Question Do I need a sound card?

[UltelitZ]

I have an MSI 911-7A70-003 PRO VDH Kaby Lake Intel B250 I brought from Amazon a while back. I’ve heard multiple people say that there is no longer a reason to buy sound cards since they are integrated in most motherboards. Though I’ve noticed quite a few issues with my headset only on my pc, mainly cracking noises, low/bad quality volume and my mic not working. So I’m wondering if I need a sound card or it’s an entirely different issue. Thanks in advance for any information!

 

[Eximo]

I would say you would first need to isolate the problem to your headset or your onboard audio. Try the headset on another system and see if it behaves the same way.

It has been a while since they have made motherboards with truly poor audio. Before they learned to isolate the circuits, interference was common.

Your board should have Realtek ALC887. You can find the latest drivers from MSI here:

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/b250m-pro-vdh/support#driver

You can also try getting the latest direct from Realtek. This may solve some of your problems.

Last resort would be a discrete sound card. Obviously that can solve most of the problems you might run into and you get to pick the quality of the hardware.

 

[KananX]

While onboard sound isn’t trash like 10 years or more ago, anymore, it’s still not on the level as good sound cards or external dacs. Just some general FFT for you to consider. I’ve also checked the onboard sound of your mainboard, it’s certainly not high quality, it’s something mediocre at best.

 

[UltelitZ]

I use my headset on my Xbox and I’ve not had any issues.
I’ve found 16 drivers in need of updating any suggestions on how I do that?

I assumed my motherboard wasn’t the greatest which is why I included it so that someone could discern if that would be the issue. I saw everywhere that no one recommends external sound cards now and I disagreed since I still believe they have their uses, so to automatically say there isn’t a point can be misleading.

 

[KananX]

I use my headset on my Xbox and I’ve not had any issues.
I’ve found 16 drivers in need of updating any suggestions on how I do that?

I assumed my motherboard wasn’t the greatest which is why I included it so that someone could discern if that would be the issue. I saw everywhere that no one recommends external sound cards now and I disagreed since I still believe they have their uses, so to automatically say there isn’t a point can be misleading.

You can find the newest driver for the sound card here: https://www.realtek.cz/download-ALC887-sound-driver-for-Windows10-64bit.html
Could solve the issue, but possibly not. I can recommend you some solutions if it doesn’t work out.

 

[Phaaze88]

16 drivers???
Please tell me you aren't using one of those Driver Easy/Booster apps...

 

[UltelitZ]

16 drivers???
Please tell me you aren't using one of those Driver Easy/Booster apps...

I'm not using any apps. I don't use my pc often so I don't exactly keep everything fresh and up to date. I'm guessing 16 is not great?

 

[Phaaze88]

I'm not using any apps. I don't use my pc often so I don't exactly keep everything fresh and up to date. I'm guessing 16 is not great?

I was just making sure.
There's chipset(s), lan, audio, bluetooth(if present), WiFi(if present), graphics, storage... and that's not quite 10. Others not mentioned can be covered by Windows driver updates.
Some months ago, my brother had Driver Easy on his PC and it told him there were 19(?!) updates available. He fell for it, and his PC started crashing shortly afterwards. I helped him sort through it and get rid of that blasted app.

 

[UltelitZ]

I’ve updated my Realtek audio and the quality sounds better. The issue of my mic not working remains, I’m trying to use Xbox game bar and my headset mic doesn’t make any sound.

Edit; In the future I would like to know more about updating my drivers, so if it's possible how exactly do I keep track of all my drivers which aren't up to date? Like how I know what needs updating. And is it always best to update it directly from the manufacturer? I only built this one pc, and during that I learnt about all the parts necessary in a computer. I just don't know much about anything that comes after building it.