upgrade sound card?

[AndreRIO]

I have not upgrade my sound since they started making it onboard in the mb, my question is how much of an
improvement will I get if I upgrade my onboard sound to a sound blaster card, will it sound better?

[mccoggs]

I bought a diamond mx300 a long time ago and im still using it. the only difference i realy noticed was that it is a hell of alot louder. i can pound the music now and it sounds better when its on full blast. with the crappy on board sound its gets all crackly and sounds like ***** if i turn it up too much and it doesent even go that loud anyway. When you buy a good sound card like a sound blaster live or audigy you get support for eax, a3d, surround sound and 5.1 and it supose to sound like you realy there or something when you play games but i found that **** doesent work very well.

[AndreRIO]

so basically the new sound cards don't sound better, just have extra features compared to onboard sound, like able to plug in 5.1 speakers... 4.1

[mccoggs]

like i said mine sounds way better when im playing mp3's realy loud at low levels i dont notice any difference. if you got crappy speakers dont bother upgrading it

[Jimstep]

Get a top of the line creative lab soundcard and have 5.1 digital audio. Basically a movie theater in your pc when watching DVD movies or playing games.

[InnovaZero]

Yeah I got some Altec Lansing ACS500's with a soundblaster live!, the thing #^#%ing rocks.

[Crass1]

newer sound cards will sound better to a certain degree. and the 5.1 sound will only work if the game supports it. (Max Payne is a good example)

[nh3com]

what you really need is some good speakers. when playing games and switching between headphones and speakers you wouldn't believe the difference. the sound that is coming through the head set is ten times better, you can hear things that you can't through the speakers.