Onboard Sound

[jake4d1]

From what I hear. Having onboard sound is poor quality (compared to a sound card) and also ties up more system resources than a regular sound card. Is this true?
If it isn't, then what's better? Onboard surround sound or a plain old soundcard?

 

[Giraffe]

onboard sound is not what you would call poor

it is still good and better than a lot of old or cheaper sound cards

onboard sound uses very little system resources, id use onboard sound

 

[phamily]

if you are someone who really cares about sound quality, then you should definately get a sound card. personally, i cannot live with onboard sound. My music/games/movies all sound lifeless with onboard (but that is just my opinion because im someone who gives a crap about sound). anyway, onboard will use very little resources, so little you will not be able to notice.
if you want my suggestion, i'd go for an audigy 2z or if you have the money, the xi-fi extreme music (these cards are from creative).

 

[jake4d1]

Ok, thanks, that makes my mobo choice alot simpler.



Now I have more questions though...

Can an ATi Radeon X1950 XTX GFX card run on a board using an intel or NVidia chipset?

Can this same card (it's crossfire compatable apparently) run on a board that isn't?

And (last question) can you bypass the onboard graphics on a motherboard and use your own gfx card? Does this increase latency somehow?


Edit: Is the onboard sound really that bad? Also, can you use your own soundcard on a board that has onboard sound?

 

[Giraffe]

"Can an ATi Radeon X1950 XTX GFX card run on a board using an intel or NVidia chipset?"
yes, if your considering buying an x1950xtx then dont
get a 8800GTS

"Can this same card (it's crossfire compatable apparently) run on a board that isn't?"
yes, but you cant run Crossfire in an SLI board and vice versa

"And (last question) can you bypass the onboard graphics on a motherboard and use your own gfx card? Does this increase latency somehow?"
once you put in a gfx card it disables the onboard gfx and you wont even know its there

 

[aBg_rOnGak]

IMO you're right, most sound cards will have way much better sound quality albeit some of us wouldn't notice the difference by much. About game performance,that's several % difference only... not so noticeable, unless you're a hard-core, die-hard fan of max fps achievable (perhaps with all the gfx settings set to max)

Edit@ng, too busy/late replying, got several people replied first....

 

[jake4d1]

I'm not planning on running 2 GFX cards though. I don't have nearly enough money for that.
I've concidered the 8800GTS but dosent it draw huge amounts of power?

I'm glad that the onboard GFX are bypassable. I thought that would seriously limit my mobo shoices.

Edit: when something says "Minimum Power Supply Required: 400 W" does that mean the the thing draws up to 400 watts? Or does it mean that if I wanted to realistically use it with other basic computer parts I need 400watts?

 

[Giraffe]

the 8800GTS draws a fairly large amount of power

a good 500W PSU will run it well

if it is recommended 400W then you should run at least 400W
the Amps on the +12V rail is more important the amount of wattage anyway

 

[phamily]

usually all mobo's come with onboard sound. All you need to do is plug the soundcard in, and your computer will recognize it. then just install the drivers for it and its all set. You dont need to disable anything, but you can.
But, i'd only recommend a soundcard if you truly care about sound quality.

hmm, what kind of speakers do you have to go with your comp anyway?

 

[sailer]

Edit: Is the onboard sound really that bad? Also, can you use your own soundcard on a board that has onboard sound?

Most of the time, the sound card will turn off the onboard sound, but occasionally you have to disable the onboard sound in the BIOS. I always disable the onboard sound in BIOS to avoid potential conflicts, whether it needs it or not. That way I don't have to think about it later. It only takes a minute when you first start your machine, and then its donw and you don't have to think about it again.

 

[belvdr]

onboard sound uses very little system resources, id use onboard sound

Not necessarily true. My onboard was the cheap AC97 type, and it added 40% to my system resources in Flight Simulator X. It depends on how high the sound quality is in the game you are using, and if the game supports hardware acceleration (i.e. EAX). I noticed a 40% drop in CPU usage in Flight Simulator X by adding in a Creative Audigy SE ($20-30 at MicroCenter).

 

[aBg_rOnGak]

onboard sound uses very little system resources, id use onboard sound

Not necessarily true. My onboard was the cheap AC97 type, and it added 40% to my system resources in Flight Simulator X. It depends on how high the sound quality is in the game you are using, and if the game supports hardware acceleration (i.e. EAX). I noticed a 40% drop in CPU usage in Flight Simulator X by adding in a Creative Audigy SE ($20-30 at MicroCenter).

Uh-oh....D@mn, seems that i need to include a sound card in my next build. Want to buy X-Fi series card (middle-end version), but seems that Vista doesn't support EAX, I'll wait a bit and see what's Creative's cookin'