Seeing as ill be building an i7 rig soon I was wondering if it was worth it to include a sound card , if so any recommendations?

Thanks

It's worth having surround sound, that's for sure. But if you have an i7 and a motherboard with decent integrated sound, you won't notice a huge difference between them, especially if you only use headphones. But if you have the change to spare, definitely pickup a decent soundcard.

O forgot to mention that i use a razer piranha headset, and a decent soundcard would be?

Creative's X-Fi series of soundcards are the standard today. I have an Audigy 2 ZS which is really good but I think Creative only sells the X-Fi now.

K thanks for your help

You're building an i7 setup, and you're wondering if something as inexpensive compared to the rest of your build as a sound card is worth getting? :p

i did an i7 myself and soundcard and didnt notice too much with the headset, but with surround sound it is nice.

In that case my only problem is that I don't have a pair of decent speakers and I'm not willing to pay for em lol. So in my case a sound card wouldn't give me any advantage then?

The answer is no. Just be straight with him guys. The reason sound cards are so inexpensive is due to the fact that onboard sound has gone leaps and bounds over what i used to be. And it barely taxes your cpu at all. So honestly, its just not worth it anymore.

I'll tell you what not to buy. The Creative Soundblaster X-Fi with front and rear ports. Has like guitar plug ins and everything. Spent over 300$ a few years ago on it for the whole card to be faulty. Now im just using a creative audioblaster thats like made in 1990 lol.

You dont need a huge beefy card to produce 5.1 quality sound. It's your speakers/headset. If you're investing with a decent amount of money i'd say

Logitech Z5500's 5.1 surround system. Best 5.1 speakers you'll ever find. Headset wise i'd go with the Logitech g35 surround sound headset.

Im a huge Turtle Beach fan, cheaper than SB but not by much. Montego DDL 5.1 and Turtle Beach X-force 5.1 headset rocks. But the guys above are correct, most i7 motherboards include onboard 5.1 or 7.1 sound. Although I've never used them. I bought my TB card because the only SB card with optical in/out at that timei was like 130 bux. But I love it.

The answer is no. Just be straight with him guys. The reason sound cards are so inexpensive is due to the fact that onboard sound has gone leaps and bounds over what i used to be. And it barely taxes your cpu at all. So honestly, its just not worth it anymore.

Thanks for the clear answer, I guess i won't be needed to spend an extra 70$ after all :)

/endthread