An anonymous reader asks, "Since almost every motherboard on the market comes with a sound card built into the system, I have to ask: why bother buying a sound card?"

You're right: sound cards are almost a thing of the past. Almost. The thing keeping sound cards around nowadays is high end, low noise performance that cheap, on-board sound cards cannot offer you. Also, the cheaper sound cards act as a replacement in case your on board audio happens to die.

To demonstrate my point, let's take a look at a typical on-board sound card, and the Creative Labs SB X-FI Titanium Fatal1ty Champ (is that name long enough?)

Typically, your motherboard audio will come with three connectors: line in, mic in, and stereo output. Some motherboards may provider 5.1 surround sound capabilities, so you'll have three audio outputs (two stereo outputs and one center/bass output) plus your various inputs.

While all of those features can be found on a typical sound card, the high end models will usually come with 7.1 surround sound (three stereo outputs, one center/bass output), a microphone input, an optical line-in, and an optical output. They also generally come with some sort of control box (either as a front panel or an outside box) that offers you easy access to volume control, headphone and mic jacks, front audio input, and other neat features.

If we're talking "Pro-sumer" equipment (that is, not quite professional, but offers more features than regular consumer products) then you'll find that the X-Fi Elite Pro (what a hell of a marketing name) offers - in addition to the 7.1 output on the sound card - a control box that has all of the various inputs and outputs you'd expect, plus support for MIDI devices (like digital keyboards) and S/PDIF. Of course, the box also expects you to be able to run a grounding wire somewhere.

So, why bother with a sound card? There are a few reasons:

• Your on-board sound card doesn't support the surround sound expereicne you want.
• The on-board sound card has failed or is otherwise not working.
• You need/want a more professional level of equipment, but cannot justify investing in thousands of dollars worth of equipment.

Personally, I'll stick with the on-board sound system, until I hit it big and can afford to have 7.1 surround sound with everything.

Do you have a question you need answered? E-mail me! lordkat@gmail.com

Click here to check out How to Build a Gaming Computer for Under $1000.

Be safe,

Jason