Sound card?

[Triangle Man]

im making a new build. already ordered the parts and everything, but i was just wondering how much of a difference a sound card makes in terms of w/e it is a sound card does. from a gaming perspective and a music perspective.

is the difference minimal, or would you actually save up money to buy one? If the latter's true, what would the best sound card be for $ (that fits w/ my system of course)?

[Jester]

you wont need a sound card with the P5K. It is good for gaming sound. The only people i suggest sound cards to are pro gamers, music editors, and those that can tell the difference in sound b/w 128k/bs and 320k/bs.

[Alaron]

For a gamer, the argument you usually run across is that a dedicated sound card offloads sound processing from the CPU. So you get a performance boost in gaming. But with speedy Core 2 Duos with multiple cores and zippy 8800 cards, I don't think the difference is noticable.

[Gen.Ben]

and those that can tell the difference in sound b/w 128k/bs and 320k/bs.

I don't know a single person, with the exception of my deaf grandfather that can not tell the difference between 128kbps and 320kbps. 128 is just so muffled and bad, and 320 is so crisp and clean. I guess I should go out and buy a sound card then :)

[Jester]

the average person who has never heard them side by side will not hear the difference. It really takes a trained ear. I still dont hear the difference, and I am far from deaf.

[Triangle Man]

i think i'll be fine then, thanks. I don't think i've ever had a sound card before so i wouldn't know the difference, but i've been fine so far.