[mattysimins]

For games. I have always just used what came installed on the motherboard, and was wondering if a sound card is really worth the difference. any opinions?

 

[Jack Horner]

How good are your ears? How important is the sound quality to your gaming experience? For myself, after working 35 years in various factories, I have suffered enough hearing loss that a high end card does not make a difference.

 

[brite750]

It might free up some resouces from your cpu, so in that way it would be worth it, but will you notice a differnece, who knows?

 

[Arcadion]

For gaming the best card is an Audigy 2, and yes I would say it's worth it. Some games I've found won't even play back properly (i.e. the sound is way too fast and high-pitched) with onboard AC97 sound.