1) Not all motherboards with onboard sound have the same onboard sound.
2) Just because you get a discrete card doesn't automatically mean that it will be better than your onboard sound. You could get a discrete card that is worse than some onboard sound.
3) Both the sound card and speakers limit sound quality, so if your friend's sound is better, then try it with your headset and see if it's still better. It might be purely a case that he has better speakers than you do.
Pretty much this ^
However, I use a 7.1 surround sound system hooked up to one of these babies: Link
I'd definitely recommend that soundcard !
Though, if your ears can stomach it I'd do headphones. My ears cannot (hurt like hell), so I went with a surround sound system.
The Theory of Conservative Conservation of Ignorant Stupidity: Having a different opinion must mean you're a troll.
Originally posted by Quizzical 1) Not all motherboards with onboard sound have the same onboard sound.2) Just because you get a discrete card doesn't automatically mean that it will be better than your onboard sound. You could get a discrete card that is worse than some onboard sound.3) Both the sound card and speakers limit sound quality, so if your friend's sound is better, then try it with your headset and see if it's still better. It might be purely a case that he has better speakers than you do.
Fundamentally its very unlikely that an Onboard Sound solution is better than a Quality Soundcard.
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
Originally posted by Quizzical 1) Not all motherboards with onboard sound have the same onboard sound.
2) Just because you get a discrete card doesn't automatically mean that it will be better than your onboard sound. You could get a discrete card that is worse than some onboard sound.
3) Both the sound card and speakers limit sound quality, so if your friend's sound is better, then try it with your headset and see if it's still better. It might be purely a case that he has better speakers than you do.
Fundamentally its very unlikely that an Onboard Sound solution is better than a Quality Soundcard.
If you get a good sound card, then yes. But my point is, don't just grab the cheapest discrete sound card you can find, assuming it will be an upgrade. It probably won't.
If you're a gamer, then yes invest in a good sound card and god pair of headsets. Remember the nature of onboard sounds is they take up CPU time. A dedicated sound card for the sound data keeps the performance whilst game as it free the CPU of these task and uses the Pci / Pci E bus. Even better now you've got the Pci E sounds cards,even though sound cards have yet to max out the old PCI bus bandwidth.
The Nic card is another area often overlooked by MMO gamers, they are not all created equal. Most motherboards Nic's are average which can become congested easily in MMO gaming and affecting your in game performance. Most MMO gamers will experience this running into busy area's with players, a big part of that lag spike is the Nic congestion. Hence why the use of the bigfoot nic cards are becoming more popular for online gaming rigs. Another dedicated component plugged into the PCI E bus taking work off the CPU sharpining your Pc's responses once it's got the data.
Good speakers or a headset is usually a better investment for most than an expensive sound card. Unless you are a real audiophile or someone who has other usues for the sound your computer can do (making music, sound editing?) most gamers don't need a sound card. I haven't had one for years and I haven't really noticed a difference for games.
Is a man not entitled to the herp of his derp?
Remember, I live in a world where juggalos and yugioh players are real things.
Neither sound nor network duties put much of a load on the processor. What load they do bring should be easy to put in a separate thread (since you're talking about putting them in a separate device entirely), so it won't even affect processor performance at all unless you're running something that scales well to as many cores as you've got.
If you're a gamer, then yes invest in a good sound card and god pair of headsets. Remember the nature of onboard sounds is they take up CPU time. A dedicated sound card for the sound data keeps the performance whilst game as it free the CPU of these task and uses the Pci / Pci E bus. Even better now you've got the Pci E sounds cards,even though sound cards have yet to max out the old PCI bus bandwidth.
The Nic card is another area often overlooked by MMO gamers, they are not all created equal. Most motherboards Nic's are average which can become congested easily in MMO gaming and affecting your in game performance. Most MMO gamers will experience this running into busy area's with players, a big part of that lag spike is the Nic congestion. Hence why the use of the bigfoot nic cards are becoming more popular for online gaming rigs. Another dedicated component plugged into the PCI E bus taking work off the CPU sharpining your Pc's responses once it's got the data.
Unles you're running a P3 or P4, modern onboard sound doesn't tax your cpu much at all. Any dual core and above will be able to run it with zero problems for other processes.
Is a man not entitled to the herp of his derp?
Remember, I live in a world where juggalos and yugioh players are real things.
Ok im not gonna get in any flame wars and will just give you my time line, take in to consideration i always build at mid/high (the point at which the price does a massive jump), so currently i have a slightly older 3ghz Quad core, 560ti and a pretty decent mobo.
15years ago i bought myself a SB Live and used it for a good 5 years, however on a build about 10years ago i noticed the onboard sound was pretty much the same as my SB so from that point on didnt really bother with the additional card. Then more recently a driver issue(couldnt increase sound past 65-70% so things were quiet) with my mobo and upgrading to Windows 7 meant i had to buy a sound card (i bought an old but solid SB http://www.scan.co.uk/products/creative-labs-sb-x-fi-xtreme-audio-pci-express-x1-new-version). And my god did i notice the difference - as a comparison i would say its in the region of 2D vs 3D in the cinema. The sounds felt more, well..........3D. I then decided i fancied a better pair of head phones and after looking at some reviews grabbed these http://www.dabs.com/products/creative-hs-800-fatal1ty-pro-series-gaming-headset-4JCM.html?refs=50450&src=3. Again i saw a big improvement in sound.
Now also consider that i dont care much about sound per say - its useful in games like CS and BF3, and i use it to its full benefits when playing, but i would never pay much over £50 for head phones (i have sound buff friend who have paid over £200 for head phones) and i wouldnt pay much over £50 for a sound card as well, i really cant see that much of a benefit (this is the same reason as why i have a 560ti and not a 580 - the price does not really imo justify the performance). However, for less than £60 i would say i have improved my audio on my PC by 100%.
This is my little story and a real life situation so hope it helps.
Sound cards are a legacy PC component. Most people don't need them, unless you're looking for very specific features. Windows Vista / 7 puts most (all?) of the sound processing on the main CPU because processors have so much unused computing power with multipule cores. In addition, the amount of processing required for sounds is very little.
Most onboard sound cards support 7 speakers and a subwoofer. Many of them have optical audio, too. Some sound cards, like SoundBlaster, add extra base to the sound to artificially make their sound cards seem better. If you need specific features of a certain card, go ahead and buy it.
Avoid Creative Labs (SoundBlaster) like the plague. They used to be the best around 2001, but they have gone downhill. Personally, I am boycotting them because they outright refused to support Windows Vista. They acknowledged that their drivers were defective and said they would not publish working drivers. They even deleted forum posts that attempted to discuss or complain about the issue.
HT Omega treated me well when I replaced my SoundBlaster card. They resolved their driver issues quickly. However, I now use USB wireless headphones from Logitech.
Keep in mind that the X-Fi Extreme Audio is a rebranded Audigy and does not use the X-Fi soundchip EMU20K. Instad it uses the chip that was used in the Audigy SE, Value and SB Live.
False X-Fi cards using an older soundchip: X-Fi Extreme Audio X-Fi Titanium HD
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
Originally posted by simonwest80 Ok im not gonna get in any flame wars and will just give you my time line, take in to consideration i always build at mid/high (the point at which the price does a massive jump), so currently i have a slightly older 3ghz Quad core, 560ti and a pretty decent mobo.
15years ago i bought myself a SB Live and used it for a good 5 years, however on a build about 10years ago i noticed the onboard sound was pretty much the same as my SB so from that point on didnt really bother with the additional card. Then more recently a driver issue(couldnt increase sound past 65-70% so things were quiet) with my mobo and upgrading to Windows 7 meant i had to buy a sound card (i bought an old but solid SB http://www.scan.co.uk/products/creative-labs-sb-x-fi-xtreme-audio-pci-express-x1-new-version). And my god did i notice the difference - as a comparison i would say its in the region of 2D vs 3D in the cinema. The sounds felt more, well..........3D. I then decided i fancied a better pair of head phones and after looking at some reviews grabbed these http://www.dabs.com/products/creative-hs-800-fatal1ty-pro-series-gaming-headset-4JCM.html?refs=50450&src=3. Again i saw a big improvement in sound.
Now also consider that i dont care much about sound per say - its useful in games like CS and BF3, and i use it to its full benefits when playing, but i would never pay much over £50 for head phones (i have sound buff friend who have paid over £200 for head phones) and i wouldnt pay much over £50 for a sound card as well, i really cant see that much of a benefit (this is the same reason as why i have a 560ti and not a 580 - the price does not really imo justify the performance). However, for less than £60 i would say i have improved my audio on my PC by 100%.
This is my little story and a real life situation so hope it helps.
9/10th's of why most people perceive that Creative sounds better is because they do have some post-processing. Mostly just EQ settings along with some spatial tricks: these are just driver-level, and have nothing to do with the hardware.
It's the same reason that a lot of Boom Boxes and such sell well - they have tricked out EQ settings so they sound great in the store. That doesn't necessarily equate to high fidelity sound reproduction - they just pump up the bass.
However, if you are happy with your purchase, I can't fault you. A lot of people are, or Creative wouldn't exist today. Most purist want their equipment to as precisely as possible replicate the input sound, not muddy the waters by putting in any post-processing effects. Although post-processing effects seems to sell well.
I dropped away from Creative when they started doing bad things with their drivers about 10 years ago. Fortunately, that's about the same time that most every motherboard started adding in some form of sound by default. Most are acceptable with respect to reproducing sound accurately, but many may be lacking with advanced features (such as pre-set EQ's or sound shaping options). If nothing else, try it, if's there already, and if it's not good enough for you, then get something else. You'd be surprised how much you can change the sound just by playing with the equalizer in your sound driver (or if it doesn't have one, try something like http://www.virtualaudiostream.com/
Its not only the enhancing of music tunes - onboard sound has "missing" sound and effects that you only get aware of when you compare it directly with a good sound card. Tests of onbaord sound often only maesure a prerecorded stream of audio data and be therefore incapable of recognizing missing sound and effects. Onaord sound is ok for playing common music tunes at a technically average level. But Noise-Level measuring is only a tiny part of the overall picture - effect-processing is the weak spot of onboardsound!
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
Comments
Pretty much this ^
However, I use a 7.1 surround sound system hooked up to one of these babies: Link
I'd definitely recommend that soundcard
!
Though, if your ears can stomach it I'd do headphones. My ears cannot (hurt like hell), so I went with a surround sound system.
The Theory of Conservative Conservation of Ignorant Stupidity:
Having a different opinion must mean you're a troll.
Fundamentally its very unlikely that an Onboard Sound solution is better than a Quality Soundcard.
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
MWO Music Video - What does the Mech say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF6HYNqCDLI
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0x2iwK0BKM
If you get a good sound card, then yes. But my point is, don't just grab the cheapest discrete sound card you can find, assuming it will be an upgrade. It probably won't.
put every penny you want to devote to sound into speakers, you'll get a better return on sound from speakers at every price interval.
assuming you actually research good speakers.
right now i have about $500 worth of speakers plugged into onboard sound and it sounds better than any other computer i've ever been on.
my only disclaimer is i just do stereo. if you're after some strange surround sound system don't listen to me, i have no clue.
If you're a gamer, then yes invest in a good sound card and god pair of headsets. Remember the nature of onboard sounds is they take up CPU time. A dedicated sound card for the sound data keeps the performance whilst game as it free the CPU of these task and uses the Pci / Pci E bus. Even better now you've got the Pci E sounds cards,even though sound cards have yet to max out the old PCI bus bandwidth.
The Nic card is another area often overlooked by MMO gamers, they are not all created equal. Most motherboards Nic's are average which can become congested easily in MMO gaming and affecting your in game performance. Most MMO gamers will experience this running into busy area's with players, a big part of that lag spike is the Nic congestion. Hence why the use of the bigfoot nic cards are becoming more popular for online gaming rigs. Another dedicated component plugged into the PCI E bus taking work off the CPU sharpining your Pc's responses once it's got the data.
Good speakers or a headset is usually a better investment for most than an expensive sound card. Unless you are a real audiophile or someone who has other usues for the sound your computer can do (making music, sound editing?) most gamers don't need a sound card. I haven't had one for years and I haven't really noticed a difference for games.
Is a man not entitled to the herp of his derp?
Remember, I live in a world where juggalos and yugioh players are real things.
Neither sound nor network duties put much of a load on the processor. What load they do bring should be easy to put in a separate thread (since you're talking about putting them in a separate device entirely), so it won't even affect processor performance at all unless you're running something that scales well to as many cores as you've got.
Unles you're running a P3 or P4, modern onboard sound doesn't tax your cpu much at all. Any dual core and above will be able to run it with zero problems for other processes.
Is a man not entitled to the herp of his derp?
Remember, I live in a world where juggalos and yugioh players are real things.
Ok im not gonna get in any flame wars and will just give you my time line, take in to consideration i always build at mid/high (the point at which the price does a massive jump), so currently i have a slightly older 3ghz Quad core, 560ti and a pretty decent mobo.
15years ago i bought myself a SB Live and used it for a good 5 years, however on a build about 10years ago i noticed the onboard sound was pretty much the same as my SB so from that point on didnt really bother with the additional card. Then more recently a driver issue(couldnt increase sound past 65-70% so things were quiet) with my mobo and upgrading to Windows 7 meant i had to buy a sound card (i bought an old but solid SB http://www.scan.co.uk/products/creative-labs-sb-x-fi-xtreme-audio-pci-express-x1-new-version). And my god did i notice the difference - as a comparison i would say its in the region of 2D vs 3D in the cinema. The sounds felt more, well..........3D. I then decided i fancied a better pair of head phones and after looking at some reviews grabbed these http://www.dabs.com/products/creative-hs-800-fatal1ty-pro-series-gaming-headset-4JCM.html?refs=50450&src=3. Again i saw a big improvement in sound.
Now also consider that i dont care much about sound per say - its useful in games like CS and BF3, and i use it to its full benefits when playing, but i would never pay much over £50 for head phones (i have sound buff friend who have paid over £200 for head phones) and i wouldnt pay much over £50 for a sound card as well, i really cant see that much of a benefit (this is the same reason as why i have a 560ti and not a 580 - the price does not really imo justify the performance). However, for less than £60 i would say i have improved my audio on my PC by 100%.
This is my little story and a real life situation so hope it helps.
Sound cards are a legacy PC component. Most people don't need them, unless you're looking for very specific features. Windows Vista / 7 puts most (all?) of the sound processing on the main CPU because processors have so much unused computing power with multipule cores. In addition, the amount of processing required for sounds is very little.
Most onboard sound cards support 7 speakers and a subwoofer. Many of them have optical audio, too. Some sound cards, like SoundBlaster, add extra base to the sound to artificially make their sound cards seem better. If you need specific features of a certain card, go ahead and buy it.
Avoid Creative Labs (SoundBlaster) like the plague. They used to be the best around 2001, but they have gone downhill. Personally, I am boycotting them because they outright refused to support Windows Vista. They acknowledged that their drivers were defective and said they would not publish working drivers. They even deleted forum posts that attempted to discuss or complain about the issue.
HT Omega treated me well when I replaced my SoundBlaster card. They resolved their driver issues quickly. However, I now use USB wireless headphones from Logitech.
Keep in mind that the X-Fi Extreme Audio is a rebranded Audigy and does not use the X-Fi soundchip EMU20K.
Instad it uses the chip that was used in the Audigy SE, Value and SB Live.
False X-Fi cards using an older soundchip:
X-Fi Extreme Audio
X-Fi Titanium HD
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
MWO Music Video - What does the Mech say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF6HYNqCDLI
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0x2iwK0BKM
I would recommend a set of B&W MM-1 PC speakers.
They sound incredible and you only need a free USB port in the back of your PC.
No software required just plug and listen...:)
You may have to disable your original sound drivers though.
9/10th's of why most people perceive that Creative sounds better is because they do have some post-processing. Mostly just EQ settings along with some spatial tricks: these are just driver-level, and have nothing to do with the hardware.
It's the same reason that a lot of Boom Boxes and such sell well - they have tricked out EQ settings so they sound great in the store. That doesn't necessarily equate to high fidelity sound reproduction - they just pump up the bass.
However, if you are happy with your purchase, I can't fault you. A lot of people are, or Creative wouldn't exist today. Most purist want their equipment to as precisely as possible replicate the input sound, not muddy the waters by putting in any post-processing effects. Although post-processing effects seems to sell well.
I dropped away from Creative when they started doing bad things with their drivers about 10 years ago. Fortunately, that's about the same time that most every motherboard started adding in some form of sound by default. Most are acceptable with respect to reproducing sound accurately, but many may be lacking with advanced features (such as pre-set EQ's or sound shaping options). If nothing else, try it, if's there already, and if it's not good enough for you, then get something else. You'd be surprised how much you can change the sound just by playing with the equalizer in your sound driver (or if it doesn't have one, try something like http://www.virtualaudiostream.com/
Its not only the enhancing of music tunes - onboard sound has "missing" sound and effects that you only get aware of when you compare it directly with a good sound card.
Tests of onbaord sound often only maesure a prerecorded stream of audio data and be therefore incapable of recognizing missing sound and effects.
Onaord sound is ok for playing common music tunes at a technically average level.
But Noise-Level measuring is only a tiny part of the overall picture - effect-processing is the weak spot of onboardsound!
"Torquemada... do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada... do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada... do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!"
MWO Music Video - What does the Mech say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF6HYNqCDLI
Johnny Cash - The Man Comes Around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0x2iwK0BKM