Do Sound Card really matters for Gaming?
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Chairman_Wang
62
Oct 29, 2018
IMO best use case is better surround sound imaging. Certain sound cards do it better. Obviously none of the fancy audiophile stuff supports it unless you count the X7 (which I have and love xD) or Sennheiser's gaming line
Someone on head-fi made a great comparison. Based on an old X-Fi card i have and what I've heard elsewhere, it holds water. the software stuff is ehhh. Shame Creative never capitalized on the EAX stuff, Mass Effect was amazing.
Alerion
829
Aug 10, 2018
They are hardly worth the money though if you don't need the extra ports.
If you want a full blown 5.1-7.2 experience just hook up a HDMI receiver and if you crave the headphone experience get an external DAC.
Ho1y
62
Aug 10, 2018
im using a soundblaster Z, i might invest in an AMP/DAC and connect it to the soundcard to retain the surround sound.
phoenixsong
985
Aug 10, 2018
I haven't tried soundcards, but compared to a good budget purifier/dac/amp setup, my laptop's native soundcard is nigh unlistenable. Congested soundtage, smeared presentation, lack extended frequency response, wooly bass, thin treble, veiled mids. You name it XD
Rhamnetin
177
Aug 10, 2018
Yeah, and the relativity here is crazy. A Chord Mojo, which is probably my favorite sub $1,000 DAC at least, is congested, smeared, lacks extended treble, has wooly bass, etc compared to its big brother the Hugo 2 when using a revealing enough setup (electrostatic especially). And the Hugo 2 is probably all of that compared to the DAVE.
phoenixsong
985
Aug 10, 2018
True, true. Not just the product, but also the amount of spare $$$ one has as well XD
boot2skull
92
Aug 9, 2018
Not worth the cost or effort to me, but I'm a casual gamer. I use just left and right speakers or a cheap headset. If I had a nice headset or surround sound speakers, I would definitely consider external, but even then internal soundcards can "do" those things, just maybe not great. Just depends on your PC sound needs and whether internal soundcards fall short for that.
ku11a
0
Aug 7, 2018
in some games i had soundlags with the external soundcard. I switched to a good internal soundcard so the lags went away.
Rhamnetin
177
Aug 5, 2018
A sound card today just acts as an improved DAC and possibly headphone amp, with its own software suite. The days of hardware accelerated sound is pretty much over (although at least two 2017 games do support it but current day sound cards do not even support it), therefore today's sound cards no longer offer UNIQUE benefit for gaming. External DACs and amps can provide better quality and virtual surround can be obtained via external solutions or free software like Razer Surround.
Glinkster
1
Aug 5, 2018
I totally agree on what you have said, But I have personally experienced an enhanced gaming experience having external sound card on. So yeah, it depends on games to games but whatever you said is also true External DACs and amps provide better sound quality.
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If you ask this question to the experts, they will tell you that spending on a dedicated sound card is worth and it does create a difference when it comes to the gaming experience, but at the same time, if you ask this question to the normal person, then the answer could be different.
The sound card alone cannot do a job of providing the best sound experience, If you do not have a good quality gaming speaker or gaming headset, then I doubt it that you will get the value for your money.
Why Gamers buy sound card? One of the reason is definitely because of the better sound quality experience while playing intense games and get immersed into gaming experience, The games like CS go, PUBG and battlefield requires high end sound experience. But if we look at the technical aspect of getting a sound card, then it is dedicated sound card reduce the amount of CPU usage.
If you are not into gaming and just looking for having a dedicated sound card for your listening music, then you might have to drop the idea of buying a dedicated sound card. But if you are one of those gamers who are into intense gaming and play quite often, then a dedicated sound card of good quality can make a huge difference in your gaming. You browse this article for best sound cards available in the market ( https://www.glinkster.com/best-sound-card-2018/ )
Disclaimer
So the answer to the question, Do Sound Card really matters for Gaming?
Yes, as I have already explained, if you have time and money to have one, then definitely a dedicated sound card can give you the edge in gaming among your friends.