nForce 3 Mobos and ASIO support

[DJQuanta]

Hello Guys,

I wanna get a new mobo and processor, by following the Anand's guides I've pointed my choice to a nForce3 754 based mobo with an Athlon 64 processor. I think I'm gonna get the Chaintech VNF3-250.

Now then.... I'm an electronic music enthusiast and I create music with programs like Reason, Cubase and Traktor. All of this programs needs ASIO support in the sound sub-system to really work well, currently I have a Sound Blaster Live Value with KX Drivers (Open source drivers with ASIO support), but if I'm gonna build a new comp I'd like to have an integrated solution in which the stock drivers come with ASIO support.

THe question is: Does this nForce based mobos like the VNF3-250 with integrated sound have ASIO support ??

Any comments will be welcomed.

Cheers.

DJQuanta

 

[McArra]

Buy an AUDIGY 2/ZS card, integrated is a lot worse and don't have ASIO I believe.

 

[kogase]

What horrible advice. For just a little more you could get an M-Audio Audiophile. Much better latencies and much better sound quality compared to the Audigy. And you'll still have the onboard sound for 7.1 or whatever. Newegg even sells the Audiophile.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Yeah, the Creative cards are typically considered to not be the greatest when it comes to sound quality.

But, like the OP said, he wants it to be onboard.

In this case you really only have two choices. Go Intel with their Hi-Def Azalia audio (not sure if it has what you need either), or find a motherboard with VIA's Vinyl Audio (not sure if there are any yet). I don't know for sure if either fits what you need, and I think you'd be better off just going with a sound card, such as the one already mentioned.

 

[DJQuanta]

Uhmm......... I see, guess I'll have to stick to the SB Live with KX Drivers for a bit longer until I save more money to buy a new sound card, 'cause at this moment my budget allows only for the new mobo+cpu+memory+video card, $100 for a new sound card was not on my plan.

Taking a look at the nvidia's nForce drivers page I spotted this:

Audio Driver Improvements
Introduced NVMixer ? replaces SoundStorm Control Panel for all audio configuration tasks. Note that NVMixer operates best when run at 1024x768 16-bit color
Introduced improved AC ?97 / Soft Audio driver ? adds EQ, speaker cloning, and speaker wizard support
Introduced Speaker Wizard ? incorporates all NVSwap features, ensures correct speaker setup on analog or digital speaker systems
Introduced Cinesurround ? virtual 5.1 mixdown to headphones or 2 speakers
Introduced new Environments ? simple, preset driven sound environments
Enhanced ASIO support and added support for AC ?97 / Soft Audio systems
Added user adjustable ?rear channel creation? support ? adds off, clone, reverb and delay
Added support for Realtek ALC655 codecs, Realtek ALC658 codecs, and 7.1 support for Realtek ALC850 codecs
Added support for WMV-HD audio streams and WaveFormatExtensible calls
Improved playback of mono content
Addressed audio issues in numerous games and applications

I thought the "Enhanced ASIO support and added support for AC ?97 / Soft Audio systems " meant that ASIO was supported with the onboard sound.

Thanks,

Quanta

 

[McArra]

I've been running a MoBo with Envy 24 integrated sound and the quality was worse than my Audigy 2 and volume was lower. Also Envy 24 has no DirectSound HW acceleration if you play, which doesn't seem to be the case.

 

[McArra]

Sorry, I'll aswer you:

Nforce APU is not avaible in Nforce 3/4 Chipset, only in Nforce 2 (so no A64 support). So your best bet would be and ENVY 24 equiped MoBo. I had the Chaintech ZNF3 150, which has the same implementation the ZNF3 250 has (I had lot's of problem with that boards, 3 RMAs and finally just bought an ASUS K8V SE Deluxe). The sound quality was good but the volume a bit too low and 3D gaming sound was normal with quite high CPU utilization (it lacks HW Direct sound).

My Audigy 2 has better audio qualit, higher volume and performance and sound in games is amazing. Also Audigy 2 ZS has ASIO 2.0 support and from a lot of reviews I've seen the sound quality id very good. Also drivers are much better now than they used to be, and I have had no problems so far.

Here's a review from Audigy 2

 

[Sureshot324]

There is a piece of software called ASIO4ALL that apparently gives ASIO support for any sound card, though I haven't tried it because i have an audigy 2zs. I'm pretty sure that most modern sound chips have ASIO anyway.

 

[DJQuanta]

Phewww........... this is getting complicated.

Is this lack of HW DirectSound acceleration and low volume the norm among mobos with integrated sound ?. I do play games every now and then, and the low volume would be negative with the music programs.

The other candidate I was considering is the MSI K8N-Neo-FSR, which comes with the Realtek ALC850(8-Ch) audio. Does this has the same limitations of the Envy 24 mentioned earlier ?. This mobo is $30 more expensive than the Chaintech VNF3.

And speaking of the VNF3-250, any idea how's the sound quality of that mobo ?.... there's not much details in the Chaintech page about the sound chip.

The other thing that worries me is the quality issues of Chaintech's mobos. A RMA would be a nightmare for me, because I'm outside the US (Venezuela), so a friend of mine that's currently on vacation in the US is going to buy the parts for me. If MSI's are more reliable and less prone to a RMA I might consider paying the $30 extra for the MSI and avoid a nightmare.

Thanks.

Quanta

 

[DJQuanta]

BTW.....I found the specs sheet of the sound chip that comes with the Chaintech VNF-250, it's a CMEDIA AC97 Codec.

The spec sheet is here:

CMEDIA CMI9761

 

[McArra]

If you want to play safe I'd go with ASUS. Asus K8N or K8V, both of them are very stable. Onboard Realtek is not good, the best onboard is Envy 24 and from my experience all onboard chips have low volume. When I bought the Audigy 2 I was blown with the volume, it was quite louder. If you play a lot then DirectSound HW is a spec you want. Audigy 2/ZS have EAX 3.0 and 4.0 support that sound incredible in games, with great audio positioning. I think you should be very happy with it and is a huge improvement over your SB Live.

 

[Slaimus]

ASIO is now supported with the onboard sound. Download the new nForce Audio driver.