Snoopsta

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Nov 16, 2005
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I want to get a set of Z5500s but I dont have a sound card. My mobo is Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe (Realtek ALC850 8-channel AC'97). Would I get good sound from this with the Z5500s??

If not i can get a sound card but not the real expensive ones. I was going to go with the Xtreme Music but I heard it was having problems with the nforce4 motherboards so I dunno which one to go with...
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
Depending on the motherboard design, you could get very good sound from that onboard controller. You might notice noise, or not, depending on the design of the circuits surrounding the ALC850.

You're best advice is to try it.
 

bobbydamm

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Nov 21, 2005
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Crashman's right....
Just a note that you'll want to get the latest a380 realtek drivers.
It seems these latest ones helped eliminate alot of the popping I heard when I would play games or listen to DVD's.
 

uncle_ben

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I was reading on web some nForce 4 boards had difficulties with X-Fi but in 9/10 cases flashing mobo's bios solves the problem.

Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe is not affected anyway so if only that stops you from getting X-Fi, I would not worry. I am very very glad with my X-Fi anywy: surround sound over regular headphones is freaking good.

But before jumping to X-Fi you could actually try to squeeze more from your onboard. It's in fact pretty decent, as it was noted above.