AC97 vs anything

[sellmesanity]

Is it true that any PCI card is better than any onboard solution? My epox-9npa+ ultra comes with this AC97 Realtek AKA Nvidia Audio onboard solution. Would the pci card make a huge difference in anything? I am planning to get a mid-range card like an Audigy or something and I want to know the benefits or if it is worth my time and money. Thanks.

 

[Julio Franco]

It's been a while since I use on-board audio, however my experience has always been there is a lot of difference if you want to play games or play music on a good set of PC speakers (anything like Logitech 2.1 speakers or better). Even a standard Audigy should prove way better than on-board... however I would still wait for more users input in this thread before you make up your mind.

 

[sellmesanity]

Thank you for responding, Julio. What about the technical aspects and advantages of getting a PCI sound card? Does it help the CPU perform substantially better in games? Has anyone had onboard and went to PCI and noticed an improvement in performance anywhere?