8rda+ and soundstorm?

[Helgaiden]

is the onboard sound on the 8rda+ the soundstorm chip? or is it some other chip/codec?

also, is whatever on it good or not so good or bad?

[c627627]

Yeah, you get 8RDA+ for the good soundstorm sound, no need to purchase sound card for it unless you have specific needs.

In my HO, the sound on it is just fine, save your $ and buy something else other than the sound card.

It's the 8RDA (no plus) that lacks sound features.

[Helgaiden]

well its the plus im getting so soundstorm r0xx0rz. :-).

[cherryp00t]

8rda+ dont have sound storm.. 8rda3+ has soundstorm =d

[c627627]

Oh yes it does.
The 8RDA+ has the MCP-T southbridge which gives it onboard LAN as well as 6 channel nVidia soundstorm.

[cherryp00t]

they might use the MCP-T southbrdige but the board is not soundstorm certified

they have the hardware its just not implemented

[cherryp00t]

btw i have build computers on the a7n8x nf7-s and the 8rda+ and def the 8rda+ has the worst sound quiality of the 3.. the a7n8x and nf7-s has about an equally decent sound.. 8dra+ is def lower compared to those 2

[c627627]

8RDA+ may lacks soundstorm certification, but

"hardware and sound quality of this board sound are IDENTICAL to those of any officially certified soundstorm board"

When you consider that most pro or + nForce2 versions use MCP-T+AC'97 codec, Avance Logic ALC650 except for Chaintech which uses PCI Audio, C-Media CMI8738/PCI-6ch-MX which is not as good as ALC650, how can this make any sense:
Originally posted by cherryp00t
btw i have build computers on the a7n8x nf7-s and the 8rda+ and def the 8rda+ has the worst sound quiality of the 3.. the a7n8x and nf7-s has about an equally decent sound.. 8dra+ is def lower compared to those 2

Sound is the same on Asus and Epox although some special connectors may come standard on one and may have to be purchased for the other but that's why they're priced so differently.

[Helgaiden]

so the 8rda+ has soundstorm or nearly soundstorm level sound output?

[c627627]

The quality of sound is the same except for Chaintech nForce2. That's the important thing.

Some may come with specialized connectors like SPDIF.
Some just have a place on the mobo where you can hook one up.

They all have the same regular connectors which most of us use.

[Element-Xero]

Well I just got my 8RDA+ Rev. 2.1 and it has the typical ****ty "Aud In/Out/Mic" Jacks.....

I got a 5.1 speaker system...so that's an obvious flaw to me, I'll take my trusty SB Live! 5.1 Into yet another mobo thank you very much ;)

[c627627]

You're correct. 8RDA+ does not have specialized connectors. They're add-ons with this board.

The sound is OK if you use standard connectors and most people do.

[Helgaiden]

im gonna be getting the $65 set of logitech 5.1 speakers, will i be able to get good surround sound with the onboard audio on the 8rda+?

[FatChance]

yes you will but be prepared n-force boards have a ton of audio problems including crackling and delayed sound output -fat

[Helgaiden]

is there any way to overcome all that?

[shadowdr]

Active cooling on the northbridge and passive on the southbride will fix it all.Just add a fan to the nb and glue a heatsink on the sb.

[Helgaiden]

ah, so what about just active cooling on the NB?

[squeakygeek]

Originally posted by Element-Xero
Well I just got my 8RDA+ Rev. 2.1 and it has the typical ****ty "Aud In/Out/Mic" Jacks.....

I got a 5.1 speaker system...so that's an obvious flaw to me, I'll take my trusty SB Live! 5.1 Into yet another mobo thank you very much ;)

All you have to do is enable 5.1 surround in the audio control panel in your taskbar, and the "typical **** 'Aud In/Out/Mic' jacks" turn into front/rear/center 5.1 channels. You obviously didn't pay too much attention to the specs when you bought the mobo, as it should have stated that it is 5.1 compatible.

[zabomb4163]

Originally posted by squeakygeek


All you have to do is enable 5.1 surround in the audio control panel in your taskbar, and the "typical **** 'Aud In/Out/Mic' jacks" turn into front/rear/center 5.1 channels. You obviously didn't pay too much attention to the specs when you bought the mobo, as it should have stated that it is 5.1 compatible.

i couldnt quite figure out how to change to 5.1 sound either

[Helgaiden]

i want to add Mic to my setup, but my 5.1 speakers are taking up all the jacks. Anyway around this?

[squeakygeek]

Originally posted by zabomb4163


i couldnt quite figure out how to change to 5.1 sound either

I know you well enough to know that you probably didn't install the official drivers. If you did, double click on the taskbar icon and click the "speaker setup" tab.

[squeakygeek]

Originally posted by Helgaiden
i want to add Mic to my setup, but my 5.1 speakers are taking up all the jacks. Anyway around this?

Maybe if you utilize some of your motherboard audio headers you could free up your mic jack. Otherwise you could install a sound card :rolleyes:

I don't know much about the audio headers other than you can use them for RCA or fiber output on a pci backplate. Maybe someone else could help you with this, or you could look some stuff up on it.

[Helgaiden]

well i dont have any accesories on hand to utilize extra audio headers but how can i free up my mic jack?

i have the logitech z640 speaker system if that helps.

[squeakygeek]

read my post. Maybe if you utilize some of your motherboard audio headers you could free up your mic jack.

You can use the headers instead of your mic jack.

[Sir Barton]

Originally posted by shadowdr
Active cooling on the northbridge and passive on the southbride will fix it all.Just add a fan to the nb and glue a heatsink on the sb.

i used the stock 60mm that came on my 1800+ stock HSF, zip tied it to the NB heatsink and it dropped my temps by around 4 or 5C. my 8RDa+ also came with a passive SB heatsink.

[Helgaiden]

well, i would utilize the headers but i have nothing to utilize it with. Do i need to go buy the bracket for it or something? and where can i get one?

[squeakygeek]

Yeah, you would have some, or make some. I saw something on making them maybe at www.8rdafaq.com or www.8rda.com . I'm not sure where.

[Junglebizz]

All of my sound crackling issues disappeared when I updated my bios and motherboard drivers to the latest version. I also only have active cooling on the nb, via a 40mm fan. Nothing on the sb.

As for Soundstorm? Soundstorm isn't a chip or anything. It's just a certification. Just like THX is a certification. It just means it meets the specific technological requirements to be certified with that name. The 8RDA+ has the MCP-T which provides the same quality sound like any other "soundstorm" motherboard. The board is NOT "Soundstorm certified" though because Epox decided to not include an SPDIF connector somewhere on the board

[Helgaiden]

i saw the spidif header though. O_o.

[c627627]

He means the physical connector that can be placed where PCI cards are usually placed is not included with 8RDA+. However, the mobo has a place where you can hook that physical connector to if you buy it as an add-on.

[Junglebizz]

c627627 has it right. It's because of that physical connector missing that the 8RDA+ didn't get the soundstorm certification.

[Helgaiden]

oh, yeah.

so if i use some of my mobo's headers to free up my jacks, my jacks would still work normally? (At least the mic jack)

[squeakygeek]

I see no reason why they wouldn't.

[Helgaiden]

cool