Soundcard - Worth it?

WantoN · 19 Jan 2009 at 20:28

Hey guys,
I want to play FLAC and MP3 from my pc (and on a networked drive) by feeding it to my amp.

My motherboard (asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe) has an optical out, and an SPDIF out and I'm under the impression the onboard sound is accepted as 'not bad at all'.

Amp is an Onkyo 606, so I could connect it via coaxial OR optical.

Is it worth investing in a soundcard over using my onboard, I'm under the impression that computers are 'noisey' and I was wondering if A) this would have a big impact on quality from motherboard, and B) if a PCI card would necessarily offer much of an improvement because of this 'noise'. Is USB a more viable option?

What's a decent card to get? £50 is more than enough at the moment.

Cheers for help fellas,
Ant :cool:

Conan257 · 19 Jan 2009 at 20:43

Personally I think its difficult to notice the difference between onboard and dedicated with normal quality kit... You'll be wondering what else you could have spent that 50 on if you dont notice any difference!

J.B · 19 Jan 2009 at 21:17

I think you might get a few more FPS in games as the CPU isnt having to do as much work with the sound. Not sure what the actual noticable increase is.

yashiro · 19 Jan 2009 at 21:18

Is it worth investing in a soundcard over using my onboard

If you're using digital out. The answer is no.

pingwing · 19 Jan 2009 at 21:28

yashiro said:
If you're using digital out. The answer is no.

This, using analog sound you might hear something better though

willy · 19 Jan 2009 at 21:32

J.B said:
I think you might get a few more FPS in games as the CPU isnt having to do as much work with the sound. Not sure what the actual noticable increase is.

Is that right?

WantoN · 19 Jan 2009 at 21:47

Brilliant! Cheers!

Gaming on the pc is non-existant. Tunage is priority

Question, if I were outputting from laptop (fujitsu siemens Amilo PI 1536) would it be a different story. External soundcard recommended?

Ant :cool:

pingwing · 19 Jan 2009 at 22:02

Yeah i looked into the laptop thing ages ago, external sound card is more or less the only option (there are a couple of pcima ones but dont know how much an improvement, if at all, they are)

WantoN · 19 Jan 2009 at 22:11

Wicked cheers, any suggestion for what to choose.

Onkyo only has two opticals so it'd have to be a different input.

Ant :cool:

EdGey · 19 Jan 2009 at 22:31

i have an xonardx... and wouldnt buy it again if i could go back. so theres my answer.

it sounds abit better, and also gives you a few useless options.

its not bad enough for me to sell it, but not 50 quids worth imo.