Sound card suggestion?

[dimsumXP]

I haven't been paying much to hardware for the past couple years and starting to put together a new rig. I purchased the ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus 755, and I was wondering...

1) should I consider using a soundcard to replace it's onboard sound and

2) what's the cheapest card I can get that will still be better than what the motherboard comes with?

Thanks!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

What kind of speakers / headphones are you using?

The ~$25 Chaintech AV-710 is a good budget card for 2.0/2.1 systems and digital output.

Some info
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=364771

 

[Cheezeit]

Yoyoyahowsdajello (I hate typing your name ), is that card a significant improvement over onboard sound? I have a Gigabyte DS3 rev 3.3 which has Realtek 888 or Azalia, something like that. Is the onboard I have bad, or will I not be able to tell the difference between onboard and dedicated if I use cheap Logitech x 230's?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Unless you have issues with the onboard, I would say don't bother upgrading the card with x-230s as the output device.

 

[dimsumXP]

I have some Creative/Cambridge DTT2000 5.1 speakers I got a long time ago.

So what's the verdict? Don't jack with onboard sound?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

You can if you want to, but if you're serious about increasing your sound quality, getting a good pair of speakers or headphones would be a bigger improvement.

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
You can if you want to, but if you're serious about increasing your sound quality, getting a good pair of speakers or headphones would be a bigger improvement.

I wholly concur.