is nForce2 chipset good enough for sound?

[Bawoo]

Hello, I am in process building a pc right now, and i would like to use
Ausus A7N8x-DX nForce2-ST, AGP8x, A133, S-ATA, i1394,Dual-DDR400, Audio,Dual-Lan, 6USB2 as my mother board. I heard the chipset on this board produce sound that's as good as or to Audigy sound card. So, should I buy a Soundblaster live 5.1 soundcard? or use nforce2 is good enough for sound?
I am just looking to have decent sound on my new pc.

thanx you!

 

[lwj81]

Use the Nforce2.

 

[Spitfire_x86]

nForce APU is better than Audigy2

Buy MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR instead of ASUS A7N8X Deluxe. It's a faster and better mobo

----------------
<b><A HREF="http://geocities.com/spitfire_x86" target="_new"> My Website</A></b>

<b><A HREF="http://geocities.com/spitfire_x86/myrig.html" target="_new"> My Rig</A></b>

 

[rook]

Hey Spitfire... Do you own stock in MSI?

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=23900" target="_new">My PC</A>
<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=765344" target="_new">4989 3DMarks</A>

 

[TKH]

Spitfire has been well known here recommending MSI nForce2 lines, if you look at all those old post about nForce2 mobo recommendation, there he'll ne and saying get MSI. Well, MSI do make the fastest nForce2 mobo, it's nothing wrong to recommend them. He may or may not own MSI stock but I'm sure he is a big fan of MSI.

It is morally wrong to allow suckers to keep their money
<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=22996" target="_new">My System Rig</A>

 

[Spitfire_x86]

I own a MSI K7N420 Pro mobo (nForce 420-D). It's great, so I like MSI mobos and nVidia chipsets.

I've also very good experience with MSI mobos and graphics card

----------------
<b><A HREF="http://geocities.com/spitfire_x86" target="_new"> My Website</A></b>

<b><A HREF="http://geocities.com/spitfire_x86/myrig.html" target="_new"> My Rig</A></b>

 

[rebturtle]

Stick with the nForce sound. If you decide you don't like it later, I'll sell you my old Sound Blaster Live card. I haven't used it since i got <i>my</i> nForce board!

<A HREF="http://rebturtle.com" target="_new">rebturtle</A>
<A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/rebturtle/TurtleTech.html" target="_new">My System</A>

 

[Bawoo]

hey guys thanx for the reply, i guess i can take sound blaster 5.1 off my shopping list now

i am in a process building myself a pc. And i finally finish the first step, which is to pick my parts. Here is my list down packed.


$140 ANTEC LANBOY Case CHAS ATX Aluminium w/Windows, 350W, SmartBlue, USB2.0
$63/66 Lite-ON 52x24x52x IDE Internal w/ Burn Proof (oem/retail)
$136 WD800JB: 80.0GB 7200rpm, ATA100, 9ms, Caviar, 8M
$183 Ausus A7N8x-DX nForce2-ST, AGP8x, A133, S-ATA, i1394,Dual-DDR400, Audio,Dual-Lan, 6USB2
$198 Asus G4 Ti4200-8X 128M DDR DV-i, TV-o, AGP8x (V9280-TD, retail box)
$63 512M DDR-PC2700: 333mhz (Spectek OEM)
$185 AMD Barton XP2500+ CPU s462/128k+512K .13 (333FSB; 1.833ghz) 32bit
$60 Logitech Cordless FREEDOM: cordless KB and cordless mouse (OEM pack)
$95 Inspire 5.1 5200 Subwoofer + 4 speakers 21W, RMS $95
$655 Multisync LCD1760V /-BK 17" TFT-LCD 1280x1024@60Hz 450:1 3 year NEC warranty, or BLACK

prices are in CDN.



Now i have few concerns for you pc experts out there.

Can you help me double check if all parts will work well together?

Will the heatsink and fan that come with AMD Barton be sufficient enough? I am not planning to overclock the CPU.

Do you guys suggest buying a extra fan?

Will ANTEC LANBOY Case be a good case for noob pc builder like me? Since this is my first time building a pc, what precautions should i take? Do you guys recommend me taking apart my old pc apart first and putting back together as practice?

Do you guys think the prices of the parts i listed will drop dramatically in the next 2 monthes?

any other comments are welcomed.

thanx for the great help once again!

 

[rebturtle]

I would definately try using <A HREF="http://www.pricewatch.com/" target="_new">pricewatch.com</A> to double check prices on some of that stuff, although I don't know what the current exchange rate is. This article may interest you <A HREF="http://www.cpureview.com/ed_ripoff.html" target="_new">http://www.cpureview.com/ed_ripoff.html</A>
My only concern in that whole listing would be the generic RAM. I think that would be a decision that would haunt you for a long time. Corsair, GeIL, OCZ, Kingston, Samsung, etc. Also, make sure you get <i>two</i> sticks of RAM (2x256 to get the 512MB you want). There's no use getting the nForce platform if you bypass the one feature that puts it far above the others - dual-channel RAM!!

<A HREF="http://rebturtle.com" target="_new">rebturtle</A>
<A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/rebturtle/TurtleTech.html" target="_new">My System</A>

 

[Bawoo]

hey thanx turtble for the tip.
so, u are suggesting that I should get 2 X 256 MB 333Mhz ram instead one 512MB for my motherboard? I am not sure what's the different between dual-channel RAM and regular RAM. Still a noob here. hope someone can help out. thanx!

 

[rebturtle]

Oooh boy!, Dual channel RAM is one of the best things to come around in quite a while. It basically doubles the memory bandwidth by accessing both sticks at the same time. It's a rather dramatic improvement over the norm. Check out the reviews on Tom's site for more. You could also do some massive reading on the memory forum. The nForce chipset is the only one that supports this feature (for AMD mobos).

<A HREF="http://rebturtle.com" target="_new">rebturtle</A>
<A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/rebturtle/TurtleTech.html" target="_new">My System</A>

 

[Bawoo]

sounds good, looks like i will get 2 X 256 MB 333mhz RAM instead.