Audio card or on-board?

Onboard Soundcard or Seperate PCI Card?

  • Onboard soundcard

    Votes: 4 36.4%
  • Seperate soundcard

    Votes: 4 36.4%
  • No preference

    Votes: 3 27.3%

  • Total voters
    11
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Does anyone know the diffrence between on-board sound cards and PCI sound cards (especially the Creative Audigy 2 ZS) in terms of the amount of extra stress they put on the CPU?

Am I right in saying that a seperate PCI card uses less processing power and is therefore better when wanting to get the best out of games?

I know it will depend to some extent on the quality of the cards and motherboards in question, but as a general rule, what do people prefer/use?

I've posted a poll on this...but I'm more interested in people's comments than the vote:D
 
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Ian

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I've got a Creative Audigy 2 ZS at the moment... but to be honest, I don't mind if I use an onboard soundcard nowadays. They used to be dire and consume lots of CPU power, but I've used the onboard card on a few PCs and I don't notice much difference at all.

A PCI card will lessen the strain on the CPU, but with a 3Ghz+ CPU common it shouldn't make much difference.

If you've got good speakers, or want an extra 2% FPS then a PCI soundcard will probably be worth it. For 90%, an onboard soundcard should be sufficient IMO :)
 

Reefsmoka

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I dont know of an onboard soundcard that can compare to an audigy 2 zs for gaming. When playing the newer games which take advantages of the EAX you really do notice the difference. Games like Doom 3, Far Cry and Theif 3 do alot of justice to good soundcards, crisp, crystal, perfect sounds ;).
 

Alf

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Actually Reef.... Doom3 and HL2 both use the CPU to produce all the sounds in thier games, as the develpoers thought that current generation soundcards were incapable of producing the sounds they wanted. :)
 
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Up until a few months ago, Asus boards and some other nForce2 chipsets used to have the excellent 'Soundstorm' onboard card. According to various reviews it almost matched the Audigy 2 for in-game quality and performance. Onboard sound seems to have declined a little in nForce 3 and 4 boards, so i've actually started considering an Audigy...even though I really prefer to keep as many PCI slots as possible empty.

If, as ian says, the perfomance gain is minimal, then I may well keep my £70 and spend it on another hard disk
 

Quadophile

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I have the Audigy as well which I compared to the 6 channel onboard sound on my mobo, there was a big difference in sound quality. I use a deicated amp (NAD) and speakers (Mission), Monster Interconnect and speaker cables (£500 in all by todays standard just for 2 channel audio and that too w/out a subwoofer) with my rig so naturally it has better resolving power, hence, it can show the weakness in the sound quality easily.

I do not use it for gaming so I cannot say anything about the performance diff as far as the computer is concerned. Others on this thread have given their opinion about that and I respect their judgement.

For those who use small speakers( upto £200) with their computers and not dedicated hifi equipment the difference will not be noticeable and may well spend the dough elsewhere on something more useful or buy higher quality component for the computer itself.
 

Me__2001

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i use onboard sound with a dell 5.1 speaker setup, i mainly use it for listening to music and theres a big difference in sound when listening to the same track on my dads stereo
 

Quadophile

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Me__2001 said:
i use onboard sound with a dell 5.1 speaker setup, i mainly use it for listening to music and theres a big difference in sound when listening to the same track on my dads stereo

I think you misunderstood the question, the comparision is between on board sound (on a mobo) with a dedicated sound card and which one would be your preference. Dedicated HiFi will always sound superior. :D
 

Me__2001

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i dont have a soundcard so i cant compare the two but the onboard sound is good enough if you aren't after amazing quality.

as for the original question, the amount of processing power needed for sound is probably minimal and doesn't affect games, i prefer to use the onboard sound because it works and i dont see the point in spending money on a soundcard if the onboard sound is good enough for what i do
 

Cache-man

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I think recent onboard sound is great and will be just dandy for the majority of users. I would generally only recommend a dedicated soundcard if you do a lot of audio stuff (ie, editing and recording) and need the extra inputs and channels.
Most mobos now come with excellent quality 5.1 sound (some even have 7.1 sound as standard), and most users will not be able to notice the subtle differences between the two.
 
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My 8 channel sound card (onboard) is great for playing the ole music collection and games

It goes without saying though if you have a PC geared for programs like Logic audio and Cue Base then a Card is better, my mate has a local studio, his sound card is Phat! I must find out what it is actually

Apple Mac sound cards are good too

I voted "No Pref"

Cheers
 

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