[Seifer]

does it really matter if one buys a cheap or an expensive sound card ? i have never really cared about them and just used the default which comes with the pc. other than sometimes giving driver problems right after format, i didn’t find problems with sound cards, so why buy a new expensive sound card?

[Calum]

A dedicated sound card has several advantages over onboard sound.
Firstly, it gives much better sound quality, so your music, games, DVDs etc will sound better.
Secondly it offloads sound work from the CPU to the card, so there is less work for the rest of the PC, giving better performance overall.
Lastly, in most games you can enable hardware sound support, and effects such as EAX, which not only makes the game sound much more atmospheric but can give much better performance.
You don't need an expensive one though, unless you want top-notch sound.
Does that clear things up a little?

[StarLab]

Also, options like Surround Sound aren't usually available with on-board sound cards.

I'll never give up my 5.1SS... Love it!

[joeybob]

i never knew much about that either, thanks for the info, i guess it pays to get another card than the onboard. but how much would it help the performance in an overall? also i don’t mind if there is no surround sound as i don’t a surround sound system and i dont intend to buy one, if it gets to noisy then the people getting next door will come knocking at my door

[Calum]

It will greatly help performance in games, I can vouch for that.
Some people have reported increases of up to 10fps, just from a dedicated card.

[Disguised]

i use surround sound at home, so that is why i bought an expensive card, and also like calum says, it can really help the speed, so it is an overall good thing to have.

[lamos]

that is good and all, but i can live with the normal sound that comes from the built in sound card and never had lag problems with games yet. though buying a sound card (cheap one) would be a good idea if it really boosts the performance a bit. i guess ill do just that.

[Calum]

The GPU is more important for games, so if you have as good GPU and rubbish sound card it'll still be better than a bad GPU and good sound card.

[Disguised]

that is true, but having both with good quality would improve, and also for someone wishing for a good experience, then both are needed. But sure if one does not have money for both, then gpu comes first.

[Seifer]

thanks for the information. i never knew anything about it, didnt know that it would somewhat boost the performance a bit.