Mulling over a new audio card.

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Originally Posted by Tango589

I am kind of thinking of getting a new audio card for my pc, as at the moment my speakers are plugged into an audio thingamajig (you can tell I am a techno-whizz with these things ) that is connected to my mobo. I am using a pair of stereo speakers with a bass speaker, and have a Buttkicker plugged in as well. Would I really notice any difference with an audio card? Can anyone recommend something reasonable?

If you have crappy speakers, then the only thing you might notice from a new audio card is that some of them have pretty decent acceleration and do a good job of offloading your CPU from sound work. Gets you a few FPS in games.

Most onboard audio these days however do a decent job at that, but there is obviously better cards out there that do it even better.

Only real reason to buy a new sound card is to gain features that your onboard is lacking (like DVD-Audio capability for example with 192 khz / 24 bit support) or get better cleaner sound for your good speakers. Or maybe you want higher EAX support in games (This is environmental effects. Most onboard will do up to EAX 2, but a Creative labs card will do EAX 5 for example)

Does that sum it up?

-S