A buyer's guide to computer sound cards

Buying a sound card can be an easy or difficult task. Just like all other hardware, you have to find the right hardware that fits your need, and you also want to pick something that you can save money on, because it is not hard to buy the right thing if you have a ton of money. Read this buyer's guide to computer sound cards.

The on-board soundcard

Almost everyone's computer has a sound card already built into his or her computer. A sound card is anything that has a line out input, and a line out input- this is just another fancy way of saying a headphone or speaker plug. If you look on your motherboard, this is where the sound jack that comes with the computer is located. The reason you may want to get a new sound card is if you want to plug something bigger in or if you want to get surround sound which requires you to get a separate sound card with five inputs. You may also want to get something that produces the best sound rather than something low quality like your current PC sound card.

What do you need in a sound card?

The first thing that you need to do is ask yourself what the sound card is for. Are you going for extra slots, better quality, or need five different plugs? Once you have your answer, the next thing you want to do is to figure out a budget. How much are you willing to spend for your sound card? Now that you have the two most important information, you can now start shopping for a sound card. A sound card usually goes into the PCI slot on your motherboard, and most people have a PCI slot on their computer, so you do not need to worry about that. Newegg.com The best thing to do is go to a site such as Newegg.com and filter by exactly what you need. On newegg.com, you are going to be able to sort using their advanced settings, and you can read all the user reviews on the site as well. One of the most popular audio card maker is Creative, but there are plenty of other good ones there as well, so definitely search around for the right one for you.