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Sound Cards - Do They Matter?

Discussion in 'Techno-Magic' started by Splunge, Jan 1, 2005.

  1. Splunge

    Splunge Bhaal’s financial advisor Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Remove all ads!
    I was going to post this in Wirhe's current sound card/headphone thread, but I didn't want to hijack his topic.

    So here's the question - if I am not using my computer for movies or music (ie. basically just games, as far as sound is concerned), does a separate sound card (vs. on-board sound) make much of a difference, aside from a slight drain on the CPU?

    Edit - damn! Wrong forum - I thought I was in Techno-Magic. My apologies.

    [ January 01, 2005, 22:57: Message edited by: Splunge ]
     
    Splunge, Jan 1, 2005
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  2. Sarevok• Gems: 23/31
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    Yes it does
     
    Sarevok•, Jan 1, 2005
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  3. Rednik Gems: 21/31
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    Nah, most on-board sound cards are decent these days, especially if you're just going to be playing some games with 2.1 speakers or something.
     
    Rednik, Jan 1, 2005
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  4. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    A separate sound card is a waste of money unless you're a professional musician and/or need the card for some more complex purpose than regular sound effects and music on 2 desktop speakers. For that, every onboard sound card today is equally good as the cheapest Sound Blaster. I didn't put a separate sound card in this machine I've been using for over a year now and there's absolutely no difference compared to before, when I had a separate Sound Blaster. So save your money.

    A few years back a Sound Blaster was a must (because most onboard sound chips were crappy), but those days are long gone.
     
    Taluntain, Jan 2, 2005
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  5. Wordplay Gems: 29/31
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    Depends. I think that the upgrade will be worth it not because of the 24-bit sounds but the AdvancedHD and EAX3 & 4 techniques; they should make the games sound a bit more living. ;)
     
    Wordplay, Jan 2, 2005
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  6. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

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    Depends what you get on-board. With the thing I got along with my Abit E7 (IIRC) motherboard, I'm sorely missing my old SB Live.
     
    chevalier, Jan 2, 2005
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  7. Gerrymander Gems: 1/31
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    IMHO, both have their pros and cons. I personally have run into a few instances where on-board sound cards (e.g., Avance AC97) would clash with some other device and cause the PC to reboot randomly. In the most recent case it got so annoying I went to get an SB Live! and shut the on-board card off. No problems since. Also, while most new games work fine, on-board cards often generate problems if you try to run old dos games or perhaps emulators. In this sense an external card might be more desirable. EAX is also very nice for games which support it. :)

    OTOH, a friend of min told me that he went experimenting and found that on-board cards actually play better quality music. The difference is so very slight it's almost unoticable but it's there nevertheless. For someone really into music this will be an important factor, so basically it's a tradeoff: games or quality of sound.
     
    Gerrymander, Jan 2, 2005
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  8. Kitrax

    Kitrax Pantaloons are supposed to go where!?!?

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    Does 5.1 or 7.1 mean anything to you? If not, then the onboard sound will do fine. :rolling:
     
    Kitrax, Jan 2, 2005
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  9. Splunge

    Splunge Bhaal’s financial advisor Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Kitrax - I have 5.1 speakers.

    My motherboard is an ASUS KV8 Deluxe, which supports 5.1. The audio description says "ADI AD1980 SoundMax 6 channel audio CODEC support for S/PDIF out interface".

    The 5.1 does seem to work just fine. I'm just wondering if I'm missing out on anything substantial by not having a separate sound card. My CPU is an AMD Athlon 64 3400+, and I'm still working my way through games that are a year or more old, so the CPU drain isn't really an issue at this point.
     
    Splunge, Jan 2, 2005
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  10. Ziad

    Ziad I speak in rebuses Veteran

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    As far as I know, you're not missing out on anything, substantial or not. On-board sound has gone such a long way since its beginnings that you now can get something that's in every way as good as the cards you buy separately (providing you're not doing any audio manipulation of course. Then again, if you are into that stuff, you're not going to buy a Creative card either)

    So, my advice is to save your money for something else. With an Athlon 64, you'll never notice the CPU drain anyway, even if you run the latest games. As for EAX, 3D sound and all that, they're overrated IMO.
     
    Ziad, Jan 2, 2005
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  11. Wordplay Gems: 29/31
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    Not if you are using good headphones for both games and listening. ;)
     
    Wordplay, Jan 2, 2005
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  12. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    Pretty much all onboard sound chips today support 5.1, so that's not an issue.
     
    Taluntain, Jan 2, 2005
    #12
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