A7n8x-x

[Murray_H]

Realtek® ALC650 6CH with built in HP amplifier
high-quality 6-channel audio

Is that SoundStorm audio or not, and would i be better getting a PCI sound card?

 

[Maxi]

A PCI soundcard is always better, because the onboard sound takes a little bit of CPU usage.

 

[RandomPING]

Definately PCI is muy bien, but if you have a tight budget then the on-board system you have will give you great sound, just take a little more CPU usage.

 

[Asus]

Depends if you use the digital or analog.
Soundstorm digital audio = r0x0rz

 

[Maskirovka]

i personally hate onboard anything

 

[lePobz]

nVidia soundstorm is the best APU ever, even beats the likes of Audigy2 in terms of minimal CPU usage and superb sound quality. Only lacks the inputs of the more expensive cards.

I know, I have an A7N8X-Deluxe myself (the one with soundstorm).

WRT the thread, I don't think the RealTek chip is the SoundStorm setup, as SoundStorm is nVidia's own, and RealTek make their own brand of audio chipsets, so I don't think it is.

I did read somewhere that some nForce2 chipsets do not have the SoundStorm chip for budget reasons/cost cutting etc.

http://www6.tomshardware.com/game/20030405/index.html

Nuff said. Onboard owns j00 all!!111 etc. etc.

 

[Interitus]

Yeah I'm also running this mobo, with the onboard sound. I definatly prefer my external rack over the onboard sound. If I was running a cheap soundblaster I'd more than likely go for the soundstorm, but my $200 external soundcard is much better

 

[lePobz]

What are you on about?? please view the link in my above post?

SoundStorm > everything!! (including your $200 external soundcard)

 

[Interitus]

My game theater sounds a lot better, and has a lot more options. I have the game theater XP, so I have lots of inputs and outputs, which rocks Plus the control panel is useful

 

[lePobz]

inputs and outputs is a fair point since all soundstorm-enabled motherboards have only the analogue and digital outputs and analogue inputs, but as far as sound quality goes there is nothing better, it is on the same level as all Dobly Digital 5.1 rigs.

And the soundstorm has a very handy control panel too, so many functions

Oh yeah. Not forgetting the zero-cpu load of the soundstorm, which is where your external rig sucks (as the cpu has to process the I/O to and from your firewire/usb port)

Nuff said.

 

[simmo]

btw, whats the CHEAPEST but decent sound card ?, cause ive had onboard sound for all my life :|

Also, what can I expect to hear different if a get a pci one ?, a sound is a sound isnt it ? lol

edit: I found 1 for £7 brand new:

Crystal 3D Surround Sound PCI

CMI 8738 4CH SOUND CARD

Features
-Complete Internet Entertainment(Audio files, Mp3, game ...) & DVD Player Solution. -Provides audio fidelity that rivals movie theatre with 4-ch digital sound.
-Customize Internet audio with the power and surround sound of EAXTMaudio technologies. -Enjoy compelling 3D audio and 4 sound on multiple speakers series. -Rich Software Bundled.
Specification:
Chipset: CM18738
-System Interface: 32bit PCI Bus Master, PC12.1. PC12.2 compliant
-Hardware Interface:
-HRTF-base 3D positional audio, supporting DirectSound ™ 3D, EAX ™ and A3D interface
-Supportmulti-speaker output to 2 / 2.1 / 4 / 4.1 speakers
-Support EAX ™, Karaoke key, Echo sound effects -High Performance Dual game Port -Mpu401 compatible MIDI interface & GM -Comply with Microsoft Pc99 specification
-Wave Table Synthesizer: DLS-base Wavetable music synthesizer
-Software Compatibility: Fully sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro compatible and Direct Sound compatible
Connector:
-External Connector: Front-Out/Center & LFE/Line-In/Mic-In and Game/MIDI port
-Internal Connector: CD Audio, AUX Connectors
3D Effect:
-Microsoft Direct Sound 3D -Aureal © A3D
-HRTF 3D Extension Positioned Audio -EAX
System Requirements:
-Windows 95/98/2000, Windows Me, DOS, Windows NT4.0 -Intel architecture CPU with MMX instruction set
PII 366 MHz CPU or above(recommended)
32MB system memory


Any good

 

[Interitus]

inputs and outputs is a fair point since all soundstorm-enabled motherboards have only the analogue and digital outputs and analogue inputs, but as far as sound quality goes there is nothing better, it is on the same level as all Dobly Digital 5.1 rigs.

And the soundstorm has a very handy control panel too, so many functions

Oh yeah. Not forgetting the zero-cpu load of the soundstorm, which is where your external rig sucks (as the cpu has to process the I/O to and from your firewire/usb port)

No actually I find my card has a much better sound to it. And I only had the windows volume control panels for when I was using the nforce2 onboard sound... And I couldnt even get it to work properly.

And my soundcard has a PCI card inside the computer, which the rack connects to. It doenst use USB or PCI.

 

[Frank]

Realtek® ALC650 6CH with built in HP amplifier
high-quality 6-channel audio

Is that SoundStorm audio or not, and would i be better getting a PCI sound card?

What do you want to use it for?
Gaming, music...etc?

 

[lePobz]

lol, so you didnt even have the hardware installed properly and you are judging the performance???

If you didnt have the SoundStorm control panel installed its safe to say it was running in 2 channel stereo, with none of the EQ settings etc.

Maybe you should learn how to use a computer before you start flaming hardware.