Installing an old soundcard on a new board?

[TokeR]

Could anyone tell me if it would be worth it to install my ~4 Year old CREATIVE sound card onto my new build.

I am not sure if it would be worth it with on board sound being as good as it is.

I have a Rampage III Extreme.

I am not sure what sound card this is I know it's a Creative one, (Sound Blaster Extreme maybe?) it doesn't look too nice and I have a window on my case so I am not too enthusiastic about installing it.. but if it will make audio better or improve performance in anyway I am much more interested in that than looks.


What do you guys think?

[sswilson]

The board would be fine, you'd have to check drivers for whatever OS you are planning on running. Drivers would be the issue, not compatibility with the motherboard.

[Dr_BenD_over]

It would all depend on which card it is. If it's an old Audigy card or a bottom end X-Fi the onboard is probably better. If it's a higher end Xfi like the XtremeMusic I'd keep it.

[TokeR]

I know it was high end as of 4 or 5 years ago, don't know how high end that would be today lol, I don't think I will put it in.. it looks ugly and I am more than happy with the on board audio. Just thought if it would make things noticeably better then why not.

Thanks guys.

[heflys20]

Not to go off topic, but do people even buy audio/sound cards anymore? Is it even worth it?

[zoob]

It's worth it if you desire:

- Better amplification for high impedance headphones
- Better DAC
- Rollable op-amps to suit your headphones
- Perfect EAX effects

[heflys20]

Originally Posted by zoob

It's worth it if you desire:

- Better amplification for high impedance headphones
- Better DAC
- Rollable op-amps to suit your headphones
- Perfect EAX effects

Thanks, that makes a lot more sense.

[Zero82z]

Even a cheap Audigy card will still sound better than onboard. The real issue is drivers. I was able to get my old Audigy 2 ZS to work under Vista and Win7, but anything older than that probably won't work at all. Creative cards generally have the model name printed in one of the corners of the PCB so you can easily identify the model. If your card has that, then figuring it out should be pretty easy. If it doesn't have that, then the card is probably too low-end or too old to be worth bothering with.

Originally Posted by heflys20

Not to go off topic, but do people even buy audio/sound cards anymore? Is it even worth it?

Originally Posted by zoob

It's worth it if you desire:

- Better amplification for high impedance headphones
- Better DAC
- Rollable op-amps to suit your headphones
- Perfect EAX effects

It's also worth it if you have a half-decent set of headphones and you want audio that actually sounds good. The difference between a good sound card and onboard is night and day.

[heflys20]

Yeah, I hear a lot people just skip the sound card option and rely strictly on board. But if the difference is that significant, it might not be bad to pick up one on the cheap.

[Zero82z]

The difference is significant if you have decent audio gear. The fact is that most people who tell you that onboard is "good enough" have never actually used a good dedicated sound card.