Sound card old dedicated vs new integrated.

Hi so i didn't know in which tread to post this so i will just post it here.So i have an old SB Live! 5.1 dedicated sound card and my motherboard has a realtek alc 892,would the dedicated one perform better than the integrated i can find drivers for it?Is there a real benefit of a dedicated sound card?Would it increase performance,or audio quality?

Moved to the section for sound equipment.

Please post the model number of the card:
http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?sid=46261

i had/have a Z170x gigabyte gaming G1 mobo with integrated sound that sounded awesome. but after problems with the G1 board, i replaced it with a Asus Hero which has integrated realtek sound that didn't sound too good to me to be honest.
i just put a soundblaster Z in the hero board and back to sweet sounds again.
not sure if it answers your question, but the quality from the on board realtek i have to the SBZ is like chalk and cheese.

there might be a fix or drivers out there for the SB live, but need to know what operating system ? the SB live is a pretty old card now though from memory ?

laci90 said:

Hi so i didn't know in which tread to post this so i will just post it here.So i have an old SB Live! 5.1 dedicated sound card and my motherboard has a realtek alc 892,would the dedicated one perform better than the integrated i can find drivers for it?Is there a real benefit of a dedicated sound card?Would it increase performance,or audio quality?

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That is a sound card from the year 2000, I would definitely use Integrated over it for sure.

sobe said:

That is a sound card from the year 2000, I would definitely use Integrated over it for sure.

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i still use a soundblaster audigy SE, sounds better than onboard and has more volume(power).

KharmaKazi said:

i had/have a Z170x gigabyte gaming G1 mobo with integrated sound that sounded awesome. but after problems with the G1 board, i replaced it with a Asus Hero which has integrated realtek sound that didn't sound too good to me to be honest.
i just put a soundblaster Z in the hero board and back to sweet sounds again.
not sure if it answers your question, but the quality from the on board realtek i have to the SBZ is like chalk and cheese.

there might be a fix or drivers out there for the SB live, but need to know what operating system ? the SB live is a pretty old card now though from memory ?

Click to expand...

What is wrong with your Z170x gigabyte?


I still use a creative audigy 2 zs it works great much better than on board sound, also you have more power from the CPU because onboard sound needs a lot more processing.

If you are using (the board has) the ALC1150 codec, you will be hard pressed to hear any differences unless you have higher end speakers or cans. While SnR surely isn't The Gospel, its 112db rating is as good as many discrete cards.

That said, I still use onboard and have a MEH set of cans and it sounds great (weakness is in the bass in my cans).

I think its ALC892

wagex said:

i still use a soundblaster audigy SE, sounds better than onboard and has more volume(power).

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wingman99 said:

What is wrong with your Z170x gigabyte?


I still use a creative audigy 2 zs it works great much better than on board sound, also you have more power from the CPU because onboard sound needs a lot more processing.

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CPU power isn't something you should worry about with any modern cpu for desktop builds, much less from the i5/i7 lines, onboard audio is not what it used to be. While I do currently run a Creative ZxR in my main rig, it is quite a $200 waste of money IMO, but for myself there is a difference in the headphones that I run that is mostly to do with gain, not the ability to be driven properly. That said I only run my Beyer DT990's off the ZxR. The MrSpeakers AlphaDogs, Fostex TH-X00, and the rest of my collection is run off of a dedicated amp/dac combo ala WooAudio WA7 Fireflies.

If you have a modern motherboard, the onboard audio is just as good as a dedicated card for the most part, that's how far things have advanced. I've stopped recommending internal sound cards due to this unless you had money to **** away on your rig just because. Otherwise, just spend $99 on a Schiit Magni 2 for a superior amp.

EarthDog said:

If you are using (the board has) the ALC1150 codec, you will be hard pressed to hear any differences unless you have higher end speakers or cans. While SnR surely isn't The Gospel, its 112db rating is as good as many discrete cards.

That said, I still use onboard and have a MEH set of cans and it sounds great (weakness is in the bass in my cans).

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A lot of people see something and take it at face value, look at ohm ratings. People see 300ohm or 600ohm and assume they are hard to drive.... Nope... those ratings only tell you partial information, you need to know the sensitivity of the headphones to really determine how hard they are to drive.

I think there still is a big difference between a good audio processor or a simple codec. Just one of them is how many sounds can be processed at the same time.

I'm always looking for more power out of my CPU I don't care how fast it is.

What is wrong with your Z170x gigabyte?

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had enough of all the software issues with it, not to mention it won't run PWM fans properly either. won't go into it here but i had lots of little issues with the board.
i am trying to get a refund or store credit atm with the supplier. they have it now again for the second time. they will of had it longer than i have since i bought it soon

If you have a modern motherboard, the on board audio is just as good as a dedicated card for the most part

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sorry but i totally disagree with that statement, the on board sound on the Gig Gaming G1 was great yes, but it has a Creative certified Sound Blaster ZxRi 120+dB SNR chip.
using the same speaker setup, with an Asus Hero Viii the on board sound was pretty ordinary. i tried everything to try get it to sound ok. it was "OK" but the clarity and base just wasn't there for me.
hence why i added the SBZ card to the hero board.
for me the Asus on board sound probably would of been ok for just gaming, but i listen to a fair bit of music and it just didn't cut the mustard "for me anyway"

Really it depends on the speakers or cans you have as to if you can notice a difference. As I said earlier, the ALC1150 CODEC is typically fine for most people. Others with high end stuff or with a more critical ear, would want something better. On board sound has come a long way in just the last couple of years.

I have looked at several audio cards , and I'm sure I can do better than the onboard I'm using at present. BUT , and it's a big but , my stereo is a little beefier than the usual computer speakers. I finally decided to just get a Schiit Modi 2 Uber when I can afford one. For $149 it's a far better investment for me and I don't have to worry about drivers. The base model Modi is only $99 and should still stomp the Schiit out of the majority of sound cards out there. Depending on your budget , they have better stuff too. And yes , the name of the company really is Schiit. http://schiit.com/products

I still use my trusty Auzentech Prelude on a NAD T748, sounds great! Analogue for tunes, and digital for movies

I'm not deaf but i really can't hear any difference between the realtek 892 and sb live 5.1 maybe the integrated has even more power and is a bit clearer?

Actually the Sb live! 5.1 is pretty good but also its pretty ancient.

The technology for sound is ancient anyway they have had nothing new for years.

My other problem with the sb live is that it has a pci interface and its too close to my gpu on the asrock b75 pro 3 m motherboard and the other pci interface isn't even visible because of the gpu cooler.And with the sound card my gpu is 35-36 C in idle and without the sound card its 28 in idle so it isn't really worth for me since i care more about the graphics card then the sound card.So a dedicated pci sound card won't card wont do any good for the airflow or any pci card.

laci90 said:

My other problem with the sb live is that it has a pci interface and its too close to my gpu on the asrock b75 pro 3 m motherboard and the other pci interface isn't even visible because of the gpu cooler.And with the sound card my gpu is 35-36 C in idle and without the sound card its 28 in idle so it isn't really worth for me since i care more about the graphics card then the sound card.So a dedicated pci sound card won't card wont do any good for the airflow or any pci card.

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Idle temps are meaningless, the load temps are what you should be worried about. If you are concerned about the temps, a Spotcool, can help.

http://www.amazon.com/Antec-Spot-Cool-SpotCool-System/dp/B000I5KSNQ