Sound cards also support CD-ROM drives. In other words, you can connect your CD-ROM drive directly up to your sound card. Most sound cards support one type of interface, either the IDE or SCSI. But not all CD-ROM drives work with all sound cards.

The sound card generally has three jacks at the back. Two jacks are for input: one for a microphone, the second is for any other type of audio source, including stereo, radio, or external CD-ROM player. This jack is called the audio input line, The third connects speakers, headphones or your stereo and is used to play back sound.

The sound card usually has a MIDI port. This port allows you to connect electronic musical instruments to your PC such as a keyboard. This port can also double as a game port. 3D sound is a type of surround sound used by some computer games which certain sound cards support.

Sound cards usually do not come complete with all the accessories. Like, buying a car, you have to pay extra to get the options you want. You will have to buy speakers to hear the sound. Or you can buy cables and just hook it up to your stereo. If you want to record sound, you will have to buy a microphone.