OK, well I don't know about this particular board but probably 75-80% (probably much more) of the boards made today will come with some sort of onboard sound. Even more so with the mATX because the whole scenario behind them is to jam as much on the board and having limited PCI/expansion slots. There's only 2 PCI and one AGP on that board so you don't have much to work with. Onboard sound that isn't used is not a detriment to the system at all. You just disable it in the BIOS and it's like it isn't there. It is not cost effective to make two versions of the same board with the only difference being the sound. You might just have to put up with it, but I wish you luck in your search.