680i Onboard v XFi

[Dertman]

Now that the specs are out for the 680i, does the onboard audio remotely stand up to a dedicated sound card. Or is the gap close enough to save $100+ and put it towards something else. Mostly just games and casual music listening.

 

[halcyon]

One way to answer that question is to see if they published any audio specs for the audio solution on the mobo.

Given that the lowest cost X-Fi solution is still >$60 I'd be skeptical that an onboard solution is going to give you close to 109db S/N with .004 THD etc. that is found in even the cheapest X-Fi Xtreme Audio. In other words I doubt there's a >=$60 audio solution built onto the mobo, if so it'll probably be highly marketed.

If you're connecting to your speakers/receiver via S/PDIF optical or coax you'll be largely isolated from any RFI and noise in the mobo's audio making the onboard audio a more attractive solution.

Listen to the onboard sound, if it sounds good or acceptable to you save your $$ for a while. If it sounds flat and lacking and you just can't enjoy it than I'd think at least an Xtreme Audio or Xtreme Gamer might be justified or even some other mid-priced dedicated card. ...those few framerates you get with a Creative card may not be too meaningful with the class of CPU you're dealing with.

 

[cdonato]

If you're looking for better sound quality & to offload the sound processing to save cpu for a game itself then a dedicated sound card is the way to go.

 

[Dertman]

But how about the hybrid solution that a number of 680i boards are implementing (Asus, Abit, etc.). "The SupremeFX audio card, with 24bit/192kHz sampling in all surround channels, provides high-quality audio whether it’s through headphones or 7.1 surround sound speakers." Basically, it looks like a low-end soundcard that ships with the mobo.

 

[halcyon]

I think those cards are a step in a better direction and better than the old ALC880 and SoundMax junk but I don't think they're an M-Audio 2496 or a Montego DDL in quality. Do they provide any specs for them that they're not embarrassed to publish?

 

[NeonDeon]

Take a load off your processor and buy a sound card!
Unless you have a dual core that is.....

 

[Crashman]

Diamond XtremeSound 7.1 has the same sound chip as the Montego DDL, good reviews, and cost around $40.

 

[Doughbuy]

I've been wondering about this too, but for me... the deciding factor is whether I'm going to have enough PCI-slots... sad I know... damn dual-slot GPU cards. =P