Dedicated audio cards aren't essential anymore. Sound process¬ing is rarely taxing enough to slow down a modern system, so I didn't use any add-on card for my project. Besides, Vista's rewritten audio architecture takes even less advantage of sound cards than Windows XP did.

Unless you're building a recording studio or need speCialized audio ports that aren't built into the motherboard you bought, skip the sound card altogether and save yourself a chunk of change.