For as long as I've had my current flight sim computer, it has had a Creative sound card.  I don't think I've ever run FSX without one.  I know nothing about sound cards, and I only got it in the first place because I assumed that by providing a dedicated piece of hardware to process sound, it would provide more performance overhead for programs such as FSX.

 

I've been having some unique problems with Multicrew Experience, and despite working very hard with the extremely attentive developers, we were unable to get to the root of it.  Just to eliminate all possible variables, I've reverted to using the Realtek Audio that is native on my motherboard.  In fact, I've even temporarily physically removed the Creative card altogether.

 

While I can't say for sure if my problem with Multicrew Exp is better (it concerns lagging of background threads, but the particulars are not relevent here), what I can say is that I don't notice any performance hit to FSX itself.  Is there any circumstance that I would?  If the Creative card provides no tangible benefit, then why should I even bother reinstalling it?

If you play games or watch movies in 5.1 or 7.1 surround, you should definitely re-install the sound card (assuming it supports it). If you are just worried about FSX, forget about it.

Some years back, sound cards were pretty much essential, as on-board sound was crummy.

 

These days however, on-board sound is excellent, thus dedicated sound cards are far from essential.

 

I haven't had a dedicated sound card for the last three build's.

I agree with Martin. The days when a Creative Labs soundblaster was a must have, and expensive too is long gone.

I don't have a problem with the quality of the sound being generated by the Realtek chip for FSX, and I don't listen to music on that PC, so my only reason to reinstall the SB would be if there were actually a performance benefit to FSX or other gaming applications.  So the consensus is that there is no performance optimization to be had at all with the Creative?

I think installing another Soundcard will give you more 2 fps ....

So the consensus is that there is no performance optimization to be had at all with the Creative?

 

Back in the old days, computers were "measured" by the millions of instructions per second (MIPS). Now, they measure by billions of instructions per seconds (BIPS), so the need to offload the sound rendering onto a separate piece of hardware doesn't really matter much anymore, IMHO.

I think installing another Soundcard will give you more 2 fps ....

2 fps? I don't think so. :blink:   Maybe 1.35 fps, but 2? Never! :rolleyes:

It's more for your personal enjoyment and sound quality.

I use an addon card myself -Asus Xonar with opensource drivers.

If I recall correctly, beginning with Windows Vista MS pushed all the audio processing that advanced sound cards did into a software driver "sound stack".  This really took the wind out of the CL sound cards sails (and sales as well), for unless an app/game could use OpenAL, all that on-card processing stuff was untouched by the sound driver.  I've finally jettisoned my CL X-Fi card, which I've had for 7 years now, for my latest build has no PCI slots.

Unless you are an audio engineer or use electrostatic headphones you will never benefit from the superior crosstalk, noise floor or less distortion a separate (discrete) sound card may bring to the table.

Don't agree, it depends on your sound card.

most of the built-in ones are utter crap.

Don't agree, it depends on your sound card.

most of the built-in ones are utter crap.

 

Sorry Jude, but that's nonsense.

 

Myself and many others, have been using on-bard sound now for many builds. The on-board sound from my new Asus board is excellent.

 

Unless you are some kind of audiophile perfectionist, a sound card is unnecessary.

When it comes to performance. No difference.

 

It's when it comes to sound quality you may notice a difference. Some people will, some people won't. I'm not gonna argue any case. Peoples own individual preference has to be the only important factor there. You hear what you hear. Another person might hear things in a different way.

Yes I agree, it's subjective. We aren't using sophisticated audio analysis equipment, so any perceived difference is not definitive.