Member Avatar for bigpoppapumpg

I have an nforce2 ultra non-sound storm mobo and a very old creative live value.

question is, is it worth shelling out say $70 for a audigy 2 value? What tangible benefit does a new sound card offer for occasional music listening, rare movie watching, and sporadic game playing especially given I have a 2.1 speaker system?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by alc6379

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Short answer: probably not — unless there is an actual fault or a specific feature you need. Echoing and , perceived improvement from a midrange PCI card tends to be small unless the rest of the chain (speakers/headphones, amp, listening environment) can reveal the finer detail a better DAC/preamp provides.

When a discrete card is likely to matter:

  • You hear audible noise, clicks or interference that software/drivers and simple fixes do not remove; a dedicated card often isolates analog circuits from motherboard noise.
  • You need features your board lacks: a true optical/coax digital output, a stronger headphone amp for high-impedance cans, or lower-latency drivers for multitrack recording.
  • You want hardware effects or surround processing that the onboard stack doesn’t provide (useful for some older games and certain surround virtualization).

How to decide without spending:

  • Blind A/B: play a high-quality track through each source at matched volume and compare. If you can’t reliably distinguish them, the upgrade will be cosmetic.
  • Diagnose noise: update audio and chipset drivers, try different sample-rate/bit-depth settings, remove or re-route USB/PCI cards, test headphones directly, and swap speaker cables/power outlets to rule out grounding issues.
  • Check the missing feature list: if you only want SPDIF out or better headphone amp, a cheap external USB DAC/amp or used card can be a better buy than a new PCI card.

If the current setup is clean and listening is casual, money is usually better spent on better speakers/headphones or an external DAC rather than on a midrange PCI card. If problems persist after the troubleshooting above, a discrete card would then be a sensible next step.

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Member Avatar for belama

If you dont have any problems with what you have and if the sound quality is good I dont know why you should buy an expensive sound card. If the sound buzzes or pops and clics alot, I would see if I could do something to fix it. If not, I woulld buy a new card.

Right now I have onboard 5.1 sound and I'm happy with it.

Member Avatar for alc6379

I agree with belama-- unless you really want good 5.7/7.1 sound, I'd stick with the old card. Personally, I just have a pair of 2.1 stereo speakers, and I'm just happy with my onboard sound, not being an audiophile.

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