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Audigy 2 ZS Sound Card vs. Onboard Audio

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DaveyTN

Senior member
Hello all - I am purchasing a DFI Lan Party NForce 4 SLI-DR motherboard that has the following built in audio :

Karajan audio module
- Realtek ALC850 8-channel audio CODEC
- 6 audio jacks
- 1 CD-in connector
- 1 front audio connector
S/PDIF-in/out interface

Does anyone know if this supports 5.1 sound? Also - will I be able to tell the difference in game play with the onboard audio vs. buying an Audigy 2 ZS?

I have Logitech z-5300e speakers. Thanks all!!

 
i believe the karajan has 5.1, most motherboards that are recently made do at least. also, depending if the game supports EAX, you may be able to distuinguish the clearer sounds of the audigy 2 zs. the karajan audio module is one of the best onboard audio though.
 
That will support 5.1 just fine.

The sound quality is going to be better with an Audigy 2. Also you'll get a little performance boost if you offload EAX processing from the CPU to the audigy2. I think it's on the order of 10% or so CPU usage to process stuff that's unloaded to the audigy. I don't know if that would be noticable, especially in a heavily GPU limited game.
 
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
That will support 5.1 just fine.

The sound quality is going to be better with an Audigy 2. Also you'll get a little performance boost if you offload EAX processing from the CPU to the audigy2. I think it's on the order of 10% or so CPU usage to process stuff that's unloaded to the audigy. I don't know if that would be noticable, especially in a heavily GPU limited game.
Click to expand...

i thought EAX processing could only be done on the sound card.
 
Originally posted by: itr
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
That will support 5.1 just fine.

The sound quality is going to be better with an Audigy 2. Also you'll get a little performance boost if you offload EAX processing from the CPU to the audigy2. I think it's on the order of 10% or so CPU usage to process stuff that's unloaded to the audigy. I don't know if that would be noticable, especially in a heavily GPU limited game.
Click to expand...

i thought EAX processing could only be done on the sound card.
Click to expand...

If the soundcard doesn't do it, the CPU does it. That's how I understand it anyway. That's why audigy2 increases game performance, by taking some of the load off the CPU by doing surround processing for it.

I hope that's right :Q
 
Yeah I would recommend if you are using 5.1 speakers to use the Audigy card so it doen't take up your CPU cycles. The sound quality will be slightly better. These days the onboard sound isn't that bad so if you were just using 2.1 speakers I would stay with it.
 
Originally posted by: DaveyTN
Thanks again guys. I'll go with the Audigy. I don't want to hurt my CPU performance!!
Click to expand...

It's not going to be a dramatic difference. I think trying out the integrated audio would be a good idea too.
 
If you absoloutely have to squeeze out every Frame that you can, get an Audigy 2... Not to mention it has support for 24 bit advanced HD which is in many new games coming out
(such as Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory) and just sounds stunning. I'm sure the on-board audio is getting alot better than previous years, but I'm old school and I don't build a computer without a Sound Blaster card in it. Just habit I guess heh...
 
dont buy 1. 10% cpu cycles means maybe 2-3fps max. spend $100 on a better video card. $100 is the difference between a x800xl and 6600gt. that will increase fps a lot more than an audigy 2. audio quality will be similar on your medium to slightly lower teir speakers.
 
Unless of course you already have an uber-video card... in which case the extra bit of performance won't matter. I use headphones, and some of the onboard video solutions are very low CPU if you aren't using 5.1 or any extra extensions.

If money isn't the issue... then by all means jam an Audigy in it. If it is an issue, well I'd say go with the decent onboard.
 
Originally posted by: Lephturn
Unless of course you already have an uber-video card... in which case the extra bit of performance won't matter. I use headphones, and some of the onboard video solutions are very low CPU if you aren't using 5.1 or any extra extensions.

If money isn't the issue... then by all means jam an Audigy in it. If it is an issue, well I'd say go with the decent onboard.
Click to expand...


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