Do sound cards "enhance" game quality?

[aara0123]

Greetings fellow nerds!

I'm customizing a pc and was wondering if a sound card would enhance the sound quality of games.

By this, I mean like sounds you hear all to often in movies and what not; would a good sound card do the job well or am I better off investing in a good pair of headphones instead?

 

[Shane]

IMO you cant beat a decent dedicated sound card,You can hear stuff that you didn't hear before especially in games....what they say about hearing enemy's sneaking up behind you on BC2 is true....with on board audio i could not hear them.

Ive said this many times though recently,Dont go with a Creative card if your looking for a new sound card as their drivers are a big letdown.

Go for something along the Asus Xonar series or something made by Auzentech....they use creatives hardware but make their own drivers that are rock solid.

It all depends on your budget.

 

[aara0123]

I dunno, I've heard that sound card drivers in general are pretty buggy as well as far and few in between. Am I better off just using the drivers that come with the card?

 

[bomberboysk]

I dunno, I've heard that sound card drivers in general are pretty buggy as well as far and few in between. Am I better off just using the drivers that come with the card?

Your always best off using the latest drivers from the manufacturer website. For gaming, HT Omega makes great cards. The creative X-fis are nice as well(arguably the best sound card for gaming) but their drivers can be buggy for some people.

 

[aara0123]

Your always best off using the latest drivers from the manufacturer website. For gaming, HT Omega makes great cards. The creative X-fis are nice as well(arguably the best sound card for gaming) but their drivers can be buggy for some people.

Personally, latest drivers haven't always been the best for me (in terms of other hardware), but then again I haven't owned a sound card since 1997.
I was leaning towards the x-fis before but unless there's a card out there with better quality and drivers, I'll probably take up an HT Omega instead.

Based on some reviews I've looked up the Omega's seem better, thanks for the input! :good:

 

[linkin]

Just another note, if you have a dedicated soundcard that uses hardware features rather than software, you can gain some FPS in games, particularly intensive ones.