Nforce 2 sound

what would gave me better sound my SB live 5.1 w/ Audigy 2 drivers or a 8rda+ onbroad sound

8RDA+, no question. Soundstorm kicks the crap out of SB Live!

I recently switched from a SB Live to the onboard 8rda+ sound. Mostly because yes it IS soundstorm minus the nvidia certification (the lack of a SPDIF cost them that). What got me excited about the Nforce2 sound was this article at Toms which details the performance difference between a few audio solutions in games. The article does have its flaws. Whenever I see a cpu utilization comparison of sound cards I always find myself asking "Where is so and so card" In this case they should have also tested the Live (not new but so many people have them so it would be good to compare), Revolution, Hercules Muse, Original Audigy, DMX 6fire, and of course a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. Odd since Toms is usually good at testing an excessive amount of CPUs and Video Cards. A lot more benchmarks would have been good too...

Anyway. It shows the nforce2 audio well out ahead of the other solutions, which is almost better than having good sound

But it sounds pretty damn good anyway. I think a little better than a SB live although most of the time it sounds about the same to me. But a few times I've caught myself thinking "hey this did not sound this good on the Live".

I recommend the onboard 8RDA+ audio over the Live, the low cpu utilization is easily worth using it over the Live.

Save the money and just use the built in sound. I have both and can't tell a difference between the two. Asus board though, if that matters....

I love my Soundstorm Onboard..cant beat it for cpu utilization either.

I would love to use the onboard sound, but my speakers require the 2 outputs like on the back of the live or audigy, one for rear and front speakers. The soundstorm boards all have just one output and/or the SPDIF, which my speakers (and none of creative have I think) 4.4 4100 Inspire.

I had a SB Audigty and I now use the on board Soundstorm on my A7N8X Dlx.

JupiterSSJ4 said:

I would love to use the onboard sound, but my speakers require the 2 outputs like on the back of the live or audigy, one for rear and front speakers. The soundstorm boards all have just one output and/or the SPDIF, which my speakers (and none of creative have I think) 4.4 4100 Inspire.

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I think at least some if not all of them can be configured so that the Line in becomes he rear channel output and, if need be, the mic becomes the center/sub output.

cbakey said:

I had a SB Audigty and I now use the on board Soundstorm on my A7N8X Dlx.

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So the onboard is better than your Audigy? I'm wondering because I have an Audigy Gamer.

Yes to my ears it is, i had a Audigty W/1934 connector.

I have been using a Audigy Platinum for around 3 years, and recently changed over to a Abit NF7-S which has the "ON board" SoundStorm sound system a few months ago. Can I tell the difference? HELL YES! Am I satisfied with giving up the Audigy PL? HELL YES! I use the SoundStorm for Editing/Remixing Music and I DO NOT IN THE LEAST by no means miss my Audigy...

Just my opinion

The choice is yours, Choose Wisely!

DpGravy

JupiterSSJ4 said:

I would love to use the onboard sound, but my speakers require the 2 outputs like on the back of the live or audigy, one for rear and front speakers. The soundstorm boards all have just one output and/or the SPDIF, which my speakers (and none of creative have I think) 4.4 4100 Inspire.

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The Abit NF7-S has outputs for front, center/subwoofer, and rear, so that works (I have a 5.1 5200 Inspire, and all the plugs have some place to plug into)

get an audigy 2 for $70 bucks It's well worth the money and is much better than sound storm. I can vouch for this because I tried the 8rda+ sound and although it wasn't bad it didn't really offer 5.1 sound. audigy 2 works much better. only downside is all the bloatware that installs with the drivers.

don't bother with nforce2 sound, its terrible. My sblive 5.1, santa cruz, and now my audgy 2 are all way better.

SnComet2, What do you mean by "way better"?

I have an audigy 2 and i can say in my experience with good speakers (680's)

soundstorm=audigy 2

The A7N8X Deluxe also has the plugs for Front, Rear, Centre and Sub right on the backplane.

nforce onboard sound kicks *** my friend.
I believe it is 20 bit.
The only reasonably priced thing that beats that is an audigy 2 (24 bit).
If you aren't an audiophile you shouldn't spend your money on an audio card.

SkaGoatMaster said:

The A7N8X Deluxe also has the plugs for Front, Rear, Centre and Sub right on the backplane.

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all nforce boards do, the only reason some arnt called "soundstorm" is because some dont have the SPDIF.

MadBlade said:

nforce onboard sound kicks *** my friend.
I believe it is 20 bit.
The only reasonably priced thing that beats that is an audigy 2 (24 bit).
If you aren't an audiophile you shouldn't spend your money on an audio card.

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I bought my audigy 2 platinum because it was the only one that would allow me to plug midi into it as well as my guitar, as well as the kick *** software bundle that came with it.

It's got nothing to do with being an audiophile, if you have good speakers then buy a sound card, if you have a crappy pair of 3 watt computer speakers from an old compaq, dont bother.