hey everyone i have a question, i have almost got everything for my new rig but im stumped about sound, will a sound card really make that much difference to the audio its mainly for games and music i know the gene has a very good onbord sound for a motherboard and it seems they have gone all out in it so is there any point for a sound card everywhere i have looked seems to have mixed reviews and im not expecting anything different here just thought it would be nice to hear everyones input and this is what will tip me over the edge or stay firmaly put with on board sound thanks for your time Ben
Personally I can hear quite a lot of difference and thats with cheap headphones/speakers. I have the Xonar DG, and got it to try a sound card and I can recommend it, although its PCI rather than PCI-E.
Are you using headphones or speakers? The Xonar DGX has a headphone amp built in, but the SupremeFX III does not. The headphone amp makes a difference to the bass especially, but it depends on what your 'phones can do. Powered speakers arguably don't really need it though. ((SupremeFX IV (on the Formula and future motherboards), the ROG Spitfire USB audio processor (bundled with Vulcan PRO and Orion PRO) does though.)) You'll get Dolby Headphone from the DGX too, but the SNR from the SupremeFX III is about the same/slightly better, rated up to 110dB (the max of the Realtek chip) versus 105dB on the DG. http://www.asus.com/Multimedia/Audio_Cards/Xonar_DGX/#specifications
If you are using a high quality pair of headphones or speakers then you owe yourself to a good dedicated sound card like this: http://uk.asus.com/Multimedia/Audio_Cards/Xonar_DX/ Although the Gene and Formula do have much improved audio when compared to typical on-board audio solutions!
