Reading peoples profile pages I notice a lot of people seem to have sound cards.

What are peoples opinions on these? is it worth the extra money? does it make a difference? do you need a high end speaker set up to have any real impact? I don't think I've ever used one since the days of the "sound-blaster pro" on my 386....

EDIT: I just realised my answer to this would be " well that depends on your MB" so to placate the techno boffins please see attached for the most detailed hardware report I know how to generate.

Well, I use Sound Blaster X-Fi, so I'd say if you plan on playing games that use EAX (Environmental Audio eXtentions), it's a good idea to upgrade (or switch over) to whatever can utilize that technology (currently only Sound Blaster, as EAX is Creative's own tech). It's absolutely necessary to use Sound Blaster as it's the ONLY hardware that can properly execute OpenAL (used by games as Doom 3, Quake 4, any game made by id, etc.)

I know most people say it doesn't really matter, or it depends on the MB, or it's all up to you, but the fact is that Sound Blaster really does make a difference in how you hear your games, movies, music, etc., even if it is only minute.

It does make a difference, sure, but not enough difference over most on-board sound cards. I mean, so long as you have a good pair of speakers (or headphones are even better), and they're positioned right (same distance and direction from where you sit at your PC) then stereo is absolutely fine, especially if the software doing the sound does it well. It can easily make sounds seem like they're coming from behind or in front of you or wherever.

So, while a proper sound card is an improvement, it's not really a good enough improvement to warrant the often hefty price tag, especially when you consider the cost of a set of speakers/headphones good enough for you to even notice the difference.

Thanks for the replies, I'll keep my wallet shut for a while yet then.