Worth it to get a sound card?

I was looking into sound cards and was wondering if there is anything gain in terms of sound quality and performance for gaming. Would the Omega Striker be better than the onboard sound I have my PC?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829271001


This is the motherboard I have:
http://www.giga-byte.com/Products/Mo...GA-MA770T-UD3P

and it has these audio features according to the site:

Realtek ALC888 codec
High Definition Audio
2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
Support for S/PDIF In/Out
Support for CD In

Your mobo has optical out, that right there is a huge reason people get sound cards. My 790FX has it also and I will never be adding a sound card to it.

A discrete sound card won't help frame rate dramatically nowadays.

In terms of sound quality -- it depends on what you're listening them through. If you're using a consumer "pc speaker system," I don't think you'll notice much, if any difference.

Originally Posted by HeavensCloud

Your mobo has optical out, that right there is a huge reason people get sound cards. My 790FX has it also and I will never be adding a sound card to it.

So your saying optical out is no good and that adding a sound card would imrpove quality? I have little knowledge of sound cards so I don't know if that is good or bad.

Originally Posted by fss69

A discrete sound card won't help frame rate dramatically nowadays.

In terms of sound quality -- it depends on what you're listening them through. If you're using a consumer "pc speaker system," I don't think you'll notice much, if any difference.

I use the PC for gaming and music. The pair of headphones I use are alright but am thinking of getting new headphones as well.

don't bother upgrading until u get a nice pair of headphones or speakers.

Originally Posted by TheCommander

So your saying optical out is no good and that adding a sound card would imrpove quality? I have little knowledge of sound cards so I don't know if that is good or bad.

I think what he's saying is previously a lot of motherboards did NOT have optical out, which is why people went with a dedicated sound card (the $20 Chaintech AV-710 was very popular for this purpose).

But it *does*, and if you use the optical out, then it won't matter if you use a sound card or onboard--output will be governed by Windows audio kernel--and if you have Vista or 7, then it is going to be excellent quality through the optical out, and you will have a huge range of options as far as sampling rate, including 88.2KHz--in fact 88.2KHz was unobtainable for a long time through digital spdif--I believe the original M-Audio 5.1 was the only sound card ever manufactured with the option of 88.2KHz resampling. This is critical for music because it's a linear, non-destructive resampling, as well as removing the brick wall ringing of the Nyquist Frequency at 22.05KHz with the standard 44.1KHz sampling rate.

So I take it I should get a better pair of headphones instead? Would the headphones amplify the sound as well? I'm already at max volume on my PC and would like it to be louder.

Another thing is why do people get sound cards then if onboard sound is just as good?

Originally Posted by TheCommander

Another thing is why do people get sound cards then if onboard sound is just as good?

Onboard sound isn't just as good. A sound card can add more inputs/outputs, DSP effects, hardware processing/acceleration, and higher quality DACs (digital to analog converter) - which will yield superior sound via the analog outputs.

I you're just using headphones, maybe a DAC + a headphone map is best suited for your needs.

Also astrallite, my E-MU 0404 PCI seems to do 88.2 fine. I think its just my receiver thats the problem, it seems to only want a 44.1 or 48 signal.

To the OP, it all depends on what you would like to do and what your speaker configuration is. I am going through a similar situation to you (i think?) and I actually am getting the HT Omega Striker. It really just depends on what your setup is like.

So it seems to me investing in a better pair of headphones would be better than getting a new soundcard. As I said, the primary use of the PC is gaming, music, and videos.

What about a DAC?

I heard great things about the Nuforce uDAC.

Heres the thead. Does extremely well for music.
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f7/fir...if-out-456945/