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http://live.pirillo.com/ – Nik in the chat room wanted to know if it was better to have a dedicated sound card or if the sound card built into the motherboard was fine.

If you’re simply looking for everyday use, then the onboard sound is fine: you get basic environmental effects and sound control. Plus, modern computers often come with a digital out (and sometimes an optical output as well).

If you’re looking for a very high end audio experience, with fine-tuned controls, then you’ll probably want to go with an expansion card.

In Windows Vista buying an additional card for sound is less important than it used to be, because the engineers decided to get rid of audio hardware acceleration, so most the sound on a Vista system is handled mainly by the CPU.

What do you think Nik should do?

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Onboard Sound vs Sound Cards