Hardware Question: Motherboard Sound Cards

[Coffee Warlord]

So, it's been awhile since I've put together a serious gaming machine. Got this sucker specced out, but one question arises that I'll pose to folks with these newfangled machines.

Back in the day, sound cards embedded in motherboards sucked. A lot. Looks like things have gone a long way since "The Day". So...my question is, for a quality gaming rig, do I particularly need a "real" sound card anymore, or can the boards handle this job now?

(Note, I'm don't care all that much about super duper uber sound quality. My only concern is the sound not being choppy/causing slowdowns/etc.)

[PackerFanatic]

Honestly, you would probably be wasting money if yo uwent out and bought a "real" sound card, even for an awesome gaming machine. The sound quality probably wouldn't be much different if you used the on-board card as opposed to a PCI card.

[HomerJSimpson]

Honestly, you would probably be wasting money if yo uwent out and bought a "real" sound card, even for an awesome gaming machine. The sound quality probably wouldn't be much different if you used the on-board card as opposed to a PCI card.


That is what I've found, too. Unless you are a complete "audiophile," you will be happy with the sound you get out of the standard motherboard sound card. On-board video cards still suck, though.

[PackerFanatic]

That is true, but like you said, you would have to be extremely picky to need a PCI card.

[jeff061]

I agree with the above. A PCI sound card will technically be better, but won't likely be noticeable.

[Draft Dodger]

yep - very happy with my onboard sound.

[Antmeister]

I don't agree. It really depends. Usually those built in sound cards use generic sound drivers. If you can find some built in ones that are Sound Blaster compatible, you should be okay. But I say this because my wife has an onboard sound card and we have found that certain games don't work with it because of the drivers that the sound card uses. Even with updating the drivers, the drivers may not be compatible with the game. You can always find cheap sound cards these days anyway.

[hukarez]

One thing to keep in mind is compatibility, however.

It may not matter for some folks, but my buddy had to invest in a SoundBlaster card (just got a $25 one), since Battlefield 2's VoIP didn't support the chip that was on his mainboard -- RealTek.

[jeff061]

In a lot of cases those $25 cards will actually be worse than the newer onboard audio.

[sterlingice]

It really seems like these days, you either go with your onboard sound or take the plunge and get something in the Audigy line (even the value one).

SI

[PackerFanatic]

Yeah, no point in going with a cheap PCI because, as already said, they would probably be worse than the on-board anyways. All or nothing, heh.

[sabotai]

I don't agree with the above at all. I noticed a world of difference when I upgraded from my onboard card to my Audigy card. Even with just 2 speakers there was a noticable difference, and I wouldn't call myself an "audiophile". Yeah, cheap PCI cards are just as crappy as onboard sound, which still as crappy as it was back in "the day" (relative to good PCI sound cards)/ And then if you combine an Audigy card with a set of good 5.1 speakers, you won't beleive what you've been missing out on. (Even 2.1 speakers...in order to "feel" the music during the battles in Rome: Toal War, you need a subwoofer (Although M:TW was better at creating that "loud, deep drum" sound than the battle music in R:TW). :D)

Of course, it does depend on the type of game you play. If you play FPS, you'll notice a HUGE difference with just an Audigy card, let alone 5.1 speakers. If you just play strategy games or sports management games...you won't (obviously).

I would say it would depend most on what kind of game you play on what you should go with.

[dl5175]

I think it depends on the motherboard. I like the sound on my Asus but I read it had better on board sound than the DFI LanParty I was considering. AnandTech.com has good info.

[gi]

This article has some things to say about it: hxxp://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20050818/index.html

Short of it is: We should stress the fact that Creative, unlike most of its competitors, has always included a true audio processor on its cards, as opposed to simply using a codec and putting the processing load on the CPU. That approach accounts for their superiority in games, where Creative avoids having to devote part of the available processing power to sound, but it also creates a few problems in other areas. The processors used in the Live! and Audigy cards operated natively at 48 kHz, creating some problems at 44.1 kHz and simply refusing to process higher sampling frequencies at all. With X-Fi, those problems are behind us, and operation is now possible at all usable sampling frequencies.

Depends on if you are using a codex if the onboard sound will use more resources. This probably will only matter if you care about Frames Per Second (FPS) for your games.

[Dutch]

I guess I'm old school and like my sound card seperated from my processor cycles. Especially when you are pushing frame-rates already (if your system is getting older), it's nice to know that your sound isn't eating your processor cycles.

And by audiophile, it probably doesn't neccessarily mean gamers, but serious music fans who insist on having the best possible sound.

[sterlingice]

Dug up this old thread to mention PC Surplus Online is having a sale on PCI Sound Blaster Live's that are pulled from a system.

http://www.pcsurplusonline.com/ViewProd.cfm?ID=3748

SI