on-board sound - any good?

mickeddie

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With the new p965 mobo's, how good is the on board sound? I know I can get a decent Soundblaster for about $60 bucks, but with a Conroe build in my future I could use the savings as little as it is.

Thanks!!

Eddie
 

mikeyg83

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that's a good question, i am in the same boat and would like to hear what others have to say. i have heard the the onboard sound will be better than previous onboard sound.
also a point to clarify, does using onboard sound slow down the motherboard more than using a pci soundcard?
 

waylander

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Using on board sound does not slow down the mother board but the cpu, with a core2duo being as powerful as they are this is not really a concern. A separate soundcard removes this load from the cpu but if the quality for on board is good I don't think you will see a speed advantage, just a sound quality one.
 

mikeyg83

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so for my system, i'll mainly be using headphones, but the mobo has 8 channel sound. for using headphones, do you think i need a sound card? if i were to upgrade to a set of 5.1 speakers, would i need a sound card? i guess it's more a matter of trying out the onboard and seeing if i like it, then deciding..
 

jap0nes

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With the new p965 mobo's, how good is the on board sound? I know I can get a decent Soundblaster for about $60 bucks, but with a Conroe build in my future I could use the savings as little as it is.

Thanks!!

Eddie
that's pretty easy to solve: as virtually all motherboards today ship with onboard sound, you'll just have to use it and see if it's any good. If dont, then you buy the dedicated card.
In my opinion you can stick with on board sound. The cpu load is insignificant i'd say, and if quality is a concern then you wouldnt be asking such question :)
 

waylander

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Unless you're a complete audiophile I'd say on board is good enough for most ppl, this was not the case 3-5 years ago.

If you are just using a headset and want to hear the footsteps in FPS games then the on board is fine. If you want a full immersive DVD movie environment then get a sound card, don't get the front bay panel though unless you need it, the x-fi xtreme music is fine. Remember though that crappy speakers will still sound crappy even with the best sound card so get some good speakers if you go that way.

Analogy

Crappy speaker w/ best sound card = 15" bubble crt monitor w/ GF 7950GX2
 

jap0nes

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i dont think you made a good analogy, as the 7950 would still look good on a 15", although small in size... i'd say a good analogy would be a beetle (the old one) with a ferrari engine :p
 

zyberwoof

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i dont think you made a good analogy, as the 7950 would still look good on a 15", although small in size... i'd say a good analogy would be a beetle (the old one) with a ferrari engine :p

Actually, I'd take that beetle :-D
 

Turbo_VE_Max

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i dont think you made a good analogy, as the 7950 would still look good on a 15", although small in size... i'd say a good analogy would be a beetle (the old one) with a ferrari engine :p

I think he is getting at is that getting a 7950 does not guarantee that your games will look good. You need a decent output device.

Getting good speakers, and a receiver with optical cable input outputting in stereo will sound better then most home theater in a box crap.

But if you are going to do either of those that then get a nice sound card.
With modern systems, performance is a none issue for either onboard or pci based sound cards.

I dont even give a crap about computer audio until nvidia makes SoundStorm 2.
 

waylander

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i dont think you made a good analogy, as the 7950 would still look good on a 15", although small in size... i'd say a good analogy would be a beetle (the old one) with a ferrari engine :p

I think it's a good analogy... you try it and see if it looks good or not. Plus I was trying to say that it's a waste getting a really good sound card if you only have crappy speakers. Getting a 7950, which will run 1600 x 1200 on a 21" lcd screen is a waste with a 15" bubble crt running at 800 x 600.
 

jap0nes

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i dont think you made a good analogy, as the 7950 would still look good on a 15", although small in size... i'd say a good analogy would be a beetle (the old one) with a ferrari engine :p

I think it's a good analogy... you try it and see if it looks good or not. Plus I was trying to say that it's a waste getting a really good sound card if you only have crappy speakers. Getting a 7950, which will run 1600 x 1200 on a 21" lcd screen is a waste with a 15" bubble crt running at 800 x 600.
nah, dont have money for a 7950... i understand your point, was trying to complement it. and a 15" can do 1024x768 btw :p
 

htredneck

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I bought my first sound blaster sound card about 15 years ago. It cost me about $180 on sale. It was much better than the sound on my 486sx 33 Mhz. The sound card was not only better, it was necessary because the computer didn´t have sound :eek:

I now use a computer a built a year ago:

Asus P5GD2 Deluxe 3.0 Ghz
2 gig kingston ram 533 DDR2
etc.
etc.
etc.

For me, the sound on the motherboard is great!. I have a good pair of headphones. I use the computer for a little of everything: Web, games (sound is very good for me), listen to music etc.


My advice, don´t get a sound card. Use the $60 for a better quality PSU, a better quality case with good ventilation or a better graphics card. You can always ad it later but if you buy a cheap PSU, case or power supply you are stuck with it.
 

4Aces

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Onboard sound sux no matter what cpu it's with. Are you going to rely on onboard vga? No probably not so why with sound. It's worth the cash, you can get a Sound Blaster Audigy 4 SE for about $50 shipped, a Sound Blaster Audigy SE for $32 shipped. Check reviews of onbard codecs, none I've seen come close to any dedicated sound card in benchmarks. If you have to wait a few months before getting a sound card then sure use it as a stop gap but you'll definately notice a difference once you add the dedicated sound card.