Onboard Sound

[ruturaj3]

I am going to buy Asus M2NPV-VM and Altec ATP3.
It is having onboard sound as SOUNDMAX , is it sufficient or good enough for my speakers.

http://in.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=...38&modelmenu=1

Also i am confused between HDD from WD and Segate.
I want a 250 GB HDD.

i have 2 choices 1.ST3250410AS , 2.WD2500JS

please tell me which is best ?

[xtremedia]

The decision is quite subjective,
1)first decide wats ur typical use.... music?movies?
2)do you play audio heavy games which are EAX enabled?
3)do you frequently watch DVDs with multi-channel surround sound?

you have a 2.1 speaker set,
-> if your main use is listening to MP3s onboard shuld be more than sufficient especially if u cannot spot the difference between Onboard sound & dedicated sound card sound

-> if u play games and if u r plannin to UPGRADE ur speaker set to a GOOD 5.1/6.1/7.1 SET and want all the surround effects to the fullest, then a creative card is the way to go as only creative cards support EAX ver higher than 2.0(3/4/5 - with X-fi)
(ur onboard SOUNDMAX supports only upto 2.0)

-> if u intend to watch DVDs with a 5.1/6.1/7.1 speaker set(upgrade) the surround sound experience would be much better with a dedicated sound card.

So in a nutshell it all depends on ur use and how much difference u actually notice.

P.S: i have a high end card because i have such a use and i notice the difference between onboard and dedicated