Back in the DOS days, having a name-brand soundcard was a big deal if you wanted to be able to actually use it in a game. (Even the '100% soundblaster compatible' cards often weren't, and wouldn't work with certain games)
all of that went out the window once Windows abstracted the sound card from the application/games, and took care of things for you.
The last soundcard I bought was another cheap no-name, and the only reason I even did that was because I wanted the 6 audio ports (my onboard sound only had three ports, which meant that I couldn't use surround sound output and leave my microphone plugged in at the same time)
After that, I just made sure that whatever motherboard I bought had the 6-output onboard sound capability, and that's it.
all of that went out the window once Windows abstracted the sound card from the application/games, and took care of things for you.
The last soundcard I bought was another cheap no-name, and the only reason I even did that was because I wanted the 6 audio ports (my onboard sound only had three ports, which meant that I couldn't use surround sound output and leave my microphone plugged in at the same time)
After that, I just made sure that whatever motherboard I bought had the 6-output onboard sound capability, and that's it.