Realtek ALC 883 ICH9 onboard audio or Audigy 2 sound card

Been out of the computer scene for some time.
What would be better to use today?
Realtek ALC 883 ICH9 onboard audio, or an Audigy 2 sound card.
I have a Asus P5K Pro motherboard.
I listen with two speakers through an amp and/or headphones.
Should I go onboard or shove in the old sound card?
Just in case you suggest upgrading, I have run out of money and have to make do with the above.

Mirofire, I'm a bit out dated myself, but I still believe that on board sounds eats more resources than a sound card. The problem is that with the power of multi-core CPUs being what they are, the few extra resources are of little importance. If you are a gamer the EAX on the Audigy may give you improved sound over on board, but I don't think you will find huge differences either way. I should add that Creative has never done real well with their drivers, and for many folks they have been an irritating issue. That said, I still use my Audigy 2, but I don't think I'd bother to put it in a new system.

Cheers!

R7

Use the Audigy 2 its still superior to the onboard audio in sound quality, and it'll reduce your CPU load in games. its a win win

Theocnoob said:

Use the Audigy 2 its still superior to the onboard audio in sound quality, and it'll reduce your CPU load in games. its a win win

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I went from onboard (from my P5K Premium) to an Audigy 4...no difference. I then switched back to onboard sound...no difference. I don't have horrible speakers (not the best either), but there was no noticeable difference at all.

Like rseven said, we have multi-core cpu's that leave at least 1 core sitting idle while we game. Why not save money, space and power by just letting the processor handle it?

I just went from an X-fi to my onboard and there's a difference for sure. The main thing is feature support. HL1 for example, my X-Fi (and 2 ZS before it) automatically maps the 2 channel sound to 7.1. The onboard only plays through the front left and right no matter what I do. The EAX sounds much better as well and if you're going to do any kinda of recording at all, the audigy will blow onboard away.

Dragon Speaking 9 reads 18 for quality on the input through my condenser mic, and my X-Fi rated 25.