Will a sound card improve my frame rates for games much?

[Kismet 0]

I'm still working my way through finally having a decent computer for games. My previous computers have all had basic on board sound. Using google I haven't gotten a clear answer on this.

 

How much (roughly) would putting a dedicated sound card into my pc over the current on board configuration(Realtek 97') improve frame rates? I'm not in dire need, but thinking about getting one if it helps.

[MrRant 0]

Not much.

[Kismet 0]

Good enough, thanks.

[AntiLeaf33 0]

It would be minimal to no change in frame rate. A new video card can have dramatic changes, but not a sound card

[ZGangsta 0]

It would be minimal to no change in frame rate. A new video card can have dramatic changes, but not a sound card

 

A new video card will only improve the frame rate if the CPU or amount of RAM or something else isn't the bottleneck there.

 

I can never think of a situation where spending money on a sound card is worth it to improve frame rates though. That money can be better put to a ton of other things.

[Kismet 0]

I'm really not lacking in anything. Most of it is good enough. AMD Dual-core 6000, GTS 8800(640bit),2GB Dual Channel DDR2 800 RAM. Mostly it was looking around, and there were some mentions of it slightly improving/steadying frame rates in a game or two I play. I figured I might grab one when I get a new monitor.

[AntiLeaf33 0]

I said a video card CAN improve game performance, I didn't say it always will. Like you said, their are a few different factors to see if it will make an impact

[MrRant 0]

I'm really not lacking in anything. Most of it is good enough. AMD Dual-core 6000, GTS 8800(640bit),2GB Dual Channel DDR2 800 RAM. Mostly it was looking around, and there were some mentions of it slightly improving/steadying frame rates in a game or two I play. I figured I might grab one when I get a new monitor.

 

It "might" if you are using onboard sound as it's less for the processor to do. And then it would be minimal I imagine.

[Kismet 0]

All right then, thanks again everyone.