sound blaster live or onboard sound?

[CheesePoofs]

Ive got a sound blaster live that someone gave to me a while back in my current rig, and i don't know if i should continue using it when i upgrade. Im probably going to get an nForce 4 mobo.

Thanks

 

[kranky]

Interesting to see your thread as I have the exact same question - SB Live! or onboard sound (on my new motherboard, Asus calls it a "8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC, previously called Azalia").

My guess is that simply going by the age of the SB Live! card, a quality motherboard with integrated audio will be superior.

 

[PingSpike]

It depends on the codec, but typically most onboard solutions use a chunk of processor cycles to do their dirty work...much like winmodems do versus hardware modems. I personally still use an SB Live! because I'm not much of an audiophile, it doesn't seem to have trouble working with anything I've thrown at it, and I don't want my soundcard stealing anymore cpu cycles than it has too.

That said, some of the more recent onboard sound systems supposedly put old cards like this to shame.

 

[jterrell]

SB Live is a 5.1 card so would get better performance from an NF4 card with 7.1 onboard.

The cpu cycle argument might be a consideration if you sense lag or a high cpu load.

 

[DJQuanta]

It depends on what you do and the kind of codec that your future NF4 mobo will have. Old NF2 mobos came with a technology called SoundStorm, which delivered great quality audio (as far as I know, didn't own one). Better yet SoundStorm was the only onboard sound (as far as I know again) that offered native ASIO support, which is a must for electronic musicians. Unfortunately Nvidia eliminated SoundStorm for the NF3 chipset but there are rumors that SoundStorm will be back again for NF4.

- If you are an amateur electronic musician (like me), and programs like Reason, Traktor or Cubase are part of your everyday work with your computer, you should stick to the SBLive instead of onboard sound, that is unless NF4 come with SoundStorm. I've compared the onboard sound of my mobo (Chaintech VNF3-250 comes with a Cmedia sound codec) and the sound quality of the SBLive is far superior. Of course you wouldn't use the Creative Sound Drivers because they are crap, you'll have to use the KX Drivers(www.kxproject.com), which are an open source version of the drivers that offers huge optimizations for musicians (including native ASIO Support). Take into account that the KX drivers are a bit complicated to configure and don't have support for EAX, and since they are not made for gamers, you'll have to usually adjust a couple of settings before playing games, and re-adjust them when you are back to music making. If you fall into this category and you have a few bucks more to spend, then you should go with a newer soundcard, something from M-audio(which will have all the bells and whistles for a musician) or even a Chaintech AV-710 (only $25 at Newegg), which offer great quality sound(better than the SBLive). Most people says that the AV-710 is almost like a M-Audio Revo, which cost 4 times more.

- If you are a gamer and don't care a bit about Electronic Music, Reason, Traktor or ASIO, then you'll have the choice of onboard or your SBLive(with creative drivers). With onboard you'll have native 5.1/7.1 support and usually some form of EAX support (important for some FPS games). If you stick to the SBLive with the creative drivers, you'll have better EAX support, a bit better sound quality, and less use of CPU cycles (although the Creative Drivers are a resources hog). If SoundStorm makes it back with NF4 mobos then with no question you'll stick with that.

Personally I'm using and old SBLive Value! card with my rig (KX Drivers). The onboard sound of my Chaintech mobo don't have the quality I need, and I wasn't able to configure the rear channel as an independent channel to use it as Headphone Cue Monitor with Traktor DJ Studio (using the headphones to monitor the next song you are going to mix, like DJ's do). Maybe I'll save a few bucks for a Chaintech AV-710 in January (after I recover from the blow of buying my new computer - see sig).

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

Quanta

 

[smp]

I've never noticed any difference between my SB 5.1 and my NF7-s w/ soundstorm 5.1.

 

[Auric]

Originally posted by: smp
I've never noticed any difference between my SB 5.1 and my NF7-s w/ soundstorm 5.1.

That's primarily 'cause SoundStorm has an SNR equivalent to old SoundBlaster 16's.

Chaintech AV-7 has a better DAC for higher SNR, but still not at Audigy 2 or Revo quality and even then it is limited to stereo output or else a substantially lower quality for multi-channel. Based upon the Envy24, albeit a budget version, the AV-7 can play CD audio without upsampling but that is relatively insignificant.

 

[EvilManagedCare]

I recently reinstalled my SB Live 5.1 to my nForce 3 250 Gb motherboard that uses the AC'97 sound. As long in the tooth as that SB Live is, it still gets great sound quality IMO. Nice clear, crisp sound. My original SB Live Value was one of the best hardware buys ever. I used it since 1997 until I accidentally broke it this year. Ran out and replaced it with a Live 5.1 for $19.99. I guess what I'm trying to say is unless you have a motherboard with Soundstorm, put your SB Live in as there will be a noticeable difference.

 

[Blain]

Forget that onboard crap, you need a good sound card. :laugh:
"Onboard" is for chumps. 😉

 

[CheesePoofs]

Well, i pretty much got this decided for me.

My new headphones with a mic came in today, and when i plugged them into my soundblaster and turned off the mic i got this annoying high pitched noise. So i enabled my onboard, yanked my soundblaster and now i have no annoying noises. So i guess i will be using onboard for my new comp.

Onboard isn't for chumps, its for people on budgets 😉.

 

[Auric]

It depends mang. If the buyer did not consider a bargain bin/refurb/used/DIY and they only use it for basic schtuff then a new system's CPU is prolly wildly overpowered and in such case everything like audio and modem may as well be done in software. Ditto graphics may as well use system memory. However, if the system is going to be used for anything intensive, then the buyer has likely paid exponentially more on a current CPU for just an incremental gain that is far outweighed by the loss from the absent hardware. That is, a cheaper CPU with the difference spent on peripheral hardware can actually net higher performance for less rupees. That could be called budget, or rather better value. Dig?