how important is a sound card??

King-C

New Member
Hi I didnt even think about sound card when I ordered parts

is it important for gaming??

do I need one?
 
Do you want a dedicated 5.1 or 7.1 sound output? are you a hardcore gamer? If you answered no, the on-board audio will be fine.
 
depends on you, is your computer in a room where other people will be while your playing games. you dont want to blast your sound in and disturb others.

onboard is fine, i havnt bought a sound card in years and i play alot of games
 
For most of the systems I build I use the onboard sound, because the people I build for don't care about games, and they are not audiophiles. So the sound quality is not that important to them.

Onboard audio has come a long way, todays boards have some good audio built in.

Now, if you want the cleanest, purest sound you can get, then yes you will need a dedicated audio card. There are a lot of choices you can make, based on how much you want to spend and how pure you want your sound. Gaming cards, Audiophile cards, and do it all cards (Not the best choice for high end music listening) You just need to figure out what you do the most and pick.
 
Do you enjoy music?
Do you want a small boost in FPS in your games?
Are you able to spend a few extra dollars to buy what I consider to be the most tasty part of any PC?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then yes you need a sound card. Don't skimp on the card or the speakers. You could just go with onboard audio and a pair of 2.1 40 watt speakers...

...But once you experience 5.1 speakers @ 250 watts RMS on a nice soundcard, onboard really is no longer an option.
 
A creative X Fi gamer card will give far better sound clarity less distorsion more sound range and more sounds at a time than onboard sound chips.
Creative sound cards can also generate sound in 3D so that the sound bounces off 3D objects in games. A sound card also handles its own code so less taxing on the main CPU.
 
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