If sound is important to you then sure why not.

To. I couldn't go back to normal motherboard sound and love the convenient front panel connections and controls that came with my X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series card. ASUS has a lot of good options now too.

Like I said my recon no longer gets detcted by my pc after 2-3 years of use, my old xfi titanium will also not work anymore and is the reason I bought the recon 3 years ago...

I dont know if I can support creative after 2 cards failed...

I just popped back in my recon and its not in device manager, creative wants me to update my mobo bios, but why should i when it ran fine for 3 years on creatives old un updated drivers?

Heres creative response, and of course I have on board enabled am I supposed to not have sound because creative garbage is no longer working?




Dear Burt,

Thank you for writing back to Creative Labs.

From the MSINFO file, it shows that there are devices sharing the same IRQ slots.

You may wish to move these devices to different slots to resolve BSOD issues.

Resource Device Status

IRQ 17 High Definition Audio Controller OK
IRQ 16 Intel(R) 7500/5520/5500/X58 I/O Hub PCI Express Root Port 1 - 3408 OK
IRQ 16 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 OK
IRQ 16 Intel(R) 7500/5520/5500/X58 I/O Hub PCI Express Root Port 3 - 340A - 340a OK
IRQ 16 Intel(R) 7500/5520/5500/X58 I/O Hub PCI Express Root Port 7 - 340E - 340e OK
IRQ 16 Intel(R) ICH10 Family PCI Express Root Port 1 - 3A40 OK
IRQ 16 Realtek RTL8168C(P)/8111C(P) Family PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.20) #2 OK
IRQ 16 Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A37 OK
IRQ 16 Intel(R) ICH10 Family PCI Express Root Port 5 - 3A48 OK

IRQ 18 Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 3A3C OK
IRQ 18 Realtek RTL8168C(P)/8111C(P) Family PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.20) OK
IRQ 18 Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A36 OK
IRQ 18 Intel(R) ICH10 Family PCI Express Root Port 3 - 3A44 OK

IRQ 22 High Definition Audio Controller OK
IRQ 19 Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A35 OK
IRQ 19 Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller OK
IRQ 19 Intel(R) Desktop/Workstation/Server Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller OK
IRQ 19 Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 3A39 OK

It also shows that there are two High Definition Audio Controller listed.

Please ensure that the onboard sound in your computer is disabled in Device Manager and BIOS when the Soundblaster card is installed.

Also, your latest BIOS date is showing as BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG, 4/17/2009

Make sure you have installed the latest updates for your computer especially the chipset drivers for your motherboard. An update of BIOS is
also recommended.The BIOS and chipset drivers are responsible for communications between the basic hardware components and therefore it
should always be updated for a stable system performance. You can download the updated drivers for the chipset in your motherboard from the
manufacturer.

Make sure also that you have installed the latest updates for your operating system from the Microsoft website.

For more information about your BIOS settings, please contact your computer and motherboard manufacturer for further technical assistance.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Please retain all the previous correspondence when replying to this email.

Best Regards,

Jessica
Creative Worldwide Customer Response

Personally I swear by my Creative card.  I tried the onboard and the Realtek onboard never could get the surround balance right (my PC is on surround not stereo) I plug in my creative card, install/update the drivers, and my surround just works and works correctly, that simple.  If I was using stereo I would use the onboard, but with a good surround speaker setup, I recommend a comparably good sound card.  Thankfully now, some of our higher end boards have Creative audio onboard which is wonderful imho, no need for a card.

I stopped using Creative after Audigy 2 ZS. That is when Creative drivers went down hill. My current sound card is Ht Omega Claro+ PCI sound card.
 
 

boredgunner
Sound cards aren't important in modern games since hardware accelerated sound has been dead for years now.  They can be useful depending on your audio setup, needs, and budget I suppose.  But if you just want new sound features in games, Razer Surround does what sound cards do (downmix multichannel sound to stereo aka virtual surround), and it's arguably the best at this.  

That's not all Razer does. They data mine users. People should read Razer software EULA.
 

Well the X-Fi wasn't bad, its Microsoft that caused the big stink. The big uproar was lack of EAX and anything older than the Audigy 2 didn't have Vista drivers.

Just get a USB DAC/AMP as it is much better that any sound card you can buy.
 
Something like Fiio E17 is a really good value or if you want an even better get the O2 DAC/AMP combo.

Tweaked
If all you are looking for is surround in games and movies and all you are using is a an inexpensive Logitech 5.1 speaker set or gaming headset, then the onboard sound will do just fine.  The drivers in these logitech speakers and most gaming headsets are not capable of replicating the frequency range and detailed nuances of audiophile grade recordings.  
 
Now if your goal is immersive realism in music with accurate instrument and vocal reproduction, and you either already have or are going to get a good quality set of headphones, then a you could benefit from a sound card.  
 
But like others have said, your best bet is to get a USB DAC and headphone amp.  Now if you are going to feed a digital signal to an Audio/Video receiver and good speakers, then just use the onboard optical/coaxial digital out because, after all, digital information is digital information and the digital to analog conversion will take place in the receiver which will have a much better DAC to begin with. 

Not necessarily true. Even my Yamaha RX-A2030 barely has a DAC that competes with the Creative ZxR. Matter fact, I like the Burr Brown's in the Creative better than the ESS in the Yamaha. Say you get a 500 dollar receiver, it will NOT have a better DAC than the Creative ZxR. 

chrisdglong

Tweaked
If all you are looking for is surround in games and movies and all you are using is a an inexpensive Logitech 5.1 speaker set or gaming headset, then the onboard sound will do just fine.  The drivers in these logitech speakers and most gaming headsets are not capable of replicating the frequency range and detailed nuances of audiophile grade recordings.  
 
Now if your goal is immersive realism in music with accurate instrument and vocal reproduction, and you either already have or are going to get a good quality set of headphones, then a you could benefit from a sound card.  
 
But like others have said, your best bet is to get a USB DAC and headphone amp.  Now if you are going to feed a digital signal to an Audio/Video receiver and good speakers, then just use the onboard optical/coaxial digital out because, after all, digital information is digital information and the digital to analog conversion will take place in the receiver which will have a much better DAC to begin with. 

Not necessarily true. Even my Yamaha RX-A2030 barely has a DAC that competes with the Creative ZxR. Matter fact, I like the Burr Brown's in the Creative better than the ESS in the Yamaha. Say you get a 500 dollar receiver, it will NOT have a better DAC than the Creative ZxR. 

The thing is you are coloring your sound and not actually representing what the actual sound be intended to be.
 
It is like Super Amoled screens, some people like the overly saturated colors while some don't.
 
A GOOD DAC shouldn't mess with the sound (that should be done by the EQ).
 
I compared my Creative X-FI Titanium HD (which has better internals than the ZxR btw) to my FiiO E17 through my Philips Fidelio X1, Tpeos Altone X1, UE TripleFi 10 and a cheap sony / skull candy earbuds and my FiiO E17 has noticeable more refined sound.
 

You all still using soundcards or a dac/amp combo?
I'm wanting to move to a dac/amp combo and away from a soundcard if the dac/amp combo has better sound for gaming.
I"m currently using a Soundblaster ZXR.
I'm concerned that playing fps like Battelfied I'll lose out with hearing specific sounds and footstep.
Anyone have any experience with switching to an external setup and noticing an improvement?

I think a dac/amp combo is better,  but I'm using a soundblaster ae5 right now.