I bought this surround sound headset http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FP0K7..._pr_product_top and I saw a few people say that to really get the full effect you need a good soundcard that supports 5.1 or something like that. This is the motherboard that I have http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmen...=101&l3=323 It says something on thereabout how it has 6 channel audio. I'm assuming that means it is good enough for me to get the full surround sound experience but I wanted to ask here to make sure. So will it work or do I need to get a better sound card? Thanks in advance. -Sk8
well it depends. I'm going to say this here and now, some onboard is better than others. I almost always buy highend, or mid-highend boards and as such I get OK onboard sound. Not great, but good enough for me considering I don't own a $$$$ sound setup the onboard sound on your board is mediocre though. really it's your call. Chances are you can enjoy the headset just fine as is, but in your case an entry level sound card wouldn't hurt. As for which card, don't ask me, not my forte.
If i were you i would purchase a sound card only because they last a very long time. I recently purchased a Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer and i'm in love with it. Not only does it give you X-Fi quality sound, it makes gaming 10-15% faster in most cases. I believe newegg.com sells it for $80 before shipping, it has drivers for XP and Vista which are constantly upgraded. It's also had modes for movies/music which is another great feature of the card. I wouldn't settle for anything less personally
well if you look at trends there is a trend towards doing sound based calculations via software so while the card might last a long time and will not be obsolete for a bit, there is a high likelihood that there wouldn't really be a need for it.
I had an X-Fi Fatal1ty ---, and I jsut sold it, as the drivers are crap, and my Motherboard included a quite good quality 7.1 surround card for the PCI-X slot.
