Internal Sound Card

[b1ack1otus]

Just asking for opinions of others if sound cards are really necessary, because I find that the internal sound on some MOBO is pretty darn good.

[KaptCrunch]

Internal Sound = onboard sound

just difference is the card don't take any cpu time for card has own and amp where onboard is a pre-amp

[Jake_HT]

A dedicated sound card makes a huge difference. If you think onbaord sound is good, you'd be in for a surprise.

Although it is quite necessary to have a nice pair of speakers/headphones to truly bring out the sound, pretty well any setup will sound better with a dedicated sound card

[ilya]

Most modern motherboards use ALC889 or something similar these days and aside from potential grounding issues the sound isn't that bad at all. So no, a dedicated sound card isn't really necessary and lower end offerings won't sound much better and can sometimes sound worse.

[SugarJ]

Are dedicated sound cards necessary? Nope. Can they add to your gaming and listening enjoyment? Absolutely!

My standard entry level suggestion is the Xonar DX. I just gave one to my oldest son a couple weeks ago, and he was amazed at the difference between his Realtek onboard and the Xonar. When I got my first sound card a few years ago, I instantly became a better CS and COD4 player as I could hear footsteps better.

I will say that for most people, a sound card is the last upgrade you should consider. A SSD will make much more difference in your day to day usage.

[Arinoth]

Originally Posted by ilya

Most modern motherboards use ALC889 or something similar these days and aside from potential grounding issues the sound isn't that bad at all. So no, a dedicated sound card isn't really necessary and lower end offerings won't sound much better and can sometimes sound worse.

Some of the higher end flashship motherboards seem to have better then that for onboard sound. Its all relative to if you can notice the different and if you have an audio playback device (aka speakers) that are high enough quality where you can hear said difference. Personally I just run the onboard sound, but that's because I feed it straight to my receiver, which then processes and sends out the sound to my speakers.

[Shadowmeph]

if you are just using normal head phones or just a sub with 2 speakers or probably any low power sound system then onboard sound is good enough, at least for the past few years anyway.

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by Shadowmeph

if you are just using normal head phones or just a sub with 2 speakers or probably any low power sound system then onboard sound is good enough, at least for the past few years anyway.

Not true.

Some subs with 2 speakers aka Corsair unit would HIGHLY benefit from a dedicated card over a onboard card.

[b1ack1otus]

well I have a logitech 2.1 speakers, and that't not really the high end speakers. More like the low end if you ask me, but I think that with the dedicated cards, its more crisp?

[SugarJ]

I use Logitech X-530 5.1 speakers and there is definitely a hearable difference between the onboard Realtek on my mobo and my old Xonar DX and new Forte. It's even more pronounced with my headphones.