Onboard Audio

[Aaron]

When It say's that there is onboard audio on a motherboard, does that mean
that i dont need an audio card?

 

[Jan Alter]

That's right.

 

[Conor]

That's right.

But you'll probably need speakers with a built in amplifier.

 

[Ric Harris]

When It say's that there is onboard audio on a motherboard, does that mean
that i dont need an audio card?

Yes.

 

[Peter Ives]

When It say's that there is onboard audio on a motherboard, does that mean
that i dont need an audio card?

Note that your system might take a slight performance hit compared to
one using an audio card. Not a major problem in most cases, but worth
bearing in mind if you're trying to get the most out of it. Especially
with games playing.

 

[DaveW]

Yes it does.

 

[bogustxtburnetga]

When It say's that there is onboard audio on a motherboard, does that mean
that i dont need an audio card?

That means you don't need a "real" sound card to hear sound.
The motherboard usually has about half the components of a full
soundcard and runs software to make the cpu do a lot of the audio.
It also means bottom of the barrel sound.
It's all most people need for an office PC, web browsing, email, etc..

If you into gaming, or Audio with any passion get a real sound card.

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz ( My Favorite )
SoundBlaster Live
SoundBlaster Audigy
SoundBlaster Audigy2

Greg B.

 

[Erez Volach]

Note that your system might take a slight performance hit compared to
one using an audio card. Not a major problem in most cases, but worth
bearing in mind if you're trying to get the most out of it. Especially
with games playing.

The situation is not the same with AC97 codecs stored in the southbridge and
run using the CPU, and with true hardware solutions as i.e. a CT5880 sound
chip, than do actual encoding / mixing / sound processing in hardware. The
latter solutions are more like a sound card soldered to the motherboard, the
former are closer to an emulation software.

 

[BarryNL]

When It say's that there is onboard audio on a motherboard, does that mean
that i dont need an audio card?

It does, but depending on the quality of the onboard audio you may find
you end up installing an audio card anyway. I'd steer clear of bog
standard AC97 on board audio.