Sound Card or On-Board?

I'm in the process of putting together a new system. The MB will be an ASUS P4C800E Deluxe. Is the sound on this board anything to write home about? If not, what is a bit better but will not break the bank? I would like reasonably good sound but I only have an old Altec Lansing pair of speakers and an Altec lansing sub woofer that I would like to use. They were expensive back about 5 years ago!

What makes your upgrade to an Audigy 2 card so much better? Did you have special needs?

I have the ASUS P4PE too and the sound is great. What am I missing?

The onboard on that one is good. Use it. Your speakers arent even close enough at all to make a difference anyway.

Getting a card for hardware acceleration is the dumbest idea, soundcard is nearly 100% negated out of the equation at 1024x768 or above depending on a decent processor.

Future games (2004 and beyond) wont use hardware acceleration regardless.

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I just tell it like it is and some can't handle it. If your experience is different, well congratu-fukulation.
<b>I’M NOT A ATI FANBOY, I’M NOT A NV FANBOY, I’M A STABILITY FANBOY</b>

Thanks.

My system is about exactly the same as yours (1700+, Nforce2). I bought an Audigy when it came out and it never has worked right. I had the KT133-KT266A like you have and I thought the Nforce2 would fix it..

Creative makes a decent card if it works for you.. and the best alternative (and some think superior) is the M-Audio Revolution 7.1

but if you want my real opinion... dont buy into hardware assisted sound. It does help in games here or there but its my opinion that it is becoming a thing of the past.
Doom 3 will be one of the first major games to coincide with my belief, it uses no hardware acceleration.
Doom 3 offers Dolby Digital 5.1 for its surround, and to my knowledge only the Nforce2 and its future PCIX soundcard will have the tech necessary to do this in full DD5.1 surround.
Unless of course you run a digital out to a reciever which can output it to your 5.1 system.. but we're talking alot more money than just Nvidia soundcard that does it for you..

Its hard to be concise about this but- basically A3D and EAX were created in a time when we didnt have a good solution to surround sound for the PC. They generally were created to make it easier to tell where things were coming from (besides EAX which relys on basic Direct 3D calls for its positioning) on 2 speakers.
4.1/5.1 was in its infancy at that point for the PC.

But the answer really is custom sound engines for games, such as Doom 3 and just running through DD 5.1, DD wasnt feasable on even a minority of systems back in circa 1999 when A3D vs. EAX was in its heyday.

So will I buy another card for the hardware acceleration mainly? No.
If I was to buy a card it would be the M-Audio, which actually offers no acceleration at all... it improves sound quality by an abundance though.
VIA chips (the one the M-Audio uses) is really taking the world by storm.. as much as it can in this stagnant audio market.

Though my ears cant tell a terribly huge difference, esp on my Logitech Z560s (pretty cheap compared to good audio equipment) or my Sennheiser headphones (though with a quality amplifier this does show the difference between cards).
Granted there are very bad onboard solutions out there, but I dont happen to have one.

But you will accelerate MOST games with a add in card.. so if you want that go ahead.
But remember its not going to make formerly unplayable games on your system playable..
at high resolutions there will be no difference whatsoever from using hardware accelerated card to a non accelerated card or onboard.

So, my theory is, only upgrade if you have killer speakers or have very expensive headphones and quality amp for them. Without I really have never heard THAT much of a difference.
Basically buy for sound quality.. because adding another board into your system could potentially add more system instability.. and if your happy with your onboard, why?

So its up to you but those are my feelings on the current state of 3D audio.. I believe Dolby Digital is the future for games. WC3 used that for what positioning it does have (and its music). And Doom 3 is following what I think is going to be the future anyway.

I wouldnt buy into a Creative card personally (plus Ive had tons of trouble with them) for the acceleration. And if you do feel you need better sound quality... well, my answer to that is in my words above.


PS that terratec is a good card and a great one if you are set on purchasing something IMO. And really, spending the $90 you would on a good sound card wouldnt give you near the improvement a $80 Athlon XP 2500+ would!
I promise you, if you got that, your worries about sound would go away.

Good luck!

btw- I am using my onboard 2channel nforce audio.

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I just tell it like it is and some can't handle it. If your experience is different, well congratu-fukulation.
<b>I’M NOT A ATI FANBOY, I’M NOT A NV FANBOY, I’M A STABILITY FANBOY</b>

i'd recommend logitech z560s (4.1 $140 american), klipsch (best 2.1 IMO, $100 at klipschstore.com), logitech z680s (best computer speakers you can get without buying a full blown home theater system, costing thousands.. should run you around $250 maybe more)

I've used about every speaker setup on the market at one time or another, and I like the Logitech or Klipsch the best.
Logitech has better sound quality IMO, with better bass for sure that hits lower and louder (while being cheaper).
Klipsch has good bass too but their subs generally bottom out easier and arent nearly as loud. Though I like the range their sats have (seperate mid/tweeter setup) and their 2.1 is prob the best 2.1 I've heard overall.

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I just tell it like it is and some can't handle it. If your experience is different, well congratu-fukulation.
<b>I’M NOT A ATI FANBOY, I’M NOT A NV FANBOY, I’M A STABILITY FANBOY</b>

Are those monsoon speakers?

Monsoon are pretty good, I havent heard all of their line but I like them. Im not a fan of the flat speaker type that they use in alot of them tho.

I just prefer klipsch or logitech. They both have well rounded sound.

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I just tell it like it is and some can't handle it. If your experience is different, well congratu-fukulation.
<b>I’M NOT A ATI FANBOY, I’M NOT A NV FANBOY, I’M A STABILITY FANBOY</b>