Chaintech VNF3-250 audio

[Squidmaster]

How good is the audio quality on this motherboard? Is it equivalent to the SB Audigy (not Audigy2) I have in my current box? Thanks.

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[scottchen]

Audigy and Audigy 2 are roughly equivalent in quality, and no it's no where near neither of the creative products you mentioned.

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[Crashman]

Ceative quality? Not IMO. My Live Platinum 5.1 had less fidelity than some of my old ISA cards. I had to fix a buzzing noise. It kept loosing the rear channels.

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[TheRod]

nForce3 250 don't have the SoundStorm APU. The Audio Quality will depend on the MB codec. I think that today's codec are working well and have good audio quality. But, they might use more CPU power than add-in PCI cards.

I also read that the nForce Audio Drivers don't support all audio features on some codec. So you might consider installing the Cmidia/Realteck audio drivers instead of the nForce3 Audio Drivers. At least, to check if there is any difference in CPU usage or features.

NOTE : The <A HREF="http://www.chaintechusa.com/tw/eng/product_spec.asp?MPSNo=13&PISNo=266" target="_new">Chaintech ZNF3-250</A> MB seems to offer a better audio subsystem. But is it available?

--
What's the <b><font color=green>AMD Mobile Athlon 64</font color=green></b> overclocking potential? <b>It's huge!</b> Humm... Maybe not that huge...

 

[scottchen]

But ZNF3-250's 3x price of VNF3-250.

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[TheRod]

<A HREF="http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch.hmx?SCriteria=BA20007" target="_new">163$</A> is not 3x the price. It might be worth it, it's a featured loaded board!

--
What's the <b><font color=green>AMD Mobile Athlon 64</font color=green></b> overclocking potential? <b>It's huge!</b> Humm... Maybe not that huge...

 

[Obtuse]

Yes, unfortunately, soundstorm is gone. But I seem to remember seeing benches somewhere of integrated vs add-in sound, and the fps hit was pretty negligible (like 4-5)

"Yeah, I got a magazine for you. It's fulla hollow points. You're gonna love it when I put that in a gun, and then put 'em in your brain!" - Carl

 

[scottchen]

Sry rod, i was thinking of distribution prices.

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[scottchen]

Crash read my post again, the quality of the 2 cards he has mentioned, the SB Audigy and 2, they're much better than the live series.

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[Cybercraig]

I'll let you know this weekend. I just got the CPU mounted but screwing with Central Air now. :frown:

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. Now, let's eat!

 

[Crashman]

I've heard the Audigy cleaned up the sound a bit, well my sound WAS clean part of the time (when no other issues were causing noise).

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[Squidmaster]

Ok, that clears up the first part of my sound decision.

I'll be swapping over my Gigabyte 845PE to my mom, who currently has an old SB Live card installed. Would the sound on the board I'm swapping (Realtek ALC650 6-channel audio) trump the SB Live? She actually does do some gaming, so I'd want the sound to be ok (i.e. at least as good as the SB Live.)

Come to think of it, here's another alternative: get the MSI K8N Neo Platinum instead of the Chaintech, and swap the Audigy card to the other system. How's the sound compare this way as well?

Thanks guys.

Do <i> you </i> have a chicken hat?<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Squidmaster on 06/10/04 06:40 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Crashman]

These codecs are OK, even compared to the Live. Plus they have simpler drivers less prone to sudden, unexplainable misconfiguration.

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[Squidmaster]

The Live is 3 years old or so. I'd <i> assume </i> that just about any onboard sound would be at least as good as this card, but I don't have the experience with them. Is there a good source for codec info I should be looking for?

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