What is the best budget soundcard?

[Callum123123]

My system spec:
amd 8320 piledriver 8 core
Gigabyte 78LMT- usb 3.0
Asus direct cu11 770 2gb oc
corsair 200r
cx 600 psu
120gb samsung 840 ssd
2 tb hdd

I plan on only spending £20 to £30 as I do not have the best speakers, however I am going to get some 5.1 surround sound speakers, and I would prefer the soundcard to support 7.1 if I plan on uprading later.
Thanks
Callum

 

[Jim90]

I would consider using the motherboard's own on-board audio.

In the manual we have:

1.Realtek ALC887 codec
2.High Definition Audio
3.2/4/5.1/7.1-channel (Note 4)
4.Support for S/PDIF Out

(Note 4) To configure 7.1-channel audio, you have to use an HD front panel audio module and enable the multi-channel audio feature through the audio driver.

-->"front panel audio" relates to your case - make sure it accepts an HD audio connector. Many 3.5mm audio jack sockets (e.g. motherboard rear) can be reconfigured as in's/out's by the user via the Realtek HD Audio Manager (should be installed already). Mine can reconfigure both the motherboard back and case front panels. Yours probably too.

For most purposes this will be all you need. I've taken a break from the dedicated audio cards I used in the past e.g. Creative X-Fi since I don't see any issues/differences with modern gaming/applications.

Of course, for serious audio recording/routing/etc. e.g. audio recording studio, you could look at outboard audio interfaces.