On-board vs Sound card

[Microbell]

There were only a few answers about this that I could find but no absolute opinion either way about the quality.

Story time:

I'm currently upgrading my PC and have everything picked out and confirmed compatible so I'm down to my last two items. OS and Soundcard. Back in the old days I laid down some serious bucks for a soundcard and speaker setup that has ruled since 2009.

In some of my past builds I tried using the onboard sound from both VIA and Realtek and neither can touch my Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro. This card is by far the best one I have ever had and I'm using it currently in Windows 7 64bit. My new board has the Realtek ALC1150 controller and I'm not positive I tried that version but was able to locate Windows 10 drivers if need be for the SB card.

I have compared the specs from the ALC1150 to my SB card and although some are matched the SB Card is still superior in quite a few specs. One of issues with onboard was hissing, crack, and pop and not good surround sound and flats but this can be solved by a independent sound card as that moves the DAC off the motherboard. My speaker system is a Creative Labs (can't think of model number) 7.1 Channel w/30watt sub woofer and I don't think the Realtek ALC1150 can drive that without issues. Of all the other posts I've seen they regard "Getting" a card which I already have so that's no help.

My Questions:

1. Is the Realtek ALC1150 chip any better then their last version?
2. Should I just install the SB Card with the other components and be done with it?

I was just going to install the SB card in the build as I added parts and the drivers are a nightmare to install in Windows 7 but doable but I'm not sure about the Windows 10 drivers (If I update) and I'm looking for a trouble free build (which using the onboard would be) but with quality sound in game play.

Build Specs

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3M 3.7 GHz LGA 1151 BX80662I36100 Desktop Processor
MB: MSI Gaming B150A Gaming Pro
Sound: SB X-Fi gamer extreme faility pro
OS: Windows 7 64bit (Or 10 if I upgrade)

*Note* In Past versions of both the VIA and Realtek codecs most said you will not notice a difference. If your a gamer and want a superior audio experience in your games then you should notice a big difference! (No Hiss,Crack, Pop, clear highs, lows, bass and echos etc)

 

[SinxarKnights]

I don't know if they released working drivers for your card or not is the thing.

See I have an X-Fi XtremeGamer card that worked in the insider versions of Windows 10 using the 8.1 drivers. However once 10 was released, the 8.1 drivers no longer worked. The Windows 10 drivers are completely broken. There is a driver pack on the forum however that do work for 10. But again I don't know if this will be an issue for your card or not, but it is something to be prepared for.

There is no comparison to a good X-Fi card to any realtek onboard. I imagine you will be very disappointed with using onboard instead of your X-Fi. That is if you enjoy the clarity and quality of it. If you don't care, then onboard is fine. I've never heard any realtek audio that sounded good in any sense of the word. It always sounds muddy with a poor low and high end response with extremely amped midrange.

In my case, I felt it was time to move on from my X-Fi and I got a SoundBlaster Z. Sounds exactly the same but with working Windows 10 drivers.

 

[Inkiad]

I would first check the onboard sound. Onboard sound is ok. ALC 1150 is supposed to be better. I did not see that much of a difference between onboard and a audio card. Aside from that you can tweak the hell out on audio card driver.

If you want best audio experience, get a good DAC.

Edit: Or an audio interface of a reputed brand.

 

[Microbell]

Thanks for your input guys. I checked the Data sheet for the ALC1150 and my current card still blows it away so I'm going to try and keep the card installed. Just got to locate Windows 10 drivers if I decide to upgrade.

@SinxarKnights I have not been to the forums lately so I'll check them out this weekend but do you know if the Windows 10 drivers are from forum member "DanielK"? He re-wrote the drivers for Windows 7 and they were 10 times better then what Creative finally released after all the hoopla lol.

 

[Vic 40]

There seem to be W10 drivers for that card,
https://www.google.nl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjtxNes35_NAhXlIsAKHRqsAMYQFgghMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsupport.creative.com%2FProducts%2FProductDetails.aspx%3FcatID%3D1%26CatName%3DSound%2BBlaster%26subCatID%3D208%26subCatName%3DX-Fi%26prodID%3D15854%26prodName%3DX-Fi%2BXtremeGamer%2BFatal1ty%2BPro%2BSeries&usg=AFQjCNHjMkiUb-5npctTUPkvAJoQ1ixEGQ
if i'm not mistaken that is.Just check it out.

 

[SinxarKnights]

Thanks for your input guys. I checked the Data sheet for the ALC1150 and my current card still blows it away so I'm going to try and keep the card installed. Just got to locate Windows 10 drivers if I decide to upgrade.

@SinxarKnights I have not been to the forums lately so I'll check them out this weekend but do you know if the Windows 10 drivers are from forum member "DanielK"? He re-wrote the drivers for Windows 7 and they were 10 times better then what Creative finally released after all the hoopla lol.

He didn't actually rewrite anything. It is just repackaged, so they are in fact the official drivers but they actually work in Windows 10.

There seem to be W10 drivers for that card,
https://www.google.nl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjtxNes35_NAhXlIsAKHRqsAMYQFgghMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsupport.creative.com%2FProducts%2FProductDetails.aspx%3FcatID%3D1%26CatName%3DSound%2BBlaster%26subCatID%3D208%26subCatName%3DX-Fi%26prodID%3D15854%26prodName%3DX-Fi%2BXtremeGamer%2BFatal1ty%2BPro%2BSeries&usg=AFQjCNHjMkiUb-5npctTUPkvAJoQ1ixEGQ
if i'm not mistaken that is.Just check it out.

Those are indeed the 10 drivers, but they do not work. They released broken drivers and instead of fixing them, they put the card in the EOL so they would never have to fix it.

 

[Vic 40]

Ah,i didn't know that.

 

[SinxarKnights]

Ah,i didn't know that.

It is too bad really because the X-Fi cards are so good. They did the same thing with the SB Live! 5.1 card when Vista was released. Released non-working drivers the quickly put the card into EOL.

 

[Vic 40]

Older drivers don't work in compatibility mode?

 

[SinxarKnights]

I was never able to make them work once Win 10 was fairly close to release. Something changed in 10 that broke the 8.1 drivers. Never thought about trying compatibility mode but honestly i've never heard of using a low level driver in compatibility mode or if it is even possible.

 

[Microbell]

I could have sworn there was a whole forum thread dealing with DanielK re-writing and packaging the drivers for Windows 7 because SB decided not to do it at the time.

Anyway @SinxarKnights was the latest Windows 10 drivers at SB site (Jan 21, 2016) the ones you tried?

You also said in your first reply "There is a driver pack on the forum however that do work for 10" Can you shoot me a link? As you can see I'm reluctant to give up this card since it's done well so if I can get it to work I want to try and keep it even though I may have to fiddle with the install process as I had to do on 7 to get it stable. (had the random driver disappearing issue)

As for the SB Z card my understanding is that it's a 5.1 Channel that does 7.1 virtual but I need a true 8 channel (7.1) that drives each speaker as I'm not sending this through a receiver if I intend to keep the sound quality equal to my current setup.

Edit: Just so you know what hardware I'm dealing with to try and make it work in Windows 10. (Windows 7 64bit is awsome right now w/no issues)

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Sound Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102005

Creative Inspire P7800 90 Watts 7.1 Speaker
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836116153

 

[Vic 40]

Something changed in 10 that broke the 8.1 drivers.

Seems like you tried to use W8.1 drivers with W10,those are in that link too,but there are also drivers specifically for W10 in there like described by Microbell.

i've never heard of using a low level driver in compatibility mode or if it is even possible.

If you rightclick the downloaded file (drivers) can you choose, "solve compatibility issues" (well something like that) ,i meant try that.

 

[SinxarKnights]

There is a thread and he did repack em, he didn't write them though. They are the official signed (by Creative Labs) drivers. http://danielkawakami.blogspot.com/2015/09/sb-x-fi-series-support-pack-37.html

It appears they were removed from the Creative forums as the links lead nowhere. I didn't check the link provided in his blog.

You can give them a shot. Would be awesome if they worked, since his driver pack is no longer on the forum, take that as a good sign.

The last time I used that card was December 4, 2015. It was EOL at this time. Maybe they finally realized the driver was completely screwed. Give it a shot. If they don't work and the other drivers are unavailable surely somebody has a copy of some working ones.

Seems like you tried to use W8.1 drivers with W10,those are in that link too,but there are also drivers specifically for W10 in there like described by Microbell.

Yes... Windows 10 Drivers were not released until November 2015. The Insider Windows 10 used 8.1 drivers. However, near the actual release of Windows 10, something was changed in Windows 10 that did not allow the 8.1 drivers to function anymore. Once Creative released the official Windows 10 drivers, when you installed them they did not install the devices needed to play sound. It only installed the SPDIF output driver and that was it. No control panel no actual driver for the card itself, only the digital output.

Because of this, there was no option but to use the third party pack of drivers for the X-Fi series. Which worked as it should. Included all the software and the driver for the card itself, not just the digital output.

Funny though because I just tossed the drivers last week (while clearing out my old backups) as I have no intention of ever using the card again.

 

[Microbell]

Well the link on danielk's blog still worked so I downloaded both the Support Pack 3.7 and Creatives release and will store it for now. The last pack I used for 7 was 2.1 and in the Creatives release note it did mention a fix for Windows 10 32-bit Build 10586. That said it should install the entire package.

I had a issue installing the 7 drivers like you described for 10 (installing part or wrong software) and it came down to the order in which each is installed. I reinstalled about 4 times before I hit the correct order that allowed everything to work correctly. (which is expected with old hardware on new)

 

[SinxarKnights]

I hope it works for you. The X-Fi series is just so good, would be a shame to waste the potential.

Glad you decided to switch to 10 as well. IMHO it is a pretty good OS. But then again I was a fan of XP and Vista and didn't really like 7. Windows 8 was OK once they released the 8.1 update though.

 

[Microbell]

Yea I also liked XP. When 10 was in trial I told a friend you would have to drag me kicking and screaming into 10 but I'm being pushed into it via the hardware upgrade since I'm using an Intel "Skylake" chipset and a lot of the MB manufactures make you jump through hoops to install 7 so this is the easy route plus MS made it easier now on install

1. Put 10 on DVD
2. Install using your 7 code

Before you had to install 7 then do an upgrade to get 10.