Are sound cards worth it for gaming, and music?

Originally posted by Tidgxor Not trying to be snarky at all I promise! But honestly this is one of those "if you have to ask if you need a sound card, then the answer is: no" sort of moments. Unless you have a productivity-based reason for it, or are an actual audiophile (who has the secondary equipment to actually justify the sound card), sound cards have not been worth it for 15+ years or so. Just one person's opinion though.

The DS vet himself dude!!!!

Anyways, No, I just enjoy clear music, and good sounds in video games thats it.

Originally posted by HockeyBuck You really won't need a sound card Demon...I agree with Tidgxor...   On board sound (usually RealTek Codecs) is that good these days, and can do 8 channels and High Res sound as well.

Thanks instead of 1 TB NVM I WENT for 2 TB instead
Of sound card

For those that like external sound cards:

The GSX 1000 by Sennheiser is basically a DAC/Amp for those that want 7.1 surround sound/hear the foot steps of the enemy acoustics.   You can find a million reviews on this, and they do say it is one of the best units for that function. You can also see what others think about the sound and value.

What I will add (because it was important to me) is that while it says it can handle headsets up to an impedance of 150 ohms, it really can't.

The sound is really good, but the volume is weak. I have to use a setting of 60+ to really hear the sound with my headset, but with my speakers, only a setting of 20 equals the same volume.

Speakers are T20 creative speakers and are awesome by the way.

My headset is a Sennheiser pc350 from years ago and needs 150 ohms. Today's gaming headsets I believe are mostly 50 ohms and less, so there should be no issues.

My post is just to let those know that the GSX 1000 (and gsx 1200) are probably for FPS gamers first, and then music later. And that I'd limit the power to less than 75 ohms.

Thanks