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Looking to possibly get a PCIe sound card for my system.

 

Why would I want to do this? I want to have multiple audio streams into a mixer I can individually control. IE: game sounds through 1 interface, discord or web or (insert other stuff here) through a 2nd interface and then mix it in my mixer. 

 

Right now I use voicemeeter potato but the slight audio delay and desync with videos has been growing annoyingly frustrating to me of late. 

 

What I'm looking at is my motherboard audio along with like a creative sound blaster or similar PCIe card with each into my Yamaha XG10U.

 

Is this even possible? 

 

In my 30-45 minutes of googling around I can only find 10-15 yr old links and articles that likely are not very accurate these days and I will admit I know very little when it comes to audio. 

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I haven't researched your specifc use case and I'll fully admit ignorance, but internal sound cards mostly died out 10-15 years ago.
Onboard got better and if there's EMF concerns, USB based solutions usually work better anyway.

 


Would any of these links help?

 


 

3900x | 32GB RAM | RTX 2080

1.5TB Optane P4800X | 2TB Micron 1100 SSD | 16TB NAS w/ 10Gbe
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7 hours ago, cmndr said:

I haven't researched your specifc use case and I'll fully admit ignorance, but internal sound cards mostly died out 10-15 years ago.
Onboard got better and if there's EMF concerns, USB based solutions usually work better anyway.

 


Would any of these links help?

 


 

Sound cards aren't at all irrelevant. They are good and got better with time and I have no interference with my 4070 above it.

PM/DM me if you have any questions about audio.

My PC specs & audio gear

CPU > Intel core i7 14700K, GPU > RTX 4070 ProArt, RAM > Corsair Vengeance DDR5 2x16gb 5600mhz, Motherboard > Asus ROG Strix B760-F, Storage > 1TB M.2  & 500GB M.2 Kingston, Cooling > H150i Elite, PSU > MSI A850GL

🎧Current Audio Setup🎧

Beyerdynamic Tygr 300 R w/ Dekoni Velour, HE400se, X2HR

Soundblaster AE-9 Soundcard

AKG P420 Mic

Other peripherals

Monitor > Samsung Odyssey OLED G9

Keyboard > SteelSeries Apex Pro

Mouse > Steelseries Aerox 3 wireless

Mousepad > X-Gamer XG++ XXL mousepad

Read this post if you want a "gaming" headset ;)

 

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2 hours ago, Tigerleon said:

Sound cards aren't at all irrelevant. They are good and got better with time and I have no interference with my 4070 above it.

TLDR: PCIe sound cards are irrelevant for 99% of use cases. 

Onboard sound has gotten MUCH MUCH MUCH better in the last 30 years. 
In 1995 a sound card would be the difference between beeps and something that vaguely sounds like music. In 2000 onboard got you music that wasn't great. In 2003 the right onboard was "good enough" for most people. 

There used to be SOME value in games because sound cards could take load off of the CPU, but microsoft moved that to the CPU/software with Windows Vista in large part because hardware acceleration caused a good chunk of crashes. 

There's SOME value in having a sound card. It's better. Not by much though. And if you're getting something it definitely makes sense to just NOT have it in a case with a bunch of other gear, it doesn't cost anymore. DACs are now SOOO cheap that a $10 USB-C DAC from apple isn't too far off from the top of the line sound cards from 25 years ago. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-apple-vs-google-usb-c-headphone-adapters.5541/

 

---


I'm not saying that there's no point to having good audio processing equipment. I am literally using a $3000 AVR for my home theater set up (basically a sound card + amplifier on steroids) to drive 16 different speakers and send signal to a few tactile transducers. My claim is that the 

$50-200 PCIe sound cards of years past don't make sense anymore. 
I have a Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD siting in a box. I can't use it with any laptops. It has a weird audio pause issue for a few seconds whenever windows resumes from standby. It's more annoying to use than onboard audio and any benefits are not discernable, even with high end speakers that are well positioned and tweaked with a calibrated measurement microphone. 

3900x | 32GB RAM | RTX 2080

1.5TB Optane P4800X | 2TB Micron 1100 SSD | 16TB NAS w/ 10Gbe
QN90A | Polk R200, ELAC OW4.2, PB12-NSD, SB1000, HD800
 

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29 minutes ago, cmndr said:

Onboard sound has gotten MUCH MUCH MUCH better in the last 30 years. 

Does not matter. I'm not basing that on 30 years ago. I have compared my ALC1220 and the ALC 4080; both are inferior to my soundcard. I know soundcards doesn't have any advantage except for audio latency and less space on the desk. That's about it.

 

32 minutes ago, cmndr said:

$50-200 PCIe sound cards of years past don't make sense anymore. 
I have a Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD siting in a box. I can't use it with any laptops. It has a weird audio pause issue for a few seconds whenever windows resumes from standby. It's more annoying to use than onboard audio and any benefits are not discernable, even with high end speakers that are well positioned and tweaked with a calibrated measurement microphone. 

I agree that it doesn't make sense but heavily depends on what you want. That soundcard is from 2010 so it's highly understandable it has issues lol. Not even an argument at this point. But my Sound Blaster AE-9 has all I want for convenience's sake and overall looks on my desk. It's got XLR, a 3.5mm mic, 3.5/6.3mm headphones out . All that you want for a speaker setup in the back of the card and decent software.

 

The thing is. You don't need a soundcard or a DAC/amp. But if you have higher-end speakers and or harder-to-drive headphones you pretty much need it to get decent volume and detail out of them.

PM/DM me if you have any questions about audio.

My PC specs & audio gear

CPU > Intel core i7 14700K, GPU > RTX 4070 ProArt, RAM > Corsair Vengeance DDR5 2x16gb 5600mhz, Motherboard > Asus ROG Strix B760-F, Storage > 1TB M.2  & 500GB M.2 Kingston, Cooling > H150i Elite, PSU > MSI A850GL

🎧Current Audio Setup🎧

Beyerdynamic Tygr 300 R w/ Dekoni Velour, HE400se, X2HR

Soundblaster AE-9 Soundcard

AKG P420 Mic

Other peripherals

Monitor > Samsung Odyssey OLED G9

Keyboard > SteelSeries Apex Pro

Mouse > Steelseries Aerox 3 wireless

Mousepad > X-Gamer XG++ XXL mousepad

Read this post if you want a "gaming" headset ;)

 

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38 minutes ago, cmndr said:

DACs are now SOOO cheap that a $10 USB-C DAC from apple isn't too far off from the top of the line sound cards from 25 years ago. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-apple-vs-google-usb-c-headphone-adapters.5541/

Bro, stop living in the past. Also, an Apple USB-C dongle can't properly drive some headphones.

PM/DM me if you have any questions about audio.

My PC specs & audio gear

CPU > Intel core i7 14700K, GPU > RTX 4070 ProArt, RAM > Corsair Vengeance DDR5 2x16gb 5600mhz, Motherboard > Asus ROG Strix B760-F, Storage > 1TB M.2  & 500GB M.2 Kingston, Cooling > H150i Elite, PSU > MSI A850GL

🎧Current Audio Setup🎧

Beyerdynamic Tygr 300 R w/ Dekoni Velour, HE400se, X2HR

Soundblaster AE-9 Soundcard

AKG P420 Mic

Other peripherals

Monitor > Samsung Odyssey OLED G9

Keyboard > SteelSeries Apex Pro

Mouse > Steelseries Aerox 3 wireless

Mousepad > X-Gamer XG++ XXL mousepad

Read this post if you want a "gaming" headset ;)

 

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1 hour ago, Tigerleon said:

Does not matter. I'm not basing that on 30 years ago. I have compared my ALC1220 and the ALC 4080; both are inferior to my soundcard. I know soundcards doesn't have any advantage except for audio latency and less space on the desk. That's about it.

I got over using that sound card in 2016. I bought it in 2013. 
 

1 hour ago, Tigerleon said:

The thing is. You don't need a soundcard or a DAC/amp. But if you have higher-end speakers and or harder-to-drive headphones you pretty much need it to get decent volume and detail out of them.

I have an amp for my hard to drive headphones. At iso-cost there's still not GREAT reasons to get a legacy sound card. 

 

1 hour ago, Tigerleon said:

Bro, stop living in the past. Also, an Apple USB-C dongle can't properly drive some headphones.

I was mentioning it from a DAC perspective. 
Also my general argument has been that legacy PCI/PCIe sound cards have been outdated for ages now, so it's not quite living in the past. 

3900x | 32GB RAM | RTX 2080

1.5TB Optane P4800X | 2TB Micron 1100 SSD | 16TB NAS w/ 10Gbe
QN90A | Polk R200, ELAC OW4.2, PB12-NSD, SB1000, HD800
 

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I use a Sound Blaster Z. Technically EOL now but the drivers run fine on Win 11, cards are cheap used or NOS and sound great with zero latency. The SE version of the card is still available for purchase new. There ARE newer Sound Blaster cards like the AE7 or AE9 but the improvement over the Z likely won't be much for your use case

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Ended up buying a BlasterX AE5 plus card to test and toy with and see if I can get it to work for my use case. 

Community Standards | Fan Control Software

Please make sure to Quote me or @ me to see your reply!

Just because I am a Moderator does not mean I am always right. Please fact check me and verify my answer. 

 

"Black Out"

Ryzen 9 5900x | Full Custom Water Loop | Asus Crosshair VIII Hero (Wi-Fi) | RTX 3090 Founders | Ballistix 32gb 16-18-18-36 3600mhz 

1tb Samsung 970 Evo NVMe | 4tb WD SN850x NVMe | Fractal Design Meshify S2 | Corsair HX1200 PSU

 

Dedicated Streaming Rig

 Ryzen 7 3700x | Asus B450-F Strix | 32gb Gskill Flare X 3200mhz | Corsair RM550x PSU | MSI Ventus 3060 12gb | 250gb 860 Evo m.2

Phanteks P300A |  Elgato HD60 Pro | Avermedia Live Gamer Duo | Avermedia 4k GC573 Capture Card

 

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On 1/21/2025 at 9:28 PM, Skiiwee29 said:

Ended up buying a BlasterX AE5 plus card to test and toy with and see if I can get it to work for my use case. 

Nice

PM/DM me if you have any questions about audio.

My PC specs & audio gear

CPU > Intel core i7 14700K, GPU > RTX 4070 ProArt, RAM > Corsair Vengeance DDR5 2x16gb 5600mhz, Motherboard > Asus ROG Strix B760-F, Storage > 1TB M.2  & 500GB M.2 Kingston, Cooling > H150i Elite, PSU > MSI A850GL

🎧Current Audio Setup🎧

Beyerdynamic Tygr 300 R w/ Dekoni Velour, HE400se, X2HR

Soundblaster AE-9 Soundcard

AKG P420 Mic

Other peripherals

Monitor > Samsung Odyssey OLED G9

Keyboard > SteelSeries Apex Pro

Mouse > Steelseries Aerox 3 wireless

Mousepad > X-Gamer XG++ XXL mousepad

Read this post if you want a "gaming" headset ;)

 

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