Do I need a sound card for gaming?

[al Roumi]

This article on Tom's hardware seems to suggets that unless I'm serious about "music" on my PC, the benefits of a PCI sound card over on-board sound are minimal. It is however from 2001 so I'm guessing things have moved on a bit since then.

What are the views of Orgahs on Sound cards vs onboard?

My current mobbo, an ASUS P5KC, has "8 channel audio" provided by a "Realtek ALC 883 8 -Channel High-Definition Audio CODEC" chipset.

I play a fair few FPS' and use headphones rather than a speaker set.

Would it be worth me getting a seperate PCI card? Am I likely to notice any difference?

[Sevis]

I doubt you'll hear any difference at all, especially in headphones. Most motherboards these days allow six audio input/outputs, which is plenty. Quality-wise... If it's not bad right now, it probably won't be better.

[pevergreen]

Get good headphones and IMO you'll be fine.

I have logitech G35. AWESOME headphones.

[Tellos Athenaios]

You'll hear a difference if you've got dedicated speakers to go with it. Headphones will not exactly help to bring out the best of a sound card.

But whether or not that difference is worth shelling out additional money to you is... subjective. It's not unlike getting an expensive graphics card or processor.