Dedicated sound cards for gaming, yea or nay?

[Jimmy Thick]

Ok, got the I7 7700, the GTX 1080, Evo 850, Corsair Vengeance, 1440 monitor and all the other good stuff associated with a high end build.

But I have never gotten a dedicated sound card.

That being said, you can get a highly rated sound card from Asus for 30 bucks, or a trusty Creative for 40, my question is, how much of a increase in sound quality is a dedicated card over onboard? And does it improve the gaming experience?

Do you need a good speaker set up to get the most out of a dedicated card or is a pair of good, meaning not cheapo, headphones good enough?

Help?

[Vash The Stampede]

That being said, you can get a highly rated sound card from Asus for 30 bucks, or a trusty Creative for 40, my question is, how much of a increase in sound quality is a dedicated card over onboard?

Depending on how you hook up your speakers, usually next to none.

And does it improve the gaming experience?

It doesn't. Really it doesn't.

Do you need a good speaker set up to get the most out of a dedicated card or is a pair of good, meaning not cheapo, headphones good enough?

Help?

If you're using headphones then you're fine. If you're using eternal speakers then you may want to go digital, which eliminates noise. You could get an external DAC for the headphones to eliminate noise as well, but maybe first you should see if you hear any noise to begin with.

[m4xc4v413r4]

For gaming, absolutely no gain at all getting a dedicated sound card.

Cheaper doesn't mean it's worst, most pc peripherals now that are expensive are the ones that are shit, anything made by "gaming" brands is subpar and anyone that ever used actual good equipment knows that by miles.

Yes you need good speakers/headphones to take advantage of a good sound card, everything and anything is always as bad as the weakest link.

[mrgreenthump]

Dedicated sound cards are almost never a good thing, this due to electrical interference inside ones computer case and modern motherboards are getting pretty decent and handling sound anyways.

What would help though, if you are having sound quality problems, is a DAC/AMP setup, but only if your source and playback devices are up to par. In games you usually have quite decent sound, but getting a DAC only to clean up games is pretty pointless considering good DACs go up from $50+. But the downside is.. when the quality of the source is bad, you will notice it right away.

In short: Soundcard does nothing your onboard can't do. If you get interference with the onboard, getting a DAC/AMP will be much better.

[Jimmy Thick]

Thank you for the replies but let me put it this way.

Back in old school days you usually had either an Adlib or Soundblaster. But what you really wanted was the Roland sound card for the incredible music it produced. It was above and beyond anything audio produced by the Adlib or Soundblaster.

What I'm looking for is that kind of "holy shit" experience, older gamers will know what I'm writing about, or has onboard audio gotten so good you won't ever have moments like that.

[mrgreenthump]

has onboard audio gotten so good you won't ever have moments like that.

Mostly, yes. You need high end headphones to reap the benefits of better conversion and amplification.

But as said before, to get better sound quality than onboard, you really need to do the analog conversion outside of your computer case with dedicated a DAC, but that kinda is a neverending rabbit hole. There is always something better.. Although somehow I've managed to hold off on buying anything new for 6 months now.

[jegerlee]

I've been re-using my Soundblaster Recon 3D in several builds, a board that was not held in high regards when it was released in ~2011.

The new Realtek S1220 codec on my Asus Maximus IX Hero mobo is still, to my non-audiophile ears, inferior to my Soundblaster. Pure empirical experience, so take it with a grain of salt. I'm using the Razer ManO'War headset and a 2.1 Boze speaker system.

But, if you want the best soundsystem for your PC, I agree that a DAC/AMP would be the bomb.

[Vash The Stampede]

Back in old school days you usually had either an Adlib or Soundblaster. But what you really wanted was the Roland sound card for the incredible music it produced. It was above and beyond anything audio produced by the Adlib or Soundblaster.

What I'm looking for is that kind of "holy shit" experience, older gamers will know what I'm writing about, or has onboard audio gotten so good you won't ever have moments like that.

Are you talking about midi? Cause that's a dead thing for games. If there's music then it's coming from a sound file. The only reason to get a SoundBlaster is cause it has a dedicated audio processing chip, which helps offload the CPU. But since CPU's are ungodly fast, this is pointless. Also, Vista killed off 3D sound acceleration API, which means it's not rally standard anymore.

[Denpepe]

I would say it is worth is if you have good speakers/headphones but it also depends what the sound solution on your motherboard is.

You can always use your onboard for starters and get a souncard later if you don't like how it sounds.

[Pull My Finger]

You won't hear any difference in sound quality with a "gaming" sound card, other than a placebo effect.

Monitoring (speakers) has far more to do with sound quality than the choice of the card.

[haxartus]

If you have $300-400 headphones (no, not "gaming, this) then yes, definitely. The integrated sound card won't be able to get the max out of high end sound equipment. Otherwise... no.
But a sound card is a "cheap" solution actually, external DAC/AMP is the way to go in this case.

[Captain Fizz]

As said, if you have something worth plugging into it - It does make a nice difference.
Asus STX user here and whilst it is fantastic for music, it is also good for games with good effects.
Need to have better than "PC Speakers" to appreciate it though.

[Blackmist]

Unless you're getting audible interference, don't bother.

[Youn]

if your building a high end computer. Most internal sound cards do exactly the same thing quality wise. If you're building something for good sound quality and are planning on using decent headset/speakers. Then you will want a DAC/Headphone amp.

My current build uses:
Modi2 (DAC): http://schiit.com/products/modi-2
Magni2 (AMP): http://schiit.com/products/magni-2

But, for games like WoW. The sound quality is crisp and clean but nothing spectacular. But for music and video, they are very nice.

[pansertjald]

Ok, got the I7 7700, the GTX 1080, Evo 850, Corsair Vengeance, 1440 monitor and all the other good stuff associated with a high end build.

But I have never gotten a dedicated sound card.

That being said, you can get a highly rated sound card from Asus for 30 bucks, or a trusty Creative for 40, my question is, how much of a increase in sound quality is a dedicated card over onboard? And does it improve the gaming experience?

Do you need a good speaker set up to get the most out of a dedicated card or is a pair of good, meaning not cheapo, headphones good enough?

Help?

What Mobo do you have???
Most mid-high-end Mobo's comes with build in AMPS now.

[johnworsham]

Depends on you totally...

[Captain Fizz]

Most mid-high-end Mobo's comes with build in AMPS now.

Having compared the 2... Even with amps... They don't have the sound of a decent sound card (£100+) or DAC...

[Gaidax]

If you use actual good headphones then I assure you there is a difference. And by good I don't mean some Razer gaming turd, but actual quality stuff from Sennheiser for example.

That said it absolutely depends on what that sound card can output, 30 bucks sound card will probably be no better than onboard audio. Soundcards with amplifiers that can drive better headphones are not 30 bucks thing.

So it's a kinda yesno answer. If you have actual good headphones and get actual good sound card, it will definitely be better than onboard solution. Otherwise, don't bother.

[Jimmy Thick]

Just an update.

I bought this soundcard:

http://us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-z

To say this blows away onboard audio is a complete understatement. I paired the card with a high quality Turtle Beach Elite Pro Tournament Gaming Headset. It truely makes a difference in immersion, I recommend this sound card very highly if you have a better than average headset, as I tried it with a lower quality Turtle Beach set, the PX 11 and there was cracking and static.

Pay the money.

[DJ117]

Just an update.

I bought this soundcard:

http://us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-z

To say this blows away onboard audio is a complete understatement. I paired the card with a high quality Turtle Beach Elite Pro Tournament Gaming Headset. It truely makes a difference in immersion, I recommend this sound card very highly if you have a better than average headset, as I tried it with a lower quality Turtle Beach set, the PX 11 and there was cracking and static.

Pay the money.

I definitely agree Jimmy. I tried a Sound Blaster f1tality back in the day and was sold on dedicated sound cards ever since. They are better than the onboard audio by far. I have the Soundblaster Z as well. Worth the money.