Any Sound Card Better?

Bodaggit23

Bodaggit23

Active Member
Is any old aftermarket sound card going to better than my onboard sound?

A guy I work with said a $20 card from Best Buy would be better than any onboard sound.

Could this be true? I've never used a sound card. Always used onboard,
but I game a lot, so if I can get better sound from a cheap card, I will.
 
Bodaggit23 said:
Is any old aftermarket sound card going to better than my onboard sound?

A guy I work with said a $20 card from Best Buy would be better than any onboard sound.

Could this be true? I've never used a sound card. Always used onboard,
but I game a lot, so if I can get better sound from a cheap card, I will.
Click to expand...

No, because most cheap soundcards are just software based anyhow, eg- the audigy SE. SE= Software Edition. Unless your running on ancient hardware with AC '97 that is... Now if you talk something like an X-fi(Again, the Extreme Audio one is just an audigy SE with software X-fi features, not really worth it) THe only real X-fi is the xtreme gamer and up, which those are worth it.
 
Wow. If I have to spend a hundred bucks to get one less channel than I already have, then I guess I'll stick with onboard. ;)

Thanks for the replies.
 
Onboard these days are realy good,But i dont think you can beat a dedicated soundcard.

I went from Intergrated Realtec HD 5.1 which already sounded great to Soundblaster X-fi 7.1 and i was shocked on the diffrence.
 
What speakers do you have? I just have a 2.1 system with a sub.

Would it be better for me to upgrade my speakers first to take advantage
of my 8 channel HD onboard?

Because I'm guessing that even if I got a sound card, it would sound about the same because of my current speakers.?
 
Isn't the sound not actually better? I thought it just takes a bit of load off the processor, which can help when running an extremely heavyweight game.
 
Bodaggit23 said:
What speakers do you have? I just have a 2.1 ?
Click to expand...

Logitech X-540 5.1 Sound system :)

I had the logitech x-140s before,i planned to upgrade my whole sound setup and its alot better.

i say get the sound card first then the speakers :)
 
oregon said:
Isn't the sound not actually better? I thought it just takes a bit of load off the processor, which can help when running an extremely heavyweight game.
Click to expand...

I don't really need any help running my games, nor do I need to off load my cpu.
Those 8 threads hardly get used. :P

Nevakonaza said:
i say get the sound card first then the speakers :)
Click to expand...

I'll have to disagree, because right now my speakers are worse than my audio.
2.1 speakers can only sound so good right?...

I think I'm better off getting a 5.1 system or better first.
 
what is your budget? logitech are nice for budget, 150 will get you a set of G51's, but 300 will get you a great set of Z5500's.
 
Bodaggit23 said:
I don't really need any help running my games, nor do I need to off load my cpu.
Those 8 threads hardly get used. :P



I'll have to disagree, because right now my speakers are worse than my audio.
2.1 speakers can only sound so good right?...

I think I'm better off getting a 5.1 system or better first.
Click to expand...

What are you talking about? 2.1 speakers can be very high quality. More channels doesn't mean higher quality. I can get a 2.1 system that sounds way better than a 5.1 or 7.1. If you want to know the quality of your speakers look up the model number and check what they put out. I have a 2.1 altec lansing set and they are amazing. They aren't the greatest set but for $120 I got more than my money's worth.

And depending on what you want to do, 2.1 is the way to go if you are gearing towards music being that music is only produced in 2.1.
 
oregon said:
Isn't the sound not actually better? I thought it just takes a bit of load off the processor, which can help when running an extremely heavyweight game.
Click to expand...

Nope, they do take load off the processor, but sound doesnt really put a whole lot of load to begin with. I did a test just to see how the difference was between my onboard and my xfi with my Z-5500's, the X-fi is far far superior.
 
Kewl Munky said:
I can get a 2.1 system that sounds way better than a 5.1 or 7.1. If you want to know the quality of your speakers look up the model number and check what they put out.

And depending on what you want to do, 2.1 is the way to go if you are gearing towards music being that music is only produced in 2.1.
Click to expand...

More power doesn't mean better quality either. And I don't see how a 2.1 setup could sound better than a 8 channel surround system.

I mostly game on my system so it's not for music.

This is why I was wondering.
http://www.soundblaster.com/products/gaming/article.asp?articleID=68148&categoryID=13
 
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