Whats the point

I'm just wondering whats the point of a sound card. I'm not sure of the advantages of one. I've never bought one before, and never even looked into them. It may seem like a dumb question but i am not sure what they are about.

A sound card, is a basic way to listen to audio, but more enhanced then audio onboard. Many things on a sound card give you a better more clear sound, The audio chipset, the analog ports, opticals, coxials, and the maximum decibal rate, frequency, etc... You can get all round better sound by purchasing a good sound card...

The lower ends are are about the same but upper end cards chips do alot of the processing to take it off the CPU too

i use it for multiple outputs, though its not a 5 or 7.1 card.
i like my soundblaster

So they can run quicker on top of cleaning up the sound

I dont know about the sound card itself being quicker, it willl just use less CPU time because of it own onboard audio processor.

When your onboard is causing too many problems...you get a sound card cause your lazy and the card was free thats what i use mine for.

I have never noticed an increase in performance, and it's not something you should be looking for in a sound card, especially with today's dual/quad cores.

The main advantages are the newer technology it supports, such as the latest EAX, as well as the X-Fi's popular 24-bit crystallizer and CMSS 3D.