Should I get a sound card?

[snidy]

I have pretty good onboard sound, would it be worth it to get a good sound card? And if so, what's the best one for playing music and gaming?

 

[Mean MrMustard]

I have a SoundBlaster Audigy Gamer. It installed easily and has worked flawlessly. If you don't like Creative, I've heard Turtle Beach's Santa Cruz card is also has great sound.

Craig

 

[Mean MrMustard]

.

 

[Tsaico]

Gerneally anything off board wil be better then what you get on... but if all you are doing is listening to basic sounds and music, then I would say, save your cash for other upgrades. Though I will say, I have even basic sound blaster live! and personally I like it better then the onboard that I used to have. And many quality sound cards can be had for pretty cheap...

 

[Mavrick007]

If you are doing any amount of gaming and you are into quality sound, then it would be worth it to get a separate sound card. I suggest the Audigy OEM or the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz at the least cause both offer great sound for games and music. It's a very good investment and I know you would enjoy it more.

 

[thorin]

If you have to ask then no you don't need to get one.

If you're unhappy with your onboard sound (which it doesn't not seem like) then yes you should and should likely be asking which to get not should you get......


SB Live/Audigy
TB Santa Cruz (Don't have one but lots of people like them and they review well)

Thorin

 

[snidy]

The reason I'm asking is if there is something better, I want it, the last sound card I owned was the soundblaster live, my onboard sound is just as good as that, but I want to know if the santa cruz or audigy would be better.

 

[Trader05]

I noticed a small difference between my Sblive Mp3+ and the Sb Audigy Mp3+. Even though i don't own 5.1 digital speaker setup, my regular Altec Lansing 3 piece sounds better. If you can use the Firewire port, it's your kind of card.

 

[GreenLantern]

A buddy of mine just got the Asus P4S333 mobo which includes c-media intregrated sound. He owns a SB Live! 5.1, but is not putting it in and may sell it because the C-Media is sounding just as good as his SB Live and he has decent speakers. Sounds like you have c-media b/c I don't think you'd say the same about ac-97 sound.
I have read the C-Media is great but no match for an Audigy or the such. Depends on the quality of your speakers, your speaker set up, the pickiness of your ears and whether the games you play will take advantage of the features that Audigy's offer over their Live! series, as to whether an Audigy would benefit you.

cheers

 

[Dreadogg]

<< The reason I'm asking is if there is something better, I want it, the last sound card I owned was the soundblaster live, my onboard sound is just as good as that, but I want to know if the santa cruz or audigy would be better. >>

If you were happy before then why spend the money!

 

[Mem]

The Audigy is a great gaming sound card and the Santa Cruz is a good allround card so not much between the two.



<< I want it, the last sound card I owned was the soundblaster live, my onboard sound is just as good as that, but I want to know if the santa cruz or audigy would be better. >>



I own both (SB Live & Audigy) ,the Audigy is definetly better sound wise,I notice the difference the first time I played it in CS,I do have very good hi-fi speakers / amp, so having good speakers for any sound card is always important.

Driver wise NO problems with install or gaming even with WinXP.

 

[Zukatah]

If I follow the trend, I should be selling my SB 512 PCI OEM when I get a P4s333 =)
sweet, more money in =)

 

[nortexoid]

you probalby won't notice a difference between yoru onboard sound and add in cards unless you're into prosumer recording or something.

another reason for getting an add in card si if you wanted more connectors - i.e optica in/out, etc. or a breakout box...in which case i'd recommend either the herc game theatre xp or the sound blaster Extigy (not audigy...though based on same chipset...)...terratec also makes good cards but hard to find outside of europe.

i own a santa cruz, and while it's good, i really can't say i notice a diff between it and my MX300...the only difference between this has a 10 band hardware equilizer and awesome driver support.

 

[LoTecha]

Depends whether you have good speakers or not. I noticed a BIG difference when going from onboard sound to an AWE64, but then again, my speakers are better than your typical computer audio setup ($500 for just 2.1 speakers, w/o amp). I've been meaning to upgrade to a sound card w/digital out and amp/receiver with digital in, but that's lots of money. Besides, with all the noise my cpu fan makes, I don't know if it'll make a difference =)