I’m looking to build my first PC and I was wondering if I should stick with the onboard sound card or buy an external sound card (something that will fit in my PCI slot).? I’m pretty sure that sticking with an onboard VIDEO card is silly so is it the same concept with the onboard sound card?? Will it make too much of a difference?? Thanks for your help!

Sound cards and speaker systems are one of the most underrated and forgotten component of a computer system when building or ordering a new computer!? It’s a shame to see people focus so much attention on bottleneck parts such as the computer CPU or graphics card but completely forget about the sound component of the computer.? Fortunately, unlike its brother and sister parts, a sound card isn’t as complicated to understand or shop for…

A sound card is unlike the graphics card in the performance difference between onboard and external sources.? Onboard sound cards are very good especially because they come with the motherboard but if you would like to spend money on a decent sound card from SoundBlaster (Creative Labs) then I suggest you also include a budget for speakers that have the appropriate range and functionality to harness that sound quality!

An external sound card (PCI or USB) will mainly take off a small load from the CPU but it will be minimal enough unless you are using it for extreme audio editing or other similar purposes.

In my opinion, I’m certain there would not be a huge difference between a sound card and the onboard sound.? I suggest you take the money you’d like to spend on a sound card and upgrade the current speaker system you are planning on using with this new machine!

As always, enjoy the build and let us know how your new machine came out!