Soundcard: do I need it?

[Odovacar]

Hi guys!

I have some minor issues with my sound card playing Mass Effect. Also I think these integrated sound cards aren't really great.
I thought of buying a Sound Blaster compatible, cheap sound card which supports even 5.1 speakers systems.
Like "SpeedDragon cmedia6")

Now I 'd like to ask you:
-is this better than my built-in Realtek (presumably AC-97)?
-does this help in gaming? I mean does a separate sound card help the system speed?
-would I be able to hear the difference? (or just with a better speaker sstem? now i have just the usual 2.0 speaker system)

thanks
Odo

[Spiff]

In theory a soundcard can lower the load on the CPU from an integrated chip, giving some performance increase. I never noticed any particular quality increase, but then it would depend as much on your speaker setup as the sound processor i suppose.

Im not sure if there are many truely convincing arguments in favour of getting one however, unless you want to get the full audio package including surround sound speakers and such.

[TemplarLord]

Mass Effect uses the CPU to the top, so as Spiff said, it might give you a few frames, and take the load off the CPU for better audio, but it won't be significant.