Onboard sound?

[ironic_sobriquet]

are there any companies that make a small (microATX or miniITX) board with sound I'm not going to want to upgrade with a $100 x-Fi card?

I'm tired of motherboards I have to upgrade out of the box... it's just annoying...
I don't really NEED a new computer, so I guess I'm saying I'm not buying until I find exactly what I want...

 

[p1n3apqlexpr3ss]

EVERY new mobo comes with onboard sound... even my ancient thing has onboard sound...

 

[ironic_sobriquet]

thats not true, Foxconn bloodrage is a perfect example...
there are motherboards out there w/o onboard sound... they're just rare...
and that wasn't the question...

 

[p1n3apqlexpr3ss]

Yea... look at any mini-atx board from asus/gigabyte, theyll have onboard sound... as for mini-itx.. only ones i know of are on atom or ion platforms.. but they still have onboard

 

[jsc]

And the current HDA is pretty good. It doesn't support things like SB's EAX 5.0, but what do you expect for free.

And Soundblaster makes a perfectly serviceable 5.1 card for about $30.

 

[ironic_sobriquet]

meh, I just don't understand to problem with giving us quality products... I mean they sell lot's of motherboards that cost 200-300 dollars... so what gives?

 

[jsc]

They sell lots more costing $75 - $200. I will be willing to bet you, that in a double blind test, 98% of all computer users cannot reliably distinguish between modern HDA and something like an X-Fi using computer speakers.

 

[ironic_sobriquet]

hmm, maybe you're right...
I'll go grab an xFi card off of ebay at some point and give that a try...
I'll get my buddy to help...
maybe I'll post my results on youtube...