I'm a gamer who's sick of his onboard sound- helrp!

[Chaos_Being]

Title says it all. Since I built my PC I've been using the onboard AC 97 audio on my IC7. Luckily, I haven't had a lot of the same issues that other people have with their onboard audio with this board- no hissing or crackling. However, when playing music the sound is pretty muffled sounding, and surround sound doesn't work all that great. Most of the time it doesn't sound like individual sounds are being sent to seperate speakers, it just sounds kind of smooshed together (the settings are definitley set right too, so its not that.) Preferably I'd just like to up the volume of my rears a bit more as they get pretty drowned out, but it doesn't seem like I have that option. Every once in a while, my sound just cuts out until I reboot as well.

My speakers are pretty nice, Logitech Z-5300's.

So, I"m looking at what PCI card to get so I can say goodbye to my onboard. I've narrowed it down to three, going from cheap to fairly expensive.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=29-120-103&depa=0 Chaintech AV-710, $24

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=29-121-116&depa=0 M-Audio Revolution 5.1, $65

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=29-102-162&depa=0 Audigy 2 ZS, $85.99


-Another possiblity would be someting made by Turtle Beach, but I haven't the slightest idea of what would be a good card from them. I had one of their cards 5 years ago and it was pretty good...had some weird compliancy issues now and again though.

I've been reading this section of the boards a bit, and whenever gaming is an issue the overwhelming response seems to be "go creative!" Two things about creative cards for me though- one, the expense (although honestly, would I notice a difference in sound between an audigy 2 and an audigy 2 ZS? The regular 2 is cheaper) Two, every time I install a creative product, it is a titanic battle to make the drivers install correctly so the product works at all!

The big thing going against the non-creative cards seems to be cpu utilization and framerate loss. My question is, what sort of difference would I see in fps loss/cpu utilization between onboard sound which already uses my cpu, and the chaintech or m-audio card? Similar performance, worse performance, or a little improvement even?

Thanks.

 

[Maxvla]

hmm that revolution 5.1 looks interesting. didn't even know of its existence. i tried to see what chipset it was using but its a little blurry. still appears to be a envy24HT instead of the HTS on the chaintech. which means you could get the marginally better chipset for cheaper than before.

it says the revo 5.1 supports eax so theres a blow against the audigy. higher audio quality AND hardware support. this might be the best gaming card yet.

with the chaintech card you will lose about 2-5 fps which is virtually nothing. it looks like the m-audio will not hinder fps at all.

 

[Chaos_Being]

Yes supposedly the 5.1 version of the M-Audio was designed for gaming in mind in addition to music. I"ve only been able to find a few sources of info on it though, no real reviews just a few mentions on messageboards here and there. It looks like it was released this month though, so no surprise there. It does sound pretty good though!

Also, when you say I'd lose 2-5fps with the chaintech card, do you mean I'd lose that over using my onboard audio, or against an audigy?

Thanks again

 

[breez]

If it's Envy24 (any model) it means no HW acceleration.

 

[breez]

Also, when you say I'd lose 2-5fps with the chaintech card, do you mean I'd lose that over using my onboard audio, or against an audigy?

Thanks again

Against Audigy. The onboard may be even slower than Chaintech/M-Audio depending on whether it has HW acceleration or not and how good the software solution is if it lacks HW acceleration.

 

[Albuquerque]

My motherboard uses the same Envy24 chipset as the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 card, except that I don't have the nice 24-bit analog output capacity on anything but the front L/R channels. A lot of people emphasis the "performance loss" of non-hardware accelerated sound cards, but you have to take it with a grain of salt...

You're talking a 1-4% difference in total frame rendering output when comparing the uber-top performer versus the uber-bottom performer when actually playing games. Theoretical "sound benchmarks" can make the percentage seem higher, but real-life gaming very rarely (if ever) matches those "doom and gloom" numbers.

I use my Envy24 sound in EAX 2.0 mode in FarCry and have absolutely zero problems. I also use it in Halo and Doom 3 in the "surround" modes also without issue. Maybe I could get another two or three frames per second, but since I'm already on a 3.7ghz processor and a 550mhz X800XTPE, I really could give a rip Know what I mean?

For the insignificant reduction in speed, you'll get better audio quality and comparable features with a much smaller price tag.

 

[Docta_Z]

I vote for the Audigy 2 ZS.

I highly doubt there is a 2-5 fps difference between it and the chaintech card.

 

[Darth]

The m-audio revolution does not have HW acceleration. It uses Sensura (software) to proccess EAX, A3D, etc. If EAX isn't important to you than the m-audio card is an excellent choice. If EAX support is important to you than go for the Audigy 2.

 

[jamminj606]

I moved up from ac97 to the chaintech card and it works great. Havent used a soundblaster card since i killed my live value, so i cant really compare it to an audigy. I also havent noticed any adverse gaming performance - doom3 feels better overall because of the improved sound and i havent noticed a frame rate drop.

 

[Maxvla]

I highly doubt there is a 2-5 fps difference between it and the chaintech card.

what do you mean by this statement?

 

[penquissciguy]

You mentioned Turtle Beach. Their Santa Cruz is a nice card and it falls somewhere in price between the Chaintech and the M-Audio. The only issue I have with it is incomplete driver support in Linux. The Windows drivers are rock solid and high quality. Sound quality is very good from this card as well.

Ken

 

[Chaos_Being]

Hmm, I had mentioned the TB cards as an afterthought but the Santa Cruz does look to be a pretty good deal. Around $40 shipped from NewEgg.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=29-118-101&depa=0

My main concern with this card is that it is a bit dated...a few of the people that left reviews claimed that the sound would be a bit screwy with new games. I had the same experience with my really old TB card as it aged, so I'm just a bit iffy on this card after reading those reviews. Otherwise it does sound like a good performer and a good deal, and other than what I mentioned I have heard good things about this card.

Otherwise, I am really considering the M-Audio 5.1. I'm not quite sure how much better it would be than the Chaintech card, but it does use a better chipset (pretty much the same as the 7.1, but I think it is supposed to be a new revision.) I think I am going to stay away from Creative for now.

I'm going to buy a new processor in a few days (most likely from NewEgg) to take advantage of the August price drop, so I"ll probably get a sound card along with it...got a few days to decide then.

 

[Albuquerque]

I have been left with a LOT of bitter taste in my mouth from Creative and all their driver issues. I've owned several SoundBlaster cards, starting with the original 8-bit SoundBlaster mono card, working up to the original SB16, then the SB-AWE64, the SB Live, and finally the SB Audigy.

No more SB for me. They were great until the SB Live, and then somewhere they went to hell with their bloated drivers and subpar sound quality. Had a Turtle Beach Montego for a while, and even though it wasn't nearly as fancy as the Live, I think it sounded much better. Since then, I've heard multiple different sound cards that I think provide MUCH more sound for the pricetag.

And having heard "true" EAX versus "software" EAX, I can tell you that it doesn't make a rip of difference to me or my ears.