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Will adding a sound card improve FPS?

PCJake

PCJake

Senior member
I'm looking at getting a GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L motherboard for my next gaming build. It's got the Realtek ALC888 chipset built-in, and I've heard that it sounds pretty good. I've also read that relying on onboard sound will hog resources and ultimately cause lower frame rates in games. Is this true? Would I get better results (sound quality and FPS) with the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer card?

I'll be using a Q6600 (overclocked to 3.2 GHz or so), an 8800 GTS, and a set of Logitech Z-2300 2.1 speakers.
 
Try it out first and if you don't like it buy a sound card. My Creative Live drive 5.1 Platinum sounds really good in comparison to my X-Fi Elite Pro sound setup.

Good Luck
 
at most it'll be like 2-3fps, possibly up to 5fps. using a creative x-fi would get a bit better fps, but then you'd have to deal with the creative drivers bloat (i think).

do as btry said and try it out first. you wont know until you see for yourself! 🙂
 
don't get a sound card for fps or you will be dissappointed the main reason to get a soundcard should be to improve sound quality. Also in games your rig has a few extra processes to spare (quad core at 3.2ghz)
 
I have almost the exact setup (Q9450 @ 3.2, Z2300's plus onboard on a EP35-DS3R) and am wondering the same thing about the quality. I had an i945 onboard sound before with a 7.1 speaker setup from Creative, but once I bought an Audigy2 the difference was astounding. Seriously, it was like night and day for me. I am wondering if the Realtec solutions have improved drastically or should I invest in a X-Fi ? The one I want is 300$ here (with the front panel and remote), so it's not a small expense. I'd hate to buy it and hear no difference what-so-ever.

Ohh, I passed all my old stuff to my parents, I'd hate to take something out of it. So it's a no-go 🙂 It's still a pretty decent machine now (P-D 820, 3GB RAM, Rad1950XTX, 19" PVA LCD).
 
There's a lot of other stuff you can do, other than messing around with sound, to improve FPS.
Buy what sounds best, then work on FPS.
 
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