Asus Xonar DG Soundcard

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Visiionz_

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Oct 17, 2016
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So lately I've been looking for a cheap and decent Soundcard since my motherboard doesn't have a good Soundcard (Z97 PC MATE). My motherboard is not fancy with multiple features but it does it's job pretty well .

After looking for a Soundcard ,I found the Asus Xonar DGX with PCIE connection and Asus Xonar DG with PCI connection.
But since my motherboard only has 2 PCIE and 2 PCI ports , I thought about the future , maybe I would need a PCIE connection since nowadays it is widely used over the Old PCI connections.

The Asus Xonar Soundcard comes in both versions (DGX and DG) and are claimed to have the same features but with different connections (DGX=PCIE ,DG=PCI) .

Now considering that I should try my best to not use the PCIE ports and save it for future upgrades, I just ordered a DG model which again uses PCI .(the DG model is cheaper too)

My point now is , since PCI is an Old technology with poor speeds , will it produce same sound quality as the DGX model which uses PCIE ?

Here's my PC specs if you need them :
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE
Ram: Crucial 1600mhz 16 GB
GPU: EVGA GTX 1070 FTW
CPU: i7 4790K

(I tried my best to get the best GPU and CPU within my budget , that's why my mobo and ram is kinda old and inexpensive)
 
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CaptainCretin

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Jul 18, 2016
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AFAIK there is no difference in sound quality - although I could never get mine to work with my 5.1 speakers.

The problem you will face will be at upgrade time; PCI is (as you say) an obsolete standard; 99% of modern motherboards dont have ANY PCI slots, so the card will be useless.

If you can, I would cancel and order the PCIE model.
 
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Visiionz

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Sep 17, 2016
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Why would I cancel? I don't plan on upgrading my motherboard any time soon . I'm only curious about the sound quality and the surround sound . What's the reason to get the PCIE ?
 
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finitekosmos

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Dec 24, 2017
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Greetings!

The Xonar DGX PCIe is going to be the better option, however, for what you want to do PCI and PCIe will offer substantially the same performance with this device.

PCIe has more direct access pathways to the CPU, PCI is more restricted, however devices like sound cards utilise such a small amount of system bandwidth that it is almost negligible, your ability to perceive a difference between a PCI and PCIe connected audio device isn't realistic. The thing however to remember is that if you seek an upgrade in the future then PCIe is the way to go. With PCIe you will be able to use your device in a new computer, PCI as a connection interface standard has been eliminated from modern computers and replaced with PCIe.

Having said all that, you haven't mentioned your GPU, if you are using a GPU that occupies two slots, you should check to make certain that your GPU is not obstructing the next available slot on your computer.
 
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Deleted member 217926

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Sound quality should be identical if everything else is the same. I have a PCI-E Xonar Essence STX and it also came as a PCI ST version. I don't think the ST measured quite as well but I don't believe they were completely identical either so it wasn't an interface or bandwidth thing.
 
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CaptainCretin

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Jul 18, 2016
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If the board becomes faulty, or the system gets too slow to cope and you need to replace it, unless you can find an older board, the PCI version of the sound card will probably have to be thrown away; if you get the PCIE version, you will still be able to use it in a new system.

Board takes 4th/5th gen cpu's; Intel are up to 8th gen now arent they, with a new lot on the way.
 
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cryoburner

cryoburner

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Oct 8, 2011
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There isn't likely to be any notable difference in performance between a PCI and a PCIe sound card. Personally, I might have gone with the PCIe version if the prices were close, simply to have the option to move it to newer system that may lack PCI slots. You can still find PCI slots on current generation motherboards though, and they're not quite as rare as Captain makes them sound, though they might be less common a few years down the line. Going by a search on Newegg, 19 out of the 206 models of new ATX/MicroATX motherboards they sell for Coffee Lake and Ryzen support PCI, so that's still around 8%, or around 11% if we just look at the ATX form factor.

As for your motherboard, is it this one?
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/Z97-PC-Mate/Specification

That actually has four PCIe slots, two X1 and two X16. One is used by your graphics card, but the other x16 slot could be used with a card designed for a smaller slot as well.

Keeping the sound card in a PCI slot at the bottom of the case might give your graphics card a little more room to breath though. These aren't exactly super-expensive cards, so its not like you'll be out of a big investment should you ever decide to move to a system without PCI slots. And of course, while there have been a few CPU generations since the 4790K, they haven't really improved performance all that much, aside from adding some addition cores at each price point in the latest generation. A 4790K is still very much competitive with the current i5 processors, and it doesn't make much sense to move to a current-gen i7 unless you need the extra threads for certain non-gaming tasks. So you'll probably be able to stick with that system for quite a while without notably impacting gaming performance.
 
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gamerk316

gamerk316

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Jul 8, 2008
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As far as quality goes, the two should be identical. PCI is dying out, but most motherboards continue to include one PCI slot for legacy reasons. That being said, there really isn't much reason to get the PCI version, since most all motherboards have a PCI-E x1 slot you can use anyways.
 
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