[Aastii]

I'm in the process of getting my PC at least slightly sound worthy, less than 2 weeks into the year and already £200 spent upgrading yet again, with the cost still rising 

 
I have ~£35 left over for the moment after case, hard drive and headphones for a sound card. Now I know that if you go for an el cheapo card, you aren't looking at much, if any, better than on-board audio. So:
 
 
1. £35 sound cards, are they actually worth it? I have experienced, but never owned and used the very high quality (X-Fi Titanium and Asus Xonar Essence) cards for any long period, but was pretty impressed.
 
2. Which of these cards is the best, as in which will put out the best sound quality? I'm aware that Creative haven't had the best luck with drivers recently, however, I'm able to get work arounds and what not should any problems crop up:
 
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/creative-labs-sb-x-fi-xtreme-audio-pci-express-x1-(new-version)
 
(this link won't work proper, it won't allow the bracketed part at the end which IS part of the url)
 
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/creative-soundblaster-x-fi-extreme-audio-sound-card-24bit-71ch-oem
 
or
 
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-xonar-ds-71-pci-soundcard-192k-24bit-true-pc-hi-fi-audio-presentation
 
?
 
3. Would any of those give substantially better sound quality over my integrated sound?
 
Thanks

 

[classakg]

Yeah, buying a dedicated soundcard is better than onboard sound. 
 
I recommend the Asus xonar DS. 
Bang for the buck. 

 

[Aastii]

Thanks for the reply.
 
Would anyone else say of the 3 the Xonar is the best option?

 

[Roller]

The thing is that from all the Creatives there are, Xtreme Audio cards are very, VERY bad, they're rebrands of very old chips with only new software slapped on them. So between those 3, I'd have to agree Xonar is the best option.