Onboard sound for online gaming?

[swatoke]

I am building a computer that will be used mostly for online gaming. I don't know if I should spend the extra money for a new sound card or if the onboard sound is good enough. The main thing that I am concerned about is performance and compatibilty. Does onboard sound have more drain on the processor or memory? Are there compatibily issues with onboard sound and games? Sound quality is not a major concern, if onboard sound quality is somewhat descent that will be fine with me.

Here is my system so far:

ABIT IC7-G MAXII ADVANCE
P4 3.0 Ghz 512Kb Cache 800Mhz fsb
Corsair VS1GBKIT400 DDR PC-3200 CL: 2.5
Western Digital 120GB
ATI Radeon 9800Pro 128Mb
Lite-On LDW-851S
Microsoft Windows XP Home

 

[Regs]

Not unless your a "sound geek" I don't think it will be worth the money. The IC7-G comes with good onboard sound.

 

[RobCur]

you can spend the extra $$$ for better sound effect but onboard sound are prettydecent on most motherboard. I have only met a few thats really bad in terms of sound quality.
my sblive is still sitting around the corner collecting dust, spent 32 bucks years ago, what a waste of $$$

 

[Twista]

ya onboard sound is good even the ac97.

 

[SpunkyJones]

Just try the onboard sound and see if it works well enough, you can always add a card later. I've had good and bad experiences with onboard sound. The last rig I built for myself a couple of months ago had crappy on board sound and I had to go buy a Audigy 2. It just depends on the mobo.

 

[swatoke]

Thanks for all your comments. This computer is for my sister and she lives about 600 miles away, that is why I was asking about onboard sound. It would be easier for me to install a new sound card for her if it were needed. She is going to be here in a couple of weeks to pickup her computer, I can have her try out the onboard sound and if she doesn't like it we can go pick up an Audigy2.

Thanks again

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

Onboard sound is usually fine as far as I'm concerned. I use Soundstorm onboard APU.

 

[Bovinicus]

I have a feeling your little sister isn't that much of a sound buff, but correct me if I am wrong. Some onboard sound setups that come on motherboards today are really quite good. Even if you got a better soundcard, she would have to have some decent speakers to really notice a huge difference.

 

[swatoke]

She is really into gaming, she has played EverQuest, Dark Ages Of Camelot and Star Wars. I am really not sure how much she is into the sound but she did tell me that she wanted a good sound card.

 

[Peter D]

I use the onboard sound on my MAX3 (same audio chipset as the IC7-G I think) and it's pretty good.

 

[Bovinicus]

Originally posted by: swatoke
She is really into gaming, she has played EverQuest, Dark Ages Of Camelot and Star Wars. I am really not sure how much she is into the sound but she did tell me that she wanted a good sound card.

Then don't go with onboard sound. It's as simple as that. If someone specifically requests a good sound card, then onboard sound doesn't jive with their request.

 

[wetcat007]

Just get a good sound card, they arnt horribly expensive, the only really good onboard sound is nforce 2 soundstorm.

 

[Nebor]

The onboard sound on that board (which I use) is decent. The auto detect feature always seemed a bit off though, where it tries to figure out what kind of speaker congif you have plugged in. Honestly I didn't mess with it for more than a day or two before I went and bought an Audigy 2 @ compusa for $130 or so.

 

[cw42]

so apparantly there are difference between sound cards and online/offline gaming. HMMMM!

 

[apoppin]

I have an Abit ic7 and the onboard is pathetic. Even when you move the mouse you can hear it on the speakers.

A game like Thief III would simply SUCK with onboard . .. so i bit the bullet on Friday when i picked up my new game i also got an Audigy2ZS for $80 at CurseitCity (after $20 MIR). . . .positioning is UNbelievable and cds DO sound (much) better on my Klipsch 4.1s.

If you have $80 it's worth it.

BTW, winxp - HOME - will not take advantage of the P4's HT; PRO will, i believe.

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: apoppin
I have an Abit ic7 and the onboard is pathetic. Even when you move the mouse you can hear it on the speakers.

A game like Thief III would simply SUCK with onboard . .. so i bit the bullet on Friday when i picked up my new game i also got an Audigy2ZS for $80 at CurseitCity (after $20 MIR). . . .positioning is UNbelievable and cds DO sound (much) better on my Klipsch 4.1s.

If you have $80 it's worth it.

BTW, winxp - HOME - will not take advantage of the P4's HT; PRO will, i believe.

You've turned off CMSS, right?

 

[apoppin]

with most games i had to turn off the audio enhancements to keep the game from crashing (Unreal II) . . . i gave up on my onboard audio (tired of the *hisss*) . . . some Mbs are not as bad as mine . . .

. . . as i said, for me, $80 was worth it.

edit: if you have to turn EAX off in the Thief series, you're better off not playing it.

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: apoppin
with most games i had to turn off the audio enhancements to keep the game from crashing (Unreal II) . . . i gave up on my onboard audio (tired of the *hisss*) . . . some Mbs are not as bad as mine . . .

. . . as i said, for me, $80 was worth it.

I'm asking if you've turned off CMSS on your Audigy 2. It kills sound quality, and is on by default.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Nebor

Originally posted by: apoppin
with most games i had to turn off the audio enhancements to keep the game from crashing (Unreal II) . . . i gave up on my onboard audio (tired of the *hisss*) . . . some Mbs are not as bad as mine . . .

. . . as i said, for me, $80 was worth it.

I'm asking if you've turned off CMSS on your Audigy 2. It kills sound quality, and is on by default.

oh

yes

(generally)

although i am playin' with the 'effects'.
(it is a bit better then the SBlive! series but still pretty much a waste)

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: apoppin

Originally posted by: Nebor

Originally posted by: apoppin
with most games i had to turn off the audio enhancements to keep the game from crashing (Unreal II) . . . i gave up on my onboard audio (tired of the *hisss*) . . . some Mbs are not as bad as mine . . .

. . . as i said, for me, $80 was worth it.

I'm asking if you've turned off CMSS on your Audigy 2. It kills sound quality, and is on by default.

oh

yes

(generally)

although i am playin' with the 'effects'.
(it is a bit better then the SBlive! series but still pretty much a waste)

Well sure, everyone wants to hear the matrix theme song in chipmunk mode at least once.

 

[Addikt]

Quick and dirty answer...if you are still considering the purchase of a sound card then you should if you have a good quality amp and speakers that would do it justice. If not, even if you are using high quality headphones then you need not bother most high end headphones will have thier own built in amp so that they can be used with portable devices, and if you are using PC speakers, or a PC surround system, most systems out on the market will not cover enough frequency range or even consume enough power to need a better quality sound card, not to mention that they have been built with line interference in mind so they have thier own built in amp and pre-amp usually.

The reason that you might want to consider a sound card for a stereo system despite having high end equipment is to keep the current as clean as possible. The output that is fed from most on-board sound cards is affected by EMFs created by other operations on the motherboard and this creates line interference. Most high end audio equipment does not take into consideration this interference and can create clicks, pops, and even loss of frequency when reproducing the sound so if you would like quality sound that will do your high end equipment justice I suggest a good sound card. After all if you have spent money on decent audio equipment you shouldn't get stingy when building your system if you really enjoy music and sound in games and such.

Hope this helps.

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: apoppin
I have an Abit ic7 and the onboard is pathetic. Even when you move the mouse you can hear it on the speakers.

A game like Thief III would simply SUCK with onboard . .. so i bit the bullet on Friday when i picked up my new game i also got an Audigy2ZS for $80 at CurseitCity (after $20 MIR). . . .positioning is UNbelievable and cds DO sound (much) better on my Klipsch 4.1s.

If you have $80 it's worth it.

BTW, winxp - HOME - will not take advantage of the P4's HT; PRO will, i believe.

Home will use HT.
I also agree it's worth it, and I got a lesser card for more $ than the Audigy 2 .
You will still get noise from the PC, but you'll have to really listen for it unless the volume is way up (like listening to metal up) with nothing playing.
I have $20 Koss KSC50 headphones and the difference is significant. With some Dell pull speakers sitting around (Harmon Kardon(sp) 2.1), it's even more pronounce (NF2 with a bunch of noise, Montego, TBSC, Philips Aurilium, in ascending order of quality).

 

[Nebor]

most high end headphones will have thier own built in amp so that they can be used with portable devices

Wooooaaah. Where are you getting this? Why do you think the guys with high end headphones are the ones buying amps? Do you have any idea what you're talking about? What do you consider high end? I'm thinking $300+