Audigy1 vs Soundstrom

Ok I have heard some pretty positive things about soundstorm. I have an Audigy gamer. When I get my new Nf7-s v2 should I use Soundstorm instead of the audigy? Hows cpu usage with soundstorm? The audigy drivers have royaly sucked for me until Tomshardware hosted some beta drivers that are pretty solid. What do you think?

heres a few thoughts

first of all



or heres an even better idea, try the two when you get it

dude why do you have to be so sarcastic and unhelpful? i just read your gripe in gripes and moans and its pretty harsh.

anyways, big_baller868...i have the same board/sound card as you, and i'm using the audigy with no problems. i'm sure you probably won't be able to tell much difference but i am using the card to keep the responsibility of the mobo to a minimum. someone once told me that if i was going to use the onboard sound that i'd need to invest in some cooling for the southbridge which i don't feel like doing anyways. overall, i'd say install the audigy, and if you don't have any problems, keep it like that. the only reason i'd use the onboard sound is if either the audigy didn't work or you're using the board in a system that isn't gonna be overclocked (for a customer or something) to save money on the sound card.

jeff

I personally think the soundstorm sound is phenominal....but if you have 2.1 speakers it really doesn't matter........as for overclocking I am not completely sure as to whether using your onboard sound and overheating your southbrige....or using an external sound card and adding nother element of heat......which I am not sure will offer the greatest overclock...both have consiquences......I would suspect...purchasing a small heatsink and some adheisive as3...would be cheaper then a new comperable soundcard to the soundsotrm......if you already own the soundcard then I would suggest you to personally test your overclocking resaults....good luck...

Hey thx guys, And Timmy, mein Schatz, I did do a search but none of the specific questions were answerd in the results. Most were just Soundstrom rocks. I never heard about cooling the south bridge, cpu usage, or other specific details that the two last posters posted. I will try both and post if there is any impact on overclocking proformance. thx

bb868,

I don't have a link, but one of the hardware (could have been Toms) sites did a review and the soundstorm came out with the lowest CPU usage. As for quality, that's WAY to personal a judgment for anyone to give you an answer you are guaranteed to agree with (general statement about sound quality). The Soundstorm has been rated to be one of the cleanest sound sources available.

Personally, I can't tell the difference over the sound of all the fans in my computer.

The Soundstorm uses less system resources than the Audigy2 does but not by too much. The Audigy2 has a feature or two extra over the Soundstorm but not by much.

The Soundstrom costs $10 if you count the SATA as the other $10 for the $20 price differance between NF7 & NF7-S.

Audigy2 costs a lot more. Big differance.

Where's that beta driver ?

Not that I have any problems...

Big_Baller868 said:

Hey thx guys, And Timmy, mein Schatz, I did do a search but none of the specific questions were answerd in the results. Most were just Soundstrom rocks. I never heard about cooling the south bridge, cpu usage, or other specific details that the two last posters posted. I will try both and post if there is any impact on overclocking proformance. thx

Click to expand...

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=169034&highlight=Nf7*+soundstorm+audigy

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=190210&highlight=Nf7*+soundstorm+audigy

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=190338&highlight=Nf7*+soundstorm+audigy

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=202902&highlight=Nf7*+soundstorm+audigy

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=183952&highlight=Nf7*+soundstorm+audigy

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=192986&highlight=Nf7*+soundstorm+audigy

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=200969&highlight=Nf7*+soundstorm+audigy

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=199452&highlight=Nf7*+soundstorm+audigy


Those are just a few.

I'm sorry to come off like a shmuck, truely...but darn

Dear Lord you have too much time on your hands timmy(don't bother posting your time spent btw). I don't want this to turn into a biznatch fest so I admit not looking up EVERY post. Well hey, now this is another quality post that searchers will find in their quest for knowledge on onbaord sound vs others. So I am just helping the forums out timmy. (PS. Why include links to posts that send you to links kinda redundant huh)

Blazer just go to the creative website > support > drivers > audigy/audigy2 and there should be somthing about beta drivers hosted by Tomshardware. They are supposed to increase proformance.

the original audigy probably takes less system resources than the audigy 2, especially if you just install the drivers and leave out all the unnecessary programs. i haven't ever used onboard sound on any board though, and i'm a sound blaster fan, so i may be a little biased

The Soundstorm is the main reason I got the NF7-S. Otherwise I'd have to shell out ~$80 for the Santa Cruz or even more for a pro card.

Just sound wise I dont hear a difference between my soundstorm and Audigy plat. I do run the audigy because of the front console and the remote which I use frequently. Guess the sound difference doesnt justify purchaseing the audigy but the added convience of the audigy is something that is worthwhile me installing if I have it.

Ok here's the deal on soundstorm and audigy:

The soundstorm rules all in terms of performance and is decent enough for use with speakers. The audigy beats it out in sound quality and the noise to sound ratio, easily. Not just on paper either, I own both; the difference is like tape and CD quality. However, unless you are using some nice high-end headphones, you won't really notice it. If you are using 4/5.1 speakers, use the onboard sound unless you need something the audigy has, because you probably will not notice the difference in quality.