The sound card provides exactly what its namesake implies: sound. From regular stereo sound to 8.1 channels of high-quality surround sound, these cards provide you with yet another level of immersion; but, do you really need a sound card?
Why Bother with a Sound Card?
Let's face it: the sound card is slowly being relegated to specialty niche markets. As more and more motherboards start to include sound on-board, the sound cards importance in a computer is slowly being phased out.
The motherboard we recommended in our How to Select a Motherboard guide all come with on-board sound that are as good, if not better, than some of the sound cards you can purchase today.
The old argument for sound cards, especially in gaming systems, was that they provided hardware acceleration for sound, which reduced the average load on your CPU; but, modern operating systems - like Windows Vista - don't support hardware acceleration of sound. With dual and quad core systems becoming commonplace (and octo-core systems in the future) there's really no argument for hardware acceleration.
That's not to say that you shouldn't consider getting one. If you're an audiophile or you want the latest support for the High Definition audio codecs, then you're going to want to invest in a good sound card. Heck, if you're looking for a totally immersive experience, without worrying about any hiccups, then you'll really want to consider getting a sound card.
Sound Card Channels
You may hear people refer to the number of channels a sound card (or audio device) supports, and really, it boils down to the number of speakers that the system supports. This can range from 1 channel on up. In practice, the number of channels tends to fall between 2 and 8.
8 Channels?
On the motherboards we've recommended you may notice that they advertise 8 channels of audio, yet the highest end sound cards only support 7.1 channels. This is more marketing hype than anything else: "7.1" refers to 7 speakers and 1 subwoofer (hence 7.1) while "8" also refers to the same 7 speakers/1 subwoofer configuration.
So, if you ever run across a sound card that promises 8 channels of audio, just remember that it's probably just 7.1 with a nice round marketing number attached to it.
Click Here to learn all of the secrets your local computer guy doesn't want you to know! Computer Secrets Unleashed will teach you how to keep your computer running smooth without spending thousands of dollars!
Recommended Sound Cards
Tight Budget & Average Budget
Unless you're an audiophile, we recommend sticking with the on-board audio we mentioned in our motherboard guide. There's really no reason to get a high performance sound card at these budgets.
Big Budget
Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme - $179.99 - If you're on a big budget and just have to have the best sound bar none, then this Creative sound card will do the trick: not only does it provide you with the best quality 7.1 surround sound, but it also give you enough control over your sound so you get just the right volume when you're gaming.
Back to the Build a Gaming Computer guide.
