Sound card required

[Sabre]

OK so I'm one of those ancients who was around when the first sound blaster cards came out and was blown away by the difference. But now it seems sound cards are no longer required??

I'm still on XP and am planning on building a new rig with Win7 when it comes out so do I or don't I get a sound card?? If I don't get the sound card would you recommend using on-board sound or USB connectors to headphone/speakers?, I'm ideally looking for 5.1 sound with some EAX2 support

 

[mercurial]

Most motherboards that I have encountered have the Realtek onboard sound, which is quite fine, but I had to purchase a sound card due to some issue with my onboard one. I got the Sound Blaster Audigy Value and I'm very happy with it. It's affordable and offers great performance. It costs around R450.