When I was …, well just a little younger than I am today, I liked to rebuild and upgrade my desktop PC as far as I possibly could until eventually it no longer made any sense to do so. One of my desktops bought in 1995 lasted for about 10 years as a result of upgrades. During the early years it was a very capable games machine with a very good graphics card (for the time), and a superb sound card. During the later years it was my Linux desktop by which time all the components were very well supported in terms of drivers, and was used by my young children to play basic games.

These days there seems to be much less of a reason to upgrade, especially with the general swing towards using laptops. In the “good old” days graphics cards and sound cards where nearly always provided as separate components while today these are usually provided as an “on-board” capability of the mother board.

Sound Cards

For most people the on-board audio provided by the motherboard will be fine, but if you are a big gamer, someone who uses their PC to watch a lot of DVD’s or wants to have the best music experience then upgrading to a decent sound card is going to make all the difference. One of the most recommended cards is the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi series. These cards are provided in various modes, for gamers, music lovers etc., are highly regarded and come at a reasonable price. Most people will be amazed at the difference the sound card will make, with either headphones or speakers.

Do you upgraded your sound card? Did it make a difference?