Sound Cards - Worth the Upgrade? Case compatible?

[THRobinson]

Seen a few old threads, or newer threads that didn't go anywhere so, thought I'd ask.

Back in the day, I always had a sound card, then the on-board ones had gotten so much better that the last 2 builds I've just used on-board.

I don't have 5.1/7.1 or anything, I have a pair of Altec Lansing FX3022 speakers (that sound great) and I have a nice pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M40X's which have amazing sound and I find myself using them a lot for music while I work and gaming.

Is a sound card worth while? By which I mean...

1 - Will it free up enough CPU load to make a noticeable difference?
2 - Will audio through headphones sound better for music/games?

Also, will the front audio ports work with a Corsair 300R case? My 2nd last build, the on-board sound didn't work, kinda... if you used the software from the manufacturer's website, it worked, but was flakey and sometimes gave a BSOD, but if you used the Windows drivers the sound worked perfect, but it wouldn't detect anything on the front panel. This new PC (new board and new case) has easy access to the front jacks and audio works they way it should and I'd like to keep those working because I love the headphones.

I was looking at something around the $50-$75CAD range.

 

[LilDog1291]

In that price range no there is no difference. I owned one of the Asus Xonar cards a while back and the setup was awful in terms of just trying to get a comparable sound to that of the onboard audio. I like to start off with the onboard as a reference point so when I was only able to get it to sound good through their software I decided it wasn't working well enough for the hassle.

As far as saving CPU cycles goes you won't see anything there either. MAYBE half a percentage point of savings. Modern processors are just not taxed by audio enough to offload the work to another board.

 

[THRobinson]

That's what I was thinking... reading card reviews and comments, seems that the only decent upgrades are in the $200CAD+ range, like the OMEGA Claro Halo.

Which, had me asking another question... I see some cards being listed as having hi-fi headphone amps... do those only work through the ports on the card itself? or if connected to the front ports of the PC case, will those work as well?

 

[LilDog1291]

Maybe. Looking at the pictures at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271004 it looks like they have a header to support the case audio. Its in the top left looking down on the board.

 

[LilDog1291]

Be careful with PCI cards though. I have seen some motherboard manufacturers already start to eliminate the port altogether in favor of PCIE 1x, 4x, or x16 ports in its place.

 

[THRobinson]

Well, if I went that route I'd email the company first and ask. Hate to get it for that much, and find out that the Hi-Fi works only through the onboard jack at the back, regardless if connects to the front panel or not. I'm too old (and lazy) to access the rear of the PC easily... kinda tucked in away on the floor.

Maybe I'll add a price watch and get lucky, but I think for the budget, my range isn't worth while given what I am seeing online.

Mostly just after high def sound for the headphones.

 

[THRobinson]

Be careful with PCI cards though. I have seen some motherboard manufacturers already start to eliminate the port altogether in favor of PCIE 1x, 4x, or x16 ports in its place.

Good point... I'd have to look up my board to see what I have. When built, I stuck in a video card and kinda ignored the rest.

Old PC's not an option... had a slot for the network card, slot for sound, slot for USB, slot for video... now half that stuff is onboard, which is great. I remember my first Sony CD Burner, which also needed a SCSI card to work, back on my old Pentium 1, 75Mhz. I don't miss those days. Computers weighed a tonne.