Is there any purpose in having a dedicated sound card?
>>51384888
Why do blue boards always have the worst shitposting?
>>51384868
Yes. They have better sound and more features. It's a must IMO.
Onboard sound is leagues better than it used to be, but there is still a night and day difference between them and a decent sound card.
Yes they have their uses but listening to weaboo music on your consumer headphones isn't one of them, your on board is more than enough for that.
>>51385155
Okay, so that's one vote for no.
>>51385183
What is their purpose? Am I expected to be doing something other than listening to music or hearing video games? I'm not building a fucking recording studio.
Audiophiles are truly the worst human beings.
>>51385263
They offer connections and extra features for niche/professional audio equipment. If you need one you know why and already have one. It's nothing to do with "sound quality".
>>51385263
>I'm not building a fucking recording studio.
that's pretty much the only use case for a dedicated sound card these days. Once upon a time on-board sound was crappy (both in terms of shitty drivers and in actual sound), so getting a card was something many people did. Some overclockers' boards didn't have on-board sound since they assumed someone buying a nice motherboard as opposed to a Chink Shit Special would use their own card anyway. This era ended somewhere in the vicinity of 2003.
I don't advise buying a soundcard. They're too close to things that cause interference and they're typically overpriced for what they are.
Buy an external USB DAC, it'll be better quality, cheaper, and have less interference.
Go for a Fiio E10K.
>>51385308
fuck off you dumbass audiophile
Oh shit brace for the 200 audiophile posts
>not having to listen to hiss / distortion
>lound clear microphone
>lound heasphones
My Gigabyte z87x-d3h doesnt have a digital coax out so I purchased a dedicated soundcard for this.
So yes, I would say there is a purpose.
>>51385335
seconding this
buying an internal soundcard in 2015 is fucking stupid..
>>51384868
Might be useful for htpc setups.
>>51385263
>Audiophiles are truly the worst human beings.
No. They have some silly ideas and fantasies about tech and seemingly bottomless wallets, but they are not the worst human beings.
not doing anything related to audio other than being a consumerfag?
don't get one, ac97 suits you perfectly
>>51385263
>Audiophiles are truly the worst human beings.
>Being this salty
>>51385414
>They have some silly ideas and fantasies about tech and seemingly bottomless wallets
How does this combination not make them literally worse than Hitler?
I used one when I had a pentium 3 machine and the sound card took over the processing of the audio and left the machine with more resources to deal with a DAW. Also I needed a balanced line in/out.
With my current machine I just power my monitor speakers and I don't use one anymore. The onboard audio sounds just fine.
My very first computer didn't have any audio output and required a soundcard for any and all audio.
>>51385562
>The onboard audio sounds just fine.
You say this, but when you put in a soundcard it's a night and day difference, especially if you have good speakers/headphones.
I just had to buy a sound card since getting my video card, any time I'm playing games there's tons of hiss in he speakers and any time I move the mouse I can hear noise.
It's very annoying.
I can audibly hear some noisiness on the line with my on-board sound, but nothing with a sound card.
My hearing is exceptionally good though.
>>51384868
>Better sound quality through analog connections
Less jitter than built in
Lower latencies
More connections (Mine had everything from 3.5mm, 6.3mm(1/4), Mini-MIDI, Firewire, optic in/out, RCA and IR.)
More software related equalizers and hardware features like 128 channels instead of the regular 32 so that no sound in the game goes unnoticed (32 people running, one shoots, one sound had to be muted)
ASM on Creative X-Fi cards evened out sound so low sounds like footsteps in the distance was heard easier.
Or you can use HDMI to a receiver to get digital lossless audio and let your receiver do the equalizing but you are now back to 32channel limit.
>>51384868
If you can hear the onboard shit hissing and buzzing like I do then yes. Outside of that the difference isn't huge. Some headphones might benefit from a stronger amp.
Also, if you're considering buying one, consider choosing an external device; simple USB interfaces usually don't need the extra drivers that every manufacturer somehow fucks up.
>>51385535
They're avoidable. They don't come into your favorite hobby, shit on it saying it needs to fit their needs after they were the ones who got into it by choice, then call it toxic when the community that was there before complains about them.
>>51385816
>Less jitter than built in
Jitter hasn't been a problem for >10 years, even on cheapo mobos it's way below the noise floor.
>More software related equalizers and hardware features like 128 channels instead of the regular 32 so that no sound in the game goes unnoticed (32 people running, one shoots, one sound had to be muted)
That only applied before Vista, since then Creative and other sound card manufacturers haven't been able to hook into directx, so game audio is being mixed to 7.1/5.1/whatever channel configuration you have in the same way no matter what hardware you use, the sound card drivers only get to fiddle with it after this has happened.
>>51384868
A long time ago, sound cards were needed because your PC simply didn't do on board audio and the card had synths on it to play music, and later they were needed because of great hardware acceleration capabilities.
But then Windows Vista/7 hit and removed audio control from hardware it made it all 100% software. At this point all sound cards really do is add effects such as visual surround (inferior to true hardware surround), propose better sound quality (debatable) and add more inputs.
If you feel like dual-booting XP and getting an X-Fi Titanium for some classic PC gaming in it's former glory, that's an option too, it's worth experiencing Creative's 3D surround at least once.
>>51385992
>128 channel
>7.1/5.1 mixing
I'm not talking about speaker channels but voice channels.
>>51386142
Doesn't matter, the drivers and hardware never get to see the 128 channels, it's all mixed down by directx first.
>>51384868
less cpu load
somewhat better sound, depending on the model of course
more/different output/input options, again depending on the model
>>51385562
I dunno mayne DirectSound audio is complete shit in comparison to Asio enabled external cards. If I can load up several instances of U-he Diva on my Asio enabled card in my DAW but can't even load up one instance successfully while in DirectSound. There's a definite difference in audio production.
>>51384868
The difference between cheap on-board and a cheap soundcard is huge. Other than that, idk.
Do you already have a $100 amp for your $500+ headset and are you now considering getting a DAC? Then yes, get a pcie one for 50 bucks because it's the only thing that'll give you improvement
>>51384868
Yes so you can trigger an entire board full of idiots who can't tell their dick from their nose.
>>51384868
Not having onboard audio or hdmi is a good enough reason.
Have hd600's with onboard realtek/x-fi MB2 combo and an amp. Works without any issue, plugged into my friends X-7 thing, sounded exactly the same.
>>51385299
> It's nothing to do with "sound quality".
Onboard sound chips always have shitty SNR, and pick up interference from fucking everything, even wireless phones.
That's a sound quality issue, bub.
>>51387363
>Doesn't matter
It did in WinXP, but thanks to Microsoft fucking up DirectSound that worked perfect before they removed it.
If you produce/record audio, it's worthwhile to have. Dedicated ASIO drivers are a life saver and if you're working with certain equipment, professional sound cards are the only way to get proper line-level audio in and out. The preamps are usually better and they have a wider range of connections than onboard audio too.
If you're a gamer, just keep your onboard audio.
Well, it apparently taxes the CPU less than onboard solutions, though the cases where that's a relevant concern must be rather few.
>>51386097
Or instead of bothering with all the shit and dual boot, you can install the application from Microsoft themselves to have 3d sound in w7 again.
Why do people go for the difficult way around things?
Ask that to the soundphilics
>>51387577
Lazy man works twice as hard. Didn't your mom ever teach you anything?
>>51384868
Ofcourse
How else are you gonna get that game port oherwise?
