Modern Boards and sound cards

I'm considering upgrading my present m/b ( a GA-7IXE4 ) .

From my reading the various tech Newsletters , I get the impresssion
that modern m/b's seem to have no need for a separate sound card but
have the sound incorporated into the board .

Is this a correct impression - do people not feel the need to install
a separate sound card these days - ?

I admit I haven't been keeping up on the latest trends so perhaps I
have got the wrong impression.

B.N.
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On Fri, 06 Aug 2004 18:43:36 GMT, "Crimson Liar"
wrote:

Yes, almost all motherboards now come with built in sound. However,
personally the only built in solution I've heard that is as good as many
separate soundcards is the NVIDIA SoundStorm. Anything else and you are not
going to get what I personally would consider satisfactory!

Crimson Liar

Thanks, Crimson Liar . That's what I understood .

I wonder why that changed from the days when folks thought that you'd
get a better sound system from installing your own card ?

B.N.
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Yes, almost all motherboards now come with built in sound. However,
personally the only built in solution I've heard that is as good as many
separate soundcards is the NVIDIA SoundStorm. Anything else and you are not
going to get what I personally would consider satisfactory!

Crimson Liar

wrote in message
...
I'm considering upgrading my present m/b ( a GA-7IXE4 ) .

From my reading the various tech Newsletters , I get the impresssion
that modern m/b's seem to have no need for a separate sound card but
have the sound incorporated into the board .

Is this a correct impression - do people not feel the need to install
a separate sound card these days - ?

I admit I haven't been keeping up on the latest trends so perhaps I
have got the wrong impression.

B.N.
--

to reply by e-mail remove "admiral_"

Yes, almost all motherboards now come with built in sound. However,
personally the only built in solution I've heard that is as good as many
separate soundcards is the NVIDIA SoundStorm. Anything else and you are not
going to get what I personally would consider satisfactory!

I can't understand this. Onboard sound gives today all I need, the
technical and measured values are mostly good, e.g. RealTek 658.
Therefore, I don't know, why people need a seperate soundcard. Only to
have 2 or 3 FPS more when gaming???

Moritz

It depends on what you are doing, by your analogy most of us probably don't
need more than a 640x480x16 screen resolution. By the time you start to
factor in multiple environment sound and the like a sound card is unlikely
to be giving FPS but actually taking speed away.

Crimson Liar

"Moritz Kürten" wrote in message
...
Yes, almost all motherboards now come with built in sound. However,
personally the only built in solution I've heard that is as good as many
separate soundcards is the NVIDIA SoundStorm. Anything else and you are
not
going to get what I personally would consider satisfactory!

I can't understand this. Onboard sound gives today all I need, the
technical and measured values are mostly good, e.g. RealTek 658.
Therefore, I don't know, why people need a seperate soundcard. Only to
have 2 or 3 FPS more when gaming???

Moritz

If it works for you fine. The Creative sound chip built into my board sounded so
bad I disabled it and installed a Turtle Beach. I've never looked back.


I can't understand this. Onboard sound gives today all I need, the
technical and measured values are mostly good, e.g. RealTek 658.
Therefore, I don't know, why people need a seperate soundcard. Only to
have 2 or 3 FPS more when gaming???

Moritz

Hi,

The quality of the on board sound systems has improved markedly twice now.
The now "previous" iteration - the chips on the current installed modern
motherboards - is more then adequate for the average user / gamer. An
audiophile will no doubt be able to pick them to pieces.

The new generation chipsets for intel boards that are just now coming to
market (915, 925) have the second iteration of improvement - this is one of
their marketing points. Some have described these "as good as any" meaning
as good as audigy. Audigy is obviously not good enough for some people, but
for us ignorant people they are *more* than good enough.

Many people have asked the question before (and before meaning before the
latest interation of motherboards) and have more often than not been
impressed with the quality.

The quality is a subjective thing (to an audiophile it is not due to their
educated appreciation) for most people. On some occasions there are setup /
driver issues which can plague all sound system types, that result in
problems (stuttering, interferance etc.).

So, my suggestion is to get the mobo and try out the onboard sound. If once
it is set up correctly you find it gobbles too much CPU (current technology
tends not to go into the Too Much realm) or is of inadequate quality then
certainly get something else.

- Tim


wrote in message
...
On Fri, 06 Aug 2004 18:43:36 GMT, "Crimson Liar"
wrote:

Yes, almost all motherboards now come with built in sound. However,
personally the only built in solution I've heard that is as good as many
separate soundcards is the NVIDIA SoundStorm. Anything else and you are
not
going to get what I personally would consider satisfactory!

Crimson Liar

Thanks, Crimson Liar . That's what I understood .

I wonder why that changed from the days when folks thought that you'd
get a better sound system from installing your own card ?

B.N.
--

to reply by e-mail remove "admiral_"