-E OEM model... but I have a Gigabyte Gaming Z170 motherboard (which looks like it has pretty much all the same connectors)...
Cheers

I have a Gigabyte Z170 motherboard and have issues with the sound (it would sometimes completely distort and go to volume 100, only fixed by a complete reboot). It is what drove my interest in looking at an external solution and why i ended up getting an external USB DAC.