7.1 sound in mobos
Forum Motherboard & Memory : General Motherboard - 7.1 sound in mobos
Many new mobos come with built in 7.1 sound. I wonder if that sufficient for gaming (like EAX3 or HD sound) and high quality music (I do have better than average speakers, THX certified), or if I want better quality sound I still have to spend additional $100 (comparable to the price of mobo) for the sound card?
Hi MxM,
Concerning your question about 7.1 surround sound, I doubt that most mobo can give good quality gaming sound. I'd suggest that you go for good, rock solid 5.1 channel sound card instead - like a Creative Audigy.
It depends on the card maker, actually - the DAC is what makes the difference between a poor sound card and a good one, because right now processing capabilities for day-to-day use are pretty much the same (Nvidia Nforce430 does EAX2.0 5.1). If you get a quality motherboard (Asus?) with a good set of speakers (BTW, THX is far from being that high a cert, but it sure helps), then you'll get sound that is comparable with a good sound card.'s output.
Now it's true that Creative's DAC are nothing to sneeze at, but my advice would be to save the $100 and invest in some good magnetic insulating and good quality cables. If you are still not satisfied, then you can buy a more expensive sound card.
I understand that my speakers are not the very best one, they are only above the average (they cost about $250), but the do quite adequate job, and I like the sound they produce.
The post above (by Mitch074) suggest that the ADC is the primary source of quality, does it mean that the amplifiers are already good on mobos?
Also, do I correctly understand that there is no EAX 3.0 (and higher) support in mobos? If this is the case, I will use separate card for sound.
I have tested EAX2.0 acceleration on a Nforce430 chipset. At the very least it is on the way to support EAX3 (may have it complete). If you could provide me with some way to test EAX3 support, then I'll run it and tell you if the Nforce430 does have good EAX3 support. As far as I know, the only problems with EAX3 are driver-level due to a lack of specs - and these are old news: it may have been solved since then.
My impression is that HL2 can run game with EAX 3.0. At least can you check that HL2 runs well when you use 5.1 or 7.1 sound?
If the demo version has EAX3 support, then I'll test it and let you know - I don't own the game, so I need to get the demo.
I think it does. It should say something like HD sound. Thanks
Well, I tested EAX2 + HD sound in Painkiller. If that's actually EAX3, then the Nvidia 430 definitely supports it.
Onboard sound these days is more than adequate for most users.
Some boards actually come with SB Audigy chips so look carefully when choosing a board. Audigy is much better than AC97.
True, an Audigy chip is good. However, Realtek ones are nothing to sneeze at either, the ALC880 is quite good as a matter of fact.
I've found a benchmarking of several chips, where they compare a Realtek 850 (AC97), a Realtek880 (HDA), a C-Media 9880 and an Audigy LS.
Results: -103dB noise level for the Realtek880. In DS3D+EAX2.0 32-ways mixing, the Realtek chip uses.1.5% more CPU time than the Audigy.
However, the Audigy does use EAX3.0 and hardware acceleration, resulting in slightly better effects in games. Pure sound decoding, such as DVD Audio playback, has nothing to lose on a HDA codec.
If this little CPU use and slightly better effects is worth $100 to you, then go on. Otherwise, invest them in better computer soundproofing: it'll help much more.
listen to the onboard for awhile and then decide if you want a card. If so then buy one and compare for yourself. Now if your speakers are just these little 2 speaker desktops then dont buy and audigy. It wont make up for crappy speakers. Inverst in good speakers first then get a sound card if you dont like the onboard.
As I said, I paid $250 for my speakers, and it is 5.1. I like the way they made, they look solid and heavy, if not very large, and each speaker is 2-way (except subwoofer of cause).
Unfortunately the mobos typically do not specify things like THD for the audio output, and thus I do not know how good are they.
My current computer has a card that supports EAX 2.0, and I see the age of this technology - many games have EAX 3.0 implemented, (primary example HL2), and thus I can't get the best of the sound. When HL2 was out, I could only see stereo option for my computer because of that (they corrected it since then, but the sound in 5.1 skips from time to time, so I still have to use 2 speaker setup for HL2).
But I think I will go with advice of buying the computer without the card and see (actually hear) how does it go.
I know that good mobos (like Asus) have both several jack and SPDIF outputs. If you look it up in a manufacturer's website, said outputs are usually well detailed.
I have an Asus A8N-E and good earphones, the sound is very nice. Moreover, since I built my system to be silent, I can really enjoy the quality.
There are 14 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.
Please mind
You are about to answer a thread that has been inactive for more than 6 months.
If you still wish to proceed, please ensure that your posting is original and does not duplicate or overlap any prior responses to this thread.
