Integrated Audio vs Dedicated audio card

Megamaniac

Honorable
May 1, 2012
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10,510
Hi there!

I just bought a new pc, I decided for a cost efficient option, that is I've bought an Asus m5a78l-m usb3 mainboard.

I have also an older Creative Audigy SE card which seems to work petty good, but it's an old card and I'm not pretty sure how it would fair with the VIA VT1708S 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC the mobo comes with, I tried to compare the specs and the VIA seems to be a clear winner, however, I would like to read some opinions on whether should I keep the integrated sound or install the Audigy.

From my experience, integrated audio is always crappy, but it's been a while since I last built a pc and numbers wise the VIA looks better, but from what I've tested on some pcs integrated audio creates an undesired diss that dedicated audio cards didn't create.

Sadly, I no longer have my 7.1 set so I couldn't been able to test both by myself and with the generic headphones I'm stuck right now they seem to be pretty much the same.

Here are the specs, your opinions are welcome:

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/audio/codecs/vt1708/index.jsp
http://us.store.creative.com/Creative-Sound-Blaster-Audigy-SE-PCI/M/B000LP0R3E.htm
 
as long as you aren't using the crappiest of integrated audio options available you aren't likely to notice a huge difference.

i've used both in the past and when running on the same speaker set i hardly noticed a difference at all. i did like the software i had on my soundblaster card though compared with the integrated audio set i was using at the time.

so....keep the card in case you want it for the future but i'd roll with integrated for now.