Creative audigy problems?

[Baxdaddy]

My friend has told me that if I am going to get into some gaming (which is the case) that I MUST get a sound card and not use the on board AC97. Doing a little research, I have seen some posts where the audigy system causes game slowdon. Just wondering if this was true. I am contemplating the purchase of either a Hercules Fortissimo III or an Audigy LS. Thought I would ask the 'sperts on here what the bottom line is on all this. Thoughts/ advice? TIA

[ArcticFox]

Sometimes onboard audio will provide an itty-bitty performance increase over an Audigy, but it depends. Stay away from cards without a dedicated hardware DSP, those will indeed sap your framerate more than necessary. Get an Audigy/Audigy2, and don't look back.

P.S. I use an Audigy over my onboard nForce2 audio, no problems.