stock sound cards

[polarbear6]

hey guys i have a gigabyte ga ep35c ds3r board
it has a 6.1 (5.1 or 7.1 i exactly i dont know ) sound card and i have a creative 5.1 sound blaster card ?(the very basic version card) now i want to know which would be better ? ?
i will be using this pc for gaming movies

 

[nerp]

Onboard would destroy the SB live and the SB drivers introduce the potential for instability and problems. My suggestion is to use the livecard as a surface to snuff out cigars and eventually thow away.

 

[polarbear6]

so u mean to say that as long as i have this onboard sound card no matter how good of a sound card i might have i cannot use only because i have this on board card

any ways thanks for the quick reply nerp

 

[polarbear6]

hey i might even want to add that its a pci slot card not a pci x1 or x4 slot card or a pci express card

 

[polarbear6]

hey i might even want to add that its a pci slot card not a pci x1 or x4 slot card or a pci express card

 

[Quiksilver]

Originally posted by: ganesh1
so u mean to say that as long as i have this onboard sound card no matter how good of a sound card i might have i cannot use only because i have this on board card

any ways thanks for the quick reply nerp

No, that's not what he said.

He said the onboard sound will be better if you have an Sound Blaster Live card, Heck it might even be better than a vanilla Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS card.

Now if you have say X-fi card it might be different (unless of course it is one of those neutered down cards; forgot the naming they used for them).

Also all of these depends on speakers you use and whether their 2.1, 5.1, 7.1, etc.

 

[nerp]

Yes, I meant your "most very basic" soundcard as being less good as the onboard for that specific motherboard.

There are plenty of soundcards that offer great sound quality.

 

[Sylvanas]

This has been tossed around alot lately but the conclusion is that quality is largely subjective and it can be agreed that Onboard sound has drastically improved from the old days. For me personally, Realtek ALC888 (onboard sound on my mobo) sounded better and had better drivers than any Creative or C-Media card I have owned previously.

 

[polarbear6]

ohh now i get it sry guys i thought in another direction
k but creative sound cards are not supporting vista , drivers man and by the way i have a creative 5.1 t6060 speakers

 

[tcsenter]

Especially considering the onboard audio in question uses the Realtek ALC889A, one of the best HDA codecs available.