Mattias Posted August 31, 2003 Share Posted August 31, 2003 Taking advantage of the knowledgeable and friendly forum I am in the market for a new motherboard and among the many factors to keep in mind is, as I understand it, what kind of integral audio chip is used. Certainly not the most important aspect of a Mobo, but one that I have failed to grasp. So.. I am using a SB Live Value card right now. Is this ageing card inferior to current integrated solutions? Sound quality, features and processing speed (ability take over sound related work from the CPU) being the points of comparison. Or, should I just stick with the old card? And, which is the best chip? After all, if I get a new mobo it will have integrated sound anyway, so what should I look for? I have still not decided for which CPU I'll go so, all solutions are of interest, AMD as well as Intel related. Any and all help is greatly appreciated Mattias 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WWB Posted August 31, 2003 Share Posted August 31, 2003 Depends on the motherboard. The top-end NForce chipsets have good 5.1 sound integrated. Most other ones are probably worse than the SB Live. WWB 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaylord Focker Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 How much money are you willing to spend? If it is realy not an option i would go with a seperate pci sound card, an Audigy 2 made by Creative, or theSanta Cruz . Also for some good pc speaker and sound card reviews check out 3D Soundsurge . Hope this helps. Also if you decide to spend more than you planned on your sound, to even out the cost i would suggest going with AMD for the processor, mabe an XP2500 Barton chip or something in that range perhaps. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaylord Focker Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 I would also like to add the Nforce would be a fine choice as well. I just personally prefer the separate PCI card. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 I'd side with the advice that you've received already. The high-end NForce chipsets with the 5.1 audio are the closest competition to the SB Live for built-in audio. I haven't done any comparisions, but the NForce might be more CPU intensive when playing audio (usually a bad thing). The Santa Cruz is also a very nice choice for an audio card. I believe it is a bit better than the Live series and somewhat equivalent to the Audigy series (though the Audigys are newer and may offer some higher-end recording/playback capabilities). One nice thing about the Santa Cruz cards is that they don't seem to run into too many incompatibilities and problems that the Creative cards do. However I'm not sure how often the drivers get updated (they've been less frequent lately). If you intend on keeping the SB Live, then it will most likely be better than any on-board audio that you'll find. An upgrade to an Audigy2 or Santa Cruz may offer a slight improvement, but I don't know how noticeable that may be for audio playback in CM. [ September 03, 2003, 08:13 PM: Message edited by: Schrullenhaft ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattias Posted September 4, 2003 Author Share Posted September 4, 2003 Thanks all for taking the time! What got me thinking was some article I can't find now indicating that there is a general performance advantage to be had from integrated audio solutions. Then again, being less advanced they wouldn't be as processor intensive to start with Again, thanks.. My only problem now is: Can I have windows XP installed and running from a NTFS HD while using a FAT32 HD as backup and move files freely between the two within windows? I have a new 120 GB drive and an older 14 GB and would like to run the two together as C: and D: drives. Pretty binary question I hope Cheers! M. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 Where's my turn, you gamey suede!? And get a Mac, no more worries about soundboards 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattias Posted September 4, 2003 Author Share Posted September 4, 2003 I'll get cracking you tea sipping teuton Sorry for the wait, my mind is a bit binary at times! M. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 Hmmmm... Teeeeaaaaa... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattias Posted September 4, 2003 Author Share Posted September 4, 2003 I'm having a cuppa myself right now, Lapsang, mmm.. Downloading the Homeworld 2 demo and browsing Western Digitals support pages. Generally feeling pretty good about myself M. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 The last two lines don't compute, unless you are even weirder than I remember But I am glad to hear you are having a good time! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WWB Posted September 4, 2003 Share Posted September 4, 2003 Originally posted by Schrullenhaft: The Santa Cruz is also a very nice choice for an audio card. I believe it is a bit better than the Live series and somewhat equivalent to the Audigy series (though the Audigys are newer and may offer some higher-end recording/playback capabilities). One nice thing about the Santa Cruz cards is that they don't seem to run into too many incompatibilities and problems that the Creative cards do. However I'm not sure how often the drivers get updated (they've been less frequent lately). I have a Santa Cruz, and it has done fine even though the drivers are now more than 1 year old. I have had a SB Live, and there is little or no difference in CM. But it sounds richer in other games. Also of note is it handles some sound benchmarks better than any other card I have seen. It also sounds alot crisper when playing digital music. Price-wise they are about as much as an Audigy, but you cant get the front control panel option. Only downside is with 5.1 speakers you have no separate headphone jack. WWB 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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