I noticed that the Asus P5B Deluxe Wi/Fi has: ADI AD1988B 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC allows 192KHz/24-bit audio output - Support Jack-Sensing, Enumeration, Multi-streaming and Jack-Retasking - Coaxial / Optical S/PDIF out ports at back I/O - ASUS Noise Filter - ASUS Array Mic Yet, I keep reading that buying a dedicated Sound Card is going to be a vast improvement on what your M/B comes with stock. Anyone have any suggestions?...Didn't intend to buy any more components for my new build but wondering if I should be considering it...Not really a gamer but listen to movies as well as music a lot.
I do think separate cards sound a little better, but, frankly, unless you have some kick-ass speakers, I tend to doubt the card will matter that much.
I was thinking of going with the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 SB0400 Sound Card if it was needed...Seems to be an average card but the stock audio sounds like it could be sufficient, non?
I don't know how true that is. The audio chips used in modern motherboards are actually connected to the PCI bus, just like a separate sound card would be, and have their own processor, some memory, etc.. They are just like a separate sound card, but just all on one chip. They are not like built-in Video which must share some amount memory and CPU resources in order to process data. If you are aware of sound cards what work differently, I'm all ears (ok stupid pun) but I can't visualize how a separate audio card is logically any different than a built-in.
