What's the deal w/ onboard sound?

[JavaCool]

a bunch these new mobos are coming out with onboard sound. From my past experience, this wasn't exactly a good thing...

What do you guys think?

BTW, I'm building a new computer for a buddy. I'm getting him an athlon 1.2ghz.

I need suggestions on a motherboard and video card (geforce2). They need to be around $100 each. Thanks All

 

[S0me1X]

It maybe worthwile to wait for the nForce (it has integrated slightly-better-than-geforce2 video and supposedly very good onboard audio).

edit: scouzer, you're right, it isn't better than gts ))

 

[Scouzer]

I read the onboard video performs slightly above the Geforce 2 MX 400...

 

[JavaCool]

What would you suggest if I wanted to get one now? nForce sounds nice, but there's just something about onboard sound/video that makes me want to stay away from it. What do you guys think?

 

[LXi]

For $100, just get a KT133A from MSI or Iwill. As for GeForce2, Visiontek and MSI both make one for a bit above $100.

Onboard sound is not a good thing, it adds production cost which raise the price of the motherboard. But I dont think it hurts to buy a motherboard that has one because you can always disable it without side effects; some people become extremely religious when it comes to onboard sound, they totally resist buying any motherboard with sound, I think thats kinda stupid because they could be missing out an excellent baord like the Iwill KK266.

 

[JavaCool]

<< Onboard sound is not a good thing >>



What about the Epox-8k7a(+). It has onboard sound, yet people love it. It's does ddr also.

BTW, thanx for you reply, it was really helpful.

 

[shathal]

On-board sound is a &quot;good&quot; thing - it depends for whom. Mostly, on-board sound is for either low-end systems.

Think about &quot;average joe&quot; who just wants a glorified type-writer that can play audio as well. The sort of chap who gets a Celeron/Duron system with no AGP slots and is happy with integrated GFX &amp; audio. They want stuff that works, don't need &quot;high quality&quot; stuff that would cost them extra.

Don't forget that there's a lot of such people out there ...

 

[Wingznut]

I think the poor rep that onboard sound has, dates back a while to when it was pretty difficult to disable it without issues. Nowadays, it's easy (and effective) to disable it.

 

[Atropos]

Just for giggles I tried to get the on board sound working on my 8k7a. It half assed worked, I'd get sounds in windows, but in game, nada. Spent about 15 minutes messing with it and said screw it, diabled it and put in my Xitel card.

 

[JavaCool]

Looks like I'm gearing towards the epox because it supports ddr. Thanks for the input, buys. Y'all rock.