Best MBs for Audio Latency

[STotaro]

I need some input from audiophiles about what MBs are good or not good for audio latency and interrupts.

 

[CraigRT]

add-in sound cards! 😛

I'd say anything with AC'97 basic sound would not be good, and anything with Soundstorm would be best (for onboard) with the C-Media chips probably also not being bad.

but that's just speculation on my part, I am not 100% on that.

 

[STotaro]

Thanks.

Maybe I should be more clear with my question. I have PRI PCI telephony cards in a VoIP situation. We have isolated latency issues to the motherboard. It would seem that the same issues would be observed by audiophiles who are sensitive to latency. Anybody?

 

[Speedo]

Sounds strange... I have built many computers with the purpose of being used in studio environments running music programs like CubaseSX and Logic with realtime software synths wich really reqire low latency. But it always comes down to the choice of soundcard. I really don't think audio latency is motherboard related. Try going thru the PCI slots until the soundcard gets its own IRQ (press paus and check during post).

 

[tcsenter]

I'd say anything with AC'97 basic sound would not be good, and anything with Soundstorm would be best (for onboard) with the C-Media chips probably also not being bad.

SoundStorm uses AC'97 bus and codecs.

Integrated AC'97 audio is built right in the chipset and accesses the CPU via low latency multi-threaded interconnect which, depending on the chipset, has anywhere from 2 to more than 10 times the bandwidth of the ancient 133MB/s PCI bus that was all the rage circa 1994.

Unfortunately, integrated audio is still lacking in high fidelity recording capabilities, such as true 24-bit/96KHz resolutions, the bare minimum for high fidelity recording (24-bit/192KHz preferred). Even so, the best integrated sound engines and codecs shipping today are certainly no worse, and sometimes better, than many sound cards purchased to replace "crappy" integrated audio.

Your best bet would be to visit any support forums at the manufacturer's website of the sound equipment you want to use, if one is available, and ask actual users which motherboards and/or chipsets are proven to work well. If the manufacturer doesn't have a forum, then a PC audio forum instead of a general PC forum.

 

[rbV5]

You can use a utility like Powerstrip to adjust the latency of your PCI devices, perhaps that could help your situation.

 

[Speedo]

Well, when dealing with music production systems, it is required to use an external soundcard, wheter it's a PCI, Firewire or USB sound device (Usually from Terratec, Egosys, M-Audio etc.). These soundcards have very optimized ASIO drivers which brings down latency to just a few milliseconds. Then its possible to play softsynths in realtime with no noticable delay.

However, I actually don't know what's reqiured to get a VoIP system working optimally.