My best friend gave me his sound blaster after upgrading to the Pro. Later I upgraded to a Gravis Ultrasound. Offloading sound processing to the sound card (1MB) improved gaming performance significantly.

I still use an external Creative sound card so I can switch my speakers over USB between my work laptop and personal desktop!

The first upgrade I ever made to a PC was having to get a sound card to run Morrowind.

I still like Xonar cards, like the Xonar DG (though it isn't compatible with my new PC). I always liked their interface more than the competitors, and it puts out excellent volume on my Logitech headset that is otherwise way too quiet for me. Never been a big fan of the simulated 3D environments on any of these cards, though. The only game it ever sounded decent in was No Man's Sky, but even that still had a distant tinny sound to it.

I think most people just use external amplifiers these days, but I'm still using a third-party sound card.

They're still around and they still make cards. The onboard audio in my PC broke, so I bought an Audigy FX and it's served me ever since.

Pro Audio Spectrum 16 gang represent.

The GUS for the win!

Soundblaster? Pfff, Covox users club assemble!