Use Motherboard's Onboard Audio or should I use Creative Labs SB Live?

[GundamF91]

It normally wouldn't be a debate, but I haven't kept up with the audio technology. My SB Live! is about 4yrs old now, PCI bus, and it has caused some compatibilty problems in the past but nothing so far. Now that I'm upgrading my system with a new motherboard, I'm wondering if I should leave it out. Any suggestions?

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: GundamF91
It normally wouldn't be a debate, but I haven't kept up with the audio technology. My SB Live! is about 4yrs old now, PCI bus, and it has caused some compatibilty problems in the past but nothing so far. Now that I'm upgrading my system with a new motherboard, I'm wondering if I should leave it out. Any suggestions?

SB Live! 5.1 or value?

I use a SB Live! 5.1 instead of my onboard Soundstorm.

 

[will889]

Depends on that codec your new motherboard has. The only onboard sound solution that is actually better then a Live card is nVIDA soundstorm, but only if you use optical out with either a good digital reciever/amp, or digitcal capable speakers. If your current speakers are of the analog variety i would just keep using the live card. Hard to believe but a really old Turtle Beach Santa Cruise is still much better then any current onboard sound solution. Most live cards are as well.

 

[Odeen]

The further away the ANALOG part of a sound "solution" sits from the motherboard, the better it's likely to sound.

Most SoundStorm implementations use a Realtek ALC650, which has VERY crappy analog quality. On the other hand, the Asus A7N266-C, which had Sigmatel codecs sitting on an ACR riser card, sounded beautiful.

The cMedia gear is okay when it comes to analog audio quality - but Sound Blaster Live! and Audigy series of cards support acceleration of 3D audio rendering, which increases your frame rates while gaming (the CPU is free to do game-related tasks rather than figuring out how the half-dozen bullets whizzing past your head should sound like on your two speakers).

 

[PascalT]

with my headphones my onboard dfi sound (realtek) is much better than my sb live value.

 

[erifneerg]

is there anyway to change the codec on the mobo?

 

[Odeen]

Originally posted by: PascalT
with my headphones my onboard dfi sound (realtek) is much better than my sb live value.

In terms quality of 3d audio rendering, or in terms of audio quality per se?

I wouldn't be surprised if Realtek chips make better positional audio. After all, it's just a matter of coding newer drivers that force the CPU to do better quality audio rendering.

With a Sound Blaster, or another 3d audio accelerator, adding extra functionality is difficult, since you're dealing with fixed-function hardware, rather than a flexible CPU, and the Live hasn't had a driver update in a while anyway.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: erifneerg
is there anyway to change the codec on the mobo?

Nope

 

[spyork]

Hey guys I just built a new system with the MSI Neo4 Platinum Nforce4 Ultra motherboard. I have a Hercules Game Theater XP 7.1 in my old computer, and I was wandering what your guys opinions of this card were. Should I use it or just stick with the onboard sound?

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: spyork
Hey guys I just built a new system with the MSI Neo4 Platinum Nforce4 Ultra motherboard. I have a Hercules Game Theater XP 7.1 in my old computer, and I was wandering what your guys opinions of this card were. Should I use it or just stick with the onboard sound?

Try them both and see which you like better.