Is this industry dying or just become more narrow? Sound cards nowadays are mostly built into the motherboard (brand comes to mind is Realtek) and they’re already good enough with some having 5.1 surround sound while others have up to 8 channels.
Back in the days, people would buy a separate card for their sound card. The ones built-in to the mobo aren’t recommended because they allegedly consume CPU cycles by around 10-15%. Thus a separate chip was better.
Now, we got plenty of CPU power to dispense so that’s no longer an issue. The last time I bought a PCI sound card was like 6 years ago. Creative Labs was for the gamers, Yamaha went for the music geeks and musicians (does Yamaha still make any sound cards?).
Seems like the hard core gamers are the ones buying the newer sound cards. Any body else have any special use for a separate sound card?
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I think people focus more on the peripherals rather than the internal hardware for sound devices. Eg subwoofers and surround speakers. Only the professional users would seem to have a need for the internal hardware soundcards.
i still buy sound card because the built in sound card has very bad sound quality.
This could be you. Do bloggers work too hard?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/technology/06sweat.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin
Good observation. I actually don’t remember the last time that I bought one.
I last bought a sound card back in 2000. Afterwards, there wasn’t really a need for it.
nah. i have an external soundcard creative soundblaster audigy 2 ZS so i could put two 2.1 surround sound speakers. plus its a video editor.
Yeah I am still using a separate sound card. I guess for ordinary use a built in sound card is good enough but for multimedia production a separate card can really make a difference.
Yeah, we still use our internal SB Audigy 2 ZS which be bought like 4 years ago. We have changed motherboards and processors but we always retain this sound card even if we just a 2.1 speaker system and doesn’t use it’s 5.1 features.
I guess pci soundcards will still remain available in the market, especially those hardcore gamers, musician, and hobbyist whom preferred using PCI or PCIe type of soundcards. Like for instance, you can find in some forums that most musically inclined individuals are talking about setting up a dual sound card mainly use it for replacing the traditional analog audio mixer and take note I haven’t seen any built-in sound that provide a midi connector which are often used by musician for connecting their midi capable keyboards or synthesizers that don’t have a usb or firewire connectors. In my own case I bought a cheap pci soundcard and installed it because my Asus A7V266m motherboard built-in sound can’t drive my pioneer headphone simply because it doesn’t have enough pre-amp power.
I don’t remember when I bought one. I always use built in para tipid..
I still do, especially if your built-in one suddenly dies..
X-Fi are really good.. but they won’t sound good unless you have a good set of speakers.
I’m still using a Creative Audigy 4 sound card bought almost 2 years ago but I might ditched and go with an onboard solution.
for most users the built-in ones are enough, so why buy a separate one? it’s also worth mentioning that few sound cards in the market are really much better than the built-in sound in today’s motherboards. syempre gagastos ka rin lang, wag naman pipitsugin na sound card.
Im going to buy 2 new sound cards this year - 1 for upgrading my existing PC; the other for the new PC I’m going to assemble.
So yah, hardcore gamers like me do buy non-built in stuff still
We prefer the almighty powerful independent peripherals because we have more choice than the built-in ones, and secondly, we want “the” ultimate experience.
Not just for gaming but for other entertainment purposes as well, watching *ehemm* downloaded shows for example. And creating videos
I always bought separate peripherals, I am a little picky with my PC parts so I guess for emergency needs I use all on-board systems, and use the add-on cards for most days. I am also quite ecstatic with these new plug and play USB sound driver/thumb(I dont know the proper name for it) Since sometimes when I work at night I use headphones on my PC and adding a usb SRS 3d wow preprocessor makes the sound better than the software equivalent, and it has noise cancellation too. And I have these other USB sound thing which puts out a 7.1 system THX certified, now that’s innovation…!
I’m planning to buy either an EEE PC pre-loaded with Windows Live, a 500GB external H/D and an external soundcard or a regular desktop with a powerful internal soundcard.
This should go well with my Original Audio CD’s which I’m planning to rip into lossless media and my Shure earphones.
Using a PCI Soundcard especially those having branded names like SounBlaster having a specs of 24bit would really make a difference. Your like comparing a cheap headset bought in the sidewalk to a BOSS headset. Yes, I agree. You have to consider the price and the practicality of the hardware but what I dont agree is the fact that some people were saying that branded PCI soundcard are a thing of the past and are just the same with the built-in sound system in most motherboard. Guys, get real, Ok!?