ATM I am running onboard sound, but I have read things that say if you get a soundcard, the quality of music is improved '10 fold' on my computer.
I am running the Logitech Z3 Speakers.

I have found 3 soundcards that I like but am open to opinion.

1. SOUNDBLASTER X-Fi XTREME MUSIC
2. SOUNDBLASTER X-Fi PLATINUM
3.Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty

Thanks for any help you can give

You may also get any emu10k1-soundcard, namely any Soundblaster 5.1, f.e. "5.1 Live" or whatever. If you don't have a studio or too much money, the rest is rather senseless.

Vain

soundcard buyers have always amazed me. They spend $150 on a card they put in their pc. I have a RealTek Soundcard in my laptop, it delivers music and nice engine noise to my ears, just as perfect as a card to a hundred dollars would.

"naaa, cause the expensive soundcard has a note771 with a calibtruetone928, add that with the new tonemagnifierclass1 9231"

Riight!! i cant hear any difference...

Depends... On a very expensive (Sennheiser surround-system, 4-digit price) sound system you might be able to hear a difference. But surely not on a PC-speaker-system.

Vain

So basicly stick with the onboard sound till I get 5.1/7.1? Or just stick with onboard because a soundcard does not make that much diffrence?

I was one of those who didn't think that a good soundcard can make that much of an difference. But I was completely wrong, bought myself a X-Fi Music, and I was shocked how different some songs sounded You'll hear detail you didn't know that they were there.

Of course, it only makes sense, if you good a good sound system. Cheap PC speakers sound never good. Not even with the best soundcard.

I for myself have a Yamaha CR-820 amplifier (old, really old, I think it's built in the late 70s, but good in specs and still running fine) and Alesis Monitor One Mk2 (passive) which are in my opinion the best speakers you can buy for 150€ (~100 British Pound, ~180 $)

You'll see, not really a high end system, but even on this combination you notice a big difference in sound quality.

For a typical 5.1 system (one subwoofer, rest high-frequency satelites) a emu10k1-card like the "Soundblaster 5.1 whatever"-series is best bang-for-buck. Anything beyond that will generate sound effects the satelites won't be able to do.
Yes, some onboard-soundchips are known to produce very bad effects. See your motherboard's manual what soundchip it has. Propably nothing well known (propably just a random AC '97 chip). Then you should consider said emu10k1-cards. That will give you better music and less cpu-utilization.

ATHome:
Difference from what-to-what? emu10k1 to X-Fi? Generic no-brand AC'97 to X-Fi?
And yes, anything with more than a subwoofer and some high-frequency-satelites needs a good sound-source.

Vain

Quote from Vain :

ATHome:
Difference from what-to-what? emu10k1 to X-Fi? Generic no-brand AC'97 to X-Fi?
And yes, anything with more than a subwoofer and some high-frequency-satelites needs a good sound-source.
Vain

Difference from Soundstorm 7.1 to X-Fi. But I was told by a mate that you can even notice some slight differences with an high end audio system compared to the Audigy2

This X-Fi discussion is propably getting too deep, so I'll try to phrase my opinion short.
Before recommending any high-value-cards I'd suggest anyone interested to read reviews of the cards. TomsHardwareguide did a rather good coverage of the X-Fi-series including blind listening-tests of unaffiliated, if I remember correctly.
And at last: Never buy any expensive audio-equipment you didn't hear. Everyone has his own definition of good, bad, crap, worth-the-money etc.

Now read the last two sentences again, they'll save you a lot of money.

Vain

Toms Hardwareguide :something

A good soundcard will also make a difference in FPS in games, though in case of LFS the difference isn't that big (About 6% for me between an integrated SoundMAX chip and an Audigy 2 ZS). Bad news is that Creative cards seem to be the only ones that have true hardware acceleration, and creative sucks. I wouldn't have wanted to buy this Creative crap myself but there was no other choice.

Quote from Kegetys :

A good soundcard will also make a difference in FPS in games, though in case of LFS the difference isn't that big (About 6% for me between an integrated SoundMAX chip and an Audigy 2 ZS). Bad news is that Creative cards seem to be the only ones that have true hardware acceleration, and creative sucks. I wouldn't have wanted to buy this Creative crap myself but there was no other choice.

I agree with the above. I've got an Audigy ZS as well and the drivers are mince! Registry entries all over the shop.

Having said that, any seperate card will give improvements over on-board sound, even if it's only in CPU clock cycles. I'm currently thinking of getting rid of the Creative drivers and using the open-source kx drivers but that can be a minefield. Everything works alright for now so I'll probably wait 'til something breaks first.

BTW, for what it's worth, the sound on LFS is by far the programs' worst feature, IMHO.

Good luck.

i got an AC`97 chip in mine! :P But a Logitech Z3 2.1 sound system. Sounds brilliant!

gets my music played, and lfs's horrible engine noises from there, to my ear.

I guess it depends where you want to spent your bucks..