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Old 03-31-2009, 10:49 PM   #1
SizeableSSonic
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Sound Card - Is it worth it?

I was walking through Staples the other day, and I saw some really cheap sound cards in stock. While I would never buy any sort of expansion card from Staples, it did get me thinking: is a sound card worth the investment?

I want to know two things:

Will there be a noticeable difference in sound quality from my onboard RealTek?

Will the load taken off my CPU, etc. be significant enough to get a FPS increase in games?

I have been looking around on NewEgg, but the problem I'm facing is whereas I know a ton about video cards, I know next to nothing about sound cards. If it is worth it, I might get a decent one.
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Old 03-31-2009, 11:26 PM   #2
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not really. the only real advancement in sound cards was with Aureal A3D. company went bust following a lawsuit against creative, then creative bought them out, and have since stifled any innovation. EAX is the biggest waste of time since the conception of procrastination.

upwards of creative it gets a bit different. the A/D/A process improves due to less jitter/quantisation noise, resulting from a more stable sample clock. however, you pay through your nose for it, and most people probably won't hear the difference considering the shitty satellite speakers most PCs use.
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Old 03-31-2009, 11:55 PM   #3
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Alright then, thanks, I guess I'll stick to my onboard.
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Old 04-01-2009, 03:12 PM   #4
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Games can take advantage to offload sound processing to the card. Is it worth the effort to free cpu cycles? Don't know, it's all relative to what you have. On an older pc a creative live card used about 25 percent less cpu. On my newish system it doesn't seem to make a difference. Although it may stabalize FPS a bit. Also have you ever noticed that some large explosions cause a little jitter in game... that can be the slow ass sound processing. And NEVER get a USB sound card for gaming. Too slow and cpu intensive if you ask me.

But really it all depends on what processor you have on your mobo. If it's cheap with poor drivers then even a 20 dollar soundblaster will help.
Like I said, it's all relative so do this. Disable sound in your game. Notice any difference in game play fps etc? No.. save your money. Yes then you have more research to do.
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Old 04-01-2009, 07:07 PM   #5
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that pause is the source engine not caching audio until it actually needs to be played. very conservative coding if you ask me.
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Old 04-02-2009, 06:03 AM   #6
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Do you have major sound issues?
Do you want higher quality sound or notice it being of low quality?

Mostly it will improve sound.
Much like other hardware changes, it just takes stress off the motherboard and processor. If you suffer from a weak processor or other hardware, it might be worth your wild.
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Old 04-06-2009, 02:27 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mervaka View Post
that pause is the source engine not caching audio until it actually needs to be played. very conservative coding if you ask me.

Totally. But if you experience that pause a sound card might help.
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