discussion on onboard sound controllers

for whatever reason, it seems like all motherboards nowadays come with onboard sound controllers

what do you think sounds better, or all around IS better? the onboard sound controllers of modern motherboards (say the asus or abit i865/875 boards) or, say a SB live???

How do they compare with the latest greatest (non-pro) sound cards like the audigy2, or whatever creative's current card is???


how do they stack up comparing sound quality and resources used? I know older onboard sound was relatively resource intensive

right now im still using a SBLive, citing no real reason to upgrade...

ive been useing on bourd sound for a while now, and its a bit iffy if you know what i meen, it works but only for easy things like playing a mp3, try to play bf1942 with it and it starts hissing and clicking after about an hour

Most onboard sound chips aren't good and use a good deal more CPU cycles to do their thing than a good PCI card does. The exception to this is Nvidia's Soundstorm.

I feel that 3rd party sound cards like the Creative Audigy2 or SBLive!have a "cleaner" output, especially for music compared to onboard sound. Also Creative cards give full support for EAX and game effects, resulting in a richer experience.

And not to mention most onboard audio solutions consume more CPU cycles (except the Nvidia APU as Gnufsh has pointed out).

But onboard audio has come a LONG way and nowadays offers decent performance indeed, especially for the user who is not too fussy.

Had a SB Live! befor, but my onboard soundstorm is WAY better! Not an audiophile, and playing on an old 4.1 set, but a huge difference. It's clearer and softer, more separated, better position in surround and less noise.

So I'm very happy! As for crackling after heavy playing, this may mean there is need for some extra cooling of the Southbridge.. A known issue..

I have Soundstorm on one of my rigs and its great for music and games. I have another with ALC650E and I had to put a SBL in to play BF1942 and other games. I've been hearing that the new C-Media 9739A used on some of the newer Epox boards is actually quite good, supports SPDIF can run AC-3 if implemented. I saw a review over at [H] (8RGA3+ I think) and they found the CPU usage of the 9739A quite low, not Soundstorm levels but very close with very good quality for an onboard option.
Regards, Balrog

Links to xbitlabs onboard sound comparison:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/multimedia/display/int-sound.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/multimedia/display/int-sound2.html

6fire...prodigy 7.1....audigy2 for gaming

sb live 5.1 will do..

and if you are going to oc, it will create white noises w/ onboard sound...i strongly recommend u go get 3rd sound card..