A dedicated sound card provides your computer with a wide range of extra features. Almost all computers and motherboards on the market today provide on-board sound, which is perfectly adequate for the majority of users. However, enthusiasts of realistic gaming, music and video will benefit considerably from using a dedicated sound card.
Improved Sound Quality
Dedicated sound cards typically provide much-improved audio quality. Newer on-board sound chips also provide high-definition sound in most cases, but the quality rarely compares to even the more basic dedicated sound cards. The improvement is quite noticeable, though to casual users, it is often not significant enough to warrant paying for an expensive upgrade.
More Connectivity Options
Dedicated sound cards provide more connectivity options than their on-board counterparts. On-board sound on modern computers normally provides analogue connectivity for 5.1 or even 7.1 surround-sound speakers. A dedicated sound card, by contrast, often provides a digital output, a separate microphone port and various other audio output ports. Some of the more advanced sound cards also provide a front panel input/output bay with extra ports for various purposes.
Improved Gaming and Multimedia Experience
A dedicated sound card often will help get the most out of the latest video games. Many video games have immersive audio, which you can only truly appreciate with a sound card that supports EAX and environmental audio. A sound card combined with a high-quality set of 5.1 or 7.1 speakers can really place you in the center of the action in both movies and games. Some sound cards also provide DTS and Dolby Digital hardware decoding, enhancing the audio of DVD and Blu-ray movies.
Improved Performance
A dedicated sound card takes a considerable amount of load off your computer's processor. With on-board sound, much of the audio processing is done by the CPU whereas, with a dedicated sound card, this will be handled separately. Some sound cards also provide their own memory for audio use, which can slightly improve performance as well.
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