How is onboard sound these days?

[clickynext]

Is the generic AC97 stuff any better now than it was five years ago? How about compared to the nforce soundstorm that was all the rage a while ago?

 

[Fallengod]

Its definitely better than how it was 5 years ago..... lol..


Anyways. Its decent. If all you do is play games and dont need "top end" quality sound. Its fine. Mp3s are fine. One thing though is, onboard sound does eat up cpu cycles, where as a soundblaster (live, audigy etc) doesnt. So youd have more FPS with a SB Live/Audigy. Something to think about maybe. If you do like alot of movies though and high end gaming, I probably wouldnt go the onboard route. Honestly, SB live/Audigy cards arnt that expensive these days.

 

[CP5670]

The ALC850 on most motherboards sounds like crap to me. The sound quality of even something cheap like an Audigy 2 Value is in a completely different league IMO.

 

[clickynext]

I do have an old SB Live, but the quality on that in my opinion is noticably lacking compared to the soundstorm. I don't really care about the CPU cycles, but I don't want to be taking a step down. I guess I'll just get the motherboard and try it first before deciding whether or not to buy a new sound card.

 

[Allio]

The onboard Realtek on my MSI nForce2 and Epox nForce4 boards was utterly terrible - a $12 C-Media card sounds infinitely better. I actually couldn't bear to listen to MP3s with headphones because the bass was so lacking and unpleasant. On the other hand, the onboard Realtek was fine on my Gigabyte KT333.

 

[SDPlissken]

I would say that onboard sound is on par with the frist SBLive that was made awhile ago. however if your doing big budget studio sound mastering remixing ect you may want to use a card built for that.

 

[ChiPCGuy]

The newer high density (HDA) audio found on the newest motherboards is very good. Examples are the Uli M1573/5 southbridge and ATI SB4XX where they natively support HDA to a supporting CODEC such as the Realtek ALC880 or ALC882. I have trouble telling the difference in movies and music between my older TB Santa Cruz and even X-Fi when compared to my onboard HDA. I am using an X-Fi, but quite honestly the sound quality is not that much better and the only reason I am using it is to achieve MAX FPS plus some more advanced EAX positional sound in games. If you have HDA sound, I would recommend going that route first before investing in a sound card--especially if your speakers are not on the level of Klipsch or higher end pro-audio.

 

[clickynext]

Okay, the onboard sound on the Asus P5P800SE doesn't cut it. Even choral music distorts at high amplitude sections, some highs get lost, some lows sound muffled, and playing CS sounds a bit like my head's in a fishtank. I actually forgot but I have an old gametheater XP lying around, so I'll probably use that. Forgot how good it is, but I'm pretty sure it was pretty highly regarded back in the day?

 

[Thor86]

Use on-board for A8N32 and DFI Ultra-D, no issues what so ever.

 

[Kakumba]

so even the Karajan module on DFI isnt worth bothering with? I mean, yeah, its still on board, but its better than most, surely? the cheapest card I could get is this: http://www.pp.co.nz/ProductsC.php?pp_id=SN00020 Creative SB Audigy SE 7.1 for $76 NZ. Worth it?

 

[clickynext]

Originally posted by: Kakumba
so even the Karajan module on DFI isnt worth bothering with? I mean, yeah, its still on board, but its better than most, surely? the cheapest card I could get is this: http://www.pp.co.nz/ProductsC.php?pp_id=SN00020 Creative SB Audigy SE 7.1 for $76 NZ. Worth it?

That's quite overpriced, if you ask me. A store over here where I live has it for $32 CAD.

 

[cool]

I've used ALC650 on nForce2 and now ALC850 on nForce4 and had/have no complaints whatsoever. People who complain usually have crappy 9.95$ loud speakers and wonder why the sound sucks OR they are audiophil but then they should know the difference between a basic software audio codec and a full-blown hardware solution like Creative's X-Fi series...

 

[RyanVM]

Originally posted by: ChiPCGuy
The newer high density (HDA) audio

high *definition audio

 

[you2]

I agree with thor - the sound on the ultra-d is fine with headphones. Might be different with speakers. Also the ultra-d karjan module uses less cpu than other on board solutions.

 

[Zap]

Here's my take on it.

Yes, onboard sound can take more CPU cycles. The more channels you use, the more CPU cycles it eats up so if you tend to do stereo sound only (like myself, wearing headphones at LAN parties) then there isn't much performance hit. If you plan to do a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup to immerse yourself in sound, then the CPU hit will be higher. However, that extra $50-100 for an Audigy can go towards a faster CPU or faster video card - think of it that way.

As for sound QUALITY... that one really depends on the motherboard. Some boards sound perfectly fine, others have audible artifacts whether it be hiss, crackling or picking up system bus noises (such as HDD or mouse activity). Yes those audible artifacts do exist. No, they do not exist on all onboard audio. Also, they are not always audible depending on your sound setup. For instance, using cheap speakers with my Abit IS7 a few years ago sounded fine... as fine as cheap speakers can sound. Going to a stereo receiver and shielded bookshelf speakers and I heard some crackling and such. My first LAN party with it and using decent enclosed headphones, and the crackling was unbearable. The sound on my MSI PT880 board makes a buzzing in conjunction with mouse/HDD activity, but again most noticeable on good headphones. The onboard sound on my Biostar Tforce boards that I've been using in my LAN gaming rig sounds just fine.

Conclusion? Use onboard sound. If it is fine to your ears, great! If not, then spend more money on a sound card.

 

[Kakumba]

Good post Zap, thats what Im going to do. I have had onboard sound so bad I couldnt use it at all, but that was a work computer, so it was ok. so I will try the Karajan module, and if its no good, ill get a new card.

 

[nyker96]

My vnf3-250 is excellent 5.1 on board and it's like EAX2 or 3 compatible too. Sounds little better than my no name sound card. But you need to install the right drivers for them to work on tip top shape or else they'd sound crappy or even noisy without the drivers.

Wow this is my 300s post, taking a moment to savor this triumph ... arrrh excellent ...

 

[hooflung]

I can't say I play any games besides the very occasional city of villians (which has some horrible sound bugs since mid 2005 ) and the rare occasion of Star Wars Galaxies which supports EAX supposedly. No other game I have supports EAX which means there is no real difference between onboard cycles and offboard cycles used by CPU.

In music... My sound blaster audigy 2 ZS cannot hold a candle to my HTPC's Chaintec AV710 for sound quality. So... your milleage may vary on what you need but if you play games like Half-Life 2, Doom 3, Quake 4, or EVE Online you won't see much difference in performance.

A cheap Sound Blaster Live 5.1 will do you good or onboard audio.

 

[clickynext]

I guess onboard sound varies greatly between products. I thought the nforce2 sound was excellent, and it seems like most nforce boards since then have been top quality.

Well anyway, I put in the old SB Live I had and it's pretty good. One thing I notice is that the creative cards seem to have more of an in your face, more treble oriented sound, which I like, especially since my speakers tend to emphasize bass more (Logitech Z560's).

 

[Zap]

It probably has to do with "automatic" equalization. Many people prefer that over "flat response" even though the latter is more accurate. Don't know how many times I've seen people fiddle with their equalizers to boost the high and low frequencies because to their ears it sounds better. I think the Creative cards may do a bit of that "automagically" to make most people think it sounds better or livelier.

 

[Allio]

Originally posted by: clickynext
That's quite overpriced, if you ask me. A store over here where I live has it for $32 CAD.

We get screwed over for parts prices in New Zealand, especially for sound cards. For some reason Creative has an almost complete monopoly over internal sound cards - you simply can't get the AV710 or whatever, and the SB prices are correspondingly jacked up. YOU should be getting the AV710 for music or an Audigy for gaming, and Kakumba should be weeping along with me over our lack of choice.

 

[Kakumba]

Hey Allio, you a Kiwi too? man, about time I found one, was starting to get lonely. So, sorry for the OT, but what do you reckon I should go for, and who from?