Kevin, onboard facilities are usually of lesser quality, although I don't think many people would notice the difference in sound.  

I personally wouldn't bother with a dedicated sound card, as I output my onboard noisemaker to an independent amplifier, which drives a couple of large speakers.  This is actually a fairly cheap way of obtaining good sound at low cost, particularly if you buy a used hi-fi system.  

Some cards, like your Audigy, put out 5 and 6 channel sound, so could be worthwhile if you want special effects like 'surround sound'.

However, the difference between onboard and dedicated graphics processing is quite marked, which isn't surprising when you consider the amount of hardware that modern gfx cards employ.

Some display cards (aka 'video', 'gfx', graphics) need their own power supply, better cooling than most CPU's, and have more built-in ram than a lot of computers.

It depends entirely on what you intend to do with your computer.  If you want to play the latest games, get a good quality separate card with at least 128mb of ram.  I recently trialled some top quality gfx cards in my own machine  and the results are little short of amazing, with speed, color and action on a par with DVD movies.

But if all you want to do is run Photoshop, simple games and colorful screensavers, the onboard gfx on a modern motherboard will be more than adequate, and the cost is much, much less.

Ian Porter
Computer Guys Inc.
Arrowtown
New Zealand
[log in to unmask]

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Kevin Weaver 
  To: [log in to unmask] 
  Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 2:45 AM
  Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Motherboards add another question


  Thanks for the help on mb's. I have found alot (almost too much) of useful information at the
  sites you all have mentioned.

  I have come up with another question after reading reviews, etc. Most of these mb's have onboard
  sound. I have a Soundblaster Audigy 2 that I bought not too long ago. Will the sound from these
  mb's match that of the Audigy or should I keep the sound card? What about the onboard graphics?
  Will I do better with a good video card?

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