A8N-SLI Sound...

[Dragoncarer]

OK, so I just saw another post which prompted me to get around to asking
this:

Is it worth investing in a seperate sound card, or is the onboard sound ok?

The system I'm planning on getting is:

A8N-SLI
A'64 3700+ (s939)
3x 512MB DDR400 Kingston
MSI 6800GT 256MB

I have a 5.1 Panasonic home theatre system that I'll eventually hook up to
my PC - so obviously we're talking digital-optical-out here.

Many thanks.

 

[Nocturnal]

Depending on what you plan to do. If you're an "audiophile" then I'd
suggest getting an Audigy or something along those lines. If you're just
looking to do a little gaming here and there, listen to mp3s, I see no
reason to spend extra money on a PCI sound card. Myself, I have the A8N-SLI
Deluxe and I'm more than content with the sound I receive.

 

[Daniel Mandic]

see no reason to spend extra money on a PCI sound card. Myself, I
have the A8N-SLI Deluxe and I'm more than content with the sound I
receive.

Yes, the onboard solutions are very well. I am even satisfied with the
onboard VIA VT82C686B. The best IMO chipset from VIA.
The only alternative would be a VT880 with dual channel ram - Nice
Chipset. Also with extended onboard sound, off course. The drivers from
VIAarena are very well, too. Called Vinyl, or so.



Best Regards,

Daniel Mandic

 

[Dragoncarer]

OK, thanks. Yeah I might just stick with onboard sound.

 

[Stephan Grossklass]

Depending on what you plan to do. If you're an "audiophile" then I'd
suggest getting an Audigy or something along those lines.

An audiophile would get an AV-710, Revo 5.1, Prodigy 7.1LT or 0404 (or
even a Juli@, Audiophile 192 or 1212m), but certainly not an Audigy
card...

Stephan

 

[milleron]

OK, thanks. Yeah I might just stick with onboard sound.

That's the only logical thing to do. When your rig's built, you'll
already own the Realtek unit. Use it. If you don't like it, THEN
spend the money on a PCI card.
I listen to a lot of music (Rhapsody and CDs), but I'm not a true
audiophile. I've never considered for a second buying an add-in card
because the A8N-SLI Premium's onboard sound is more than adequate for
me.


Ron

 

[John Doe]

I recently built a similar system (same mainboard & cpu). It replaced an
older Soundstorm equipped board. While I agree onboard sound is "adequate"
for mp3's, etc., my biggest complaint was gaming. Many stuttering problems,
lowered frame rates, and just plain missing sounds in BF42. Ended up using
an Audigy 2 and am MUCH happier now. Mp3's sound better too!

 

[Nocturnal]

I apologize and as you can see, I lack knowledge of what a true audiophile
would be interested in.

 

[Dragoncarer]

That's the only logical thing to do. When your rig's built, you'll
already own the Realtek unit. Use it. If you don't like it, THEN
spend the money on a PCI card.
I listen to a lot of music (Rhapsody and CDs), but I'm not a true
audiophile. I've never considered for a second buying an add-in card
because the A8N-SLI Premium's onboard sound is more than adequate for
me.

The good thing too: it has an existing optical out. The Audigy (2) doesn't.
From what I can tell.

 

[Dragoncarer]

I recently built a similar system (same mainboard & cpu). It replaced an
older Soundstorm equipped board. While I agree onboard sound is "adequate"
for mp3's, etc., my biggest complaint was gaming. Many stuttering problems,
lowered frame rates, and just plain missing sounds in BF42. Ended up using
an Audigy 2 and am MUCH happier now. Mp3's sound better too!

Hmmmm....

 

[Daniel Mandic]

An audiophile would get an AV-710, Revo 5.1, Prodigy 7.1LT or 0404 (or
even a Juli@, Audiophile 192 or 1212m), but certainly not an Audigy
card...

Stephan

I would suggest a old Turtle Beach ISA Card, MIDI off course.
Audiophile are the instruments played not the computer. MIDI is not
hear. You can connect it to instrument and let them play machine like.
Nice.
Not so good as analog sequencers, but as I said it depends to the
hardware and the OS, off course. And as we are here in a IBM-PC
Compatible Newsgroup I would say DOS or Windows 3.11.
Atari is better, but that´s another story.



Best Regards,

Daniel Mandic

 

[Jason]

If you plan on playing any games, I would suggest a separate sound card(at
least a Audigy 2 or equivilent). The onboard sound still runs off the cpu,
usually 5-15%. When I first bought my board, I tried using the onboard
sound(all I had at the time was an older sb live). Though adequate for most
situations, I found that while gaming, especially while play BF2, the
onboard sound wasn't filtering any sounds out(I was hearing every noise on
the battlefield, very annoying). I went out and got a Audigy 2 and now only
hear things in my general area. Plus it got rid of the stuttering in both
BF2 and GTA:SA.

In the end it all depends on what your using the system for. Onboard
solutions have gotten better, but they are still no match for a decent
separate card.

 

[Dragoncarer]

If you plan on playing any games, I would suggest a separate sound card(at
least a Audigy 2 or equivilent). The onboard sound still runs off the cpu,
usually 5-15%. When I first bought my board, I tried using the onboard
sound(all I had at the time was an older sb live). Though adequate for most
situations, I found that while gaming, especially while play BF2, the
onboard sound wasn't filtering any sounds out(I was hearing every noise on
the battlefield, very annoying). I went out and got a Audigy 2 and now only
hear things in my general area. Plus it got rid of the stuttering in both
BF2 and GTA:SA.

In the end it all depends on what your using the system for. Onboard
solutions have gotten better, but they are still no match for a decent
separate card.

Hmmm....well yes, this rig is all about games, games, games, games!
BUT....my old rig used the same onboard sound (AC'97), and seemed to sound
fine. That's what I'm not sure of: I don't want to go out and slap down
AUD80 for a sound card, only to find it doesn't make much of a difference.

The other thing is I want to eventually hook it up to my Panasonic
receiver - via the digital optical out. An audigy doesn't come with that,
you have to buy a seperate kit. That worries me. Because it's kinda
annoying.

I think I'll wait and play a few new games (like HL2 and the others due out
soon - Myst 5, Dreamfall et al) (and I have to wait for my 6800GT first
too!), and see how I feel about the sound. I've never experienced
stuttering, but....yeah.

Thanks.

 

[Jason]

The stuttering comes into play during CPU and memory intensive tasks(BF2 the
last time I ran it sucked up 800 megs out 1 gig) and the onboard audio was
taking priority over the framerate. The game would every now and then just
pause, but the audio would still be going. As this was happening during
onliine play, mostly during artillery attacks, I just got fed up with it and
plopped down the 50USD for the Audigy 2 value. Still its much nicer than
the SB Live I used for years, doesnt have the issues that one had.