Audigy 2 ZS

[Adn4n]

If I upgrade from onboard to an Audigy 2 ZS, will I see noticable differences in fps? Or is the Audigy only a good buy if you actually use a 5.1 setup? Currently I'm resorting to headphones. If I'm not going to gain a lot of frames but I still want to set up a speaker system, should I opt for another card like the CHaintech 710 7.1?

 

[Le Québécois]

I just asked a similar question and here are the answers I got:
Onboard soundcard

 

[BFG10K]

The Audigy will sound better and generate higher framerates in games.

 

[Adn4n]

But the statements in that other thread say that the frames generated are in the 2-3% range? That's too low to justify that purchase. I think I'm going with the Chaintech on this one.

 

[BFG10K]

The difference can be a lot higher compared to standard onboard sound.

 

[pennylane]

In a CPU limiting system it can be fairly significant. Using either on-board sound or my Revolution 7.1, I was getting an average of about 30 fps with cs: source (I have a fairly modest system that needs upgrading). After putting my Santa Cruz back in (I was running out of PCI slots), I had an average FPS of 35-40, which makes a big difference in smoothness. It depends on the situation though.