Sound: Onboard vs. Discrete

[vincent.m]

..."an old AGP, P4 spec monster with a naff case I need a proper NEW PC..."

the days of that system are over!!! if you dont need that much power i would not bother with the i7!

i think someone said bang for buck, core2duo gives much more!

i have this setup:

Asus CROSSHAIR Motherboard
AMD Phenom 9850 X4 Quad Core (OC'd 2.90Ghz)
Zalman CNPS9700-NT CPU Cooler (Nvidia)
XFX 8800GTX 768MB (x2) SLI Enabled*
4GB Corsair XMS2 RAM
WD Raptor
BFG 800W PSU*
6 Thermaltake 120mm Green LED Case Fans
Dell 24" LCD Widescreen Monitor
Bose Companion 5 Speakers

and that is AMAZING setup cost not as much as some of the features ones on the 3xs

[Inabus99]

Well the thing is I have had this old p4 for about 4 or 5 years with minor upgrades and its only the recent round of games that don't run on it anymore. That is the reason I am looking at upgrading to top end as I keep them for years

I agree its over the top atm, but give it a year or so and it wont be over the top I suspect and then give it another few years after that and it will be, fingers crossed, still keeping up with the new games, just at lower resolutions.

Not really sure this is the place for this question, is it best to get vista 64 or xp 64?

P

[vincent.m]

Well the thing is I have had this old p4 for about 4 or 5 years with minor upgrades and its only the recent round of games that don't run on it anymore. That is the reason I am looking at upgrading to top end as I keep them for years

I agree its over the top atm, but give it a year or so and it wont be over the top I suspect and then give it another few years after that and it will be, fingers crossed, still keeping up with the new games, just at lower resolutions.

Not really sure this is the place for this question, is it best to get vista 64 or xp 64?

P

vista for DX 10 if you plan to maximise the graphics to its full potential like you said..

i think a C2D extreme will prob last you a long time, but each to their own

[Webby]

Vista 64 for sure.

XP 64 is not XP its Server 2003 (iirc) anyway for gaming not the most friendly of OSs

Anyway Vista makes the most sense so go for that.

Oh and don't buy a core 2 duo exteme so overpriced for no benefit.

[Camrada]

good thoughts here... I was considering adding in a CL X-FI Titanium Fatal1ty Pro to my system, (namely because I've only a pci-e slot spare) currently the audio is provided onboard via the XFX N790i Ultra mainboard... Connected to Logitech z-5500 via an optical cable...

The audio is only really utilised when watch HD Movies, gaming and listening to music (primarily mp3 or FLAC)

If the general consensus is that discrete audio does not provide significant quality increases then I may scrap that idea and put the funds towards my watercooling plans...

[vincent.m]

is the C2D extreme still really expensive? just thought that price wise that its better than i7 no?

[vincent.m]

good thoughts here... I was considering adding in a CL X-FI Titanium Fatal1ty Pro to my system, (namely because I've only a pci-e slot spare) currently the audio is provided onboard via the XFX N790i Ultra mainboard... Connected to Logitech z-5500 via an optical cable...

The audio is only really utilised when watch HD Movies, gaming and listening to music (primarily mp3 or FLAC)

If the general consensus is that discrete audio does not provide significant quality increases then I may scrap that idea and put the funds towards my watercooling plans...

with regards to playing HD stuff, i have an 8600 GTS, you think that i can play HD content with east? also what do i use as the Blu-Ray player??

i was thinking about this player:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Sony-...l-inc-Software

[Nelsaidi]

Depends on your speakers/headphones, i moved from <£30 headphones to a decent senhiesser £60, there was a big difference in soundquality, so, unless you have decent headphones, the best soundcard wont make much of a difference. Anyhow, onboard sound is catching up with soundcards, and there isnt much of a difference (well atleast not very noticable) unless you have high end card + high end output.

[aidanjt]

Depends on your speakers/headphones, i moved from <£30 headphones to a decent senhiesser £60, there was a big difference in soundquality, so, unless you have decent headphones, the best soundcard wont make much of a difference. Anyhow, onboard sound is catching up with soundcards, and there isnt much of a difference (well atleast not very noticable) unless you have high end card + high end output.

This.

And, digital SPDIF connections almost entirely negate the advantages of discrete cards as well, other than hardware sound mixing of course.

[Camrada]

you should have no problems running HD video with that card, the GPU features a second video processing unit (VP2), for 100% offload of H.264 decoding during HD video playback.

The Blu-ray drive I have is the LG GGW-H20L I has worked flawlessly since install and is not as loud as the pioneer drive next to it.

If you are just looking for a Blu-Ray reader, then my opinion would be to pay the extra couple pound and look at the LG GGC-H20L as this will allow for HD-DVD playback too, the price of HD-DVD discs are a lot lower than BR atm, it also features Lightscribe, and burnd DVD-R's twice the speed of the Sony model...

The extra couple of pound you spend on the drive will be negated by the money you save on one (or two) HD-DVD movies...
for example; 300 HD-DVD(2.99) vs 300 Blu-Ray(17.99)

shop around for price differences though...

[vincent.m]

will the quality be similar to that of a HD tv??
i have a Dell 24" connected by DVI (not the ultraflat panel one)

[Camrada]

I guess in comparison to a HD TV it depends on person opinion, quality of the TV, the monitor and the like... the card will have no problem pumping out HD upto 1080i though so the quality of the picture should be a good one...

[TooNice]

For music on 'proper' X-Fi cards, the difference becomes noticeable from higher end multimedia speakers (e.g. Gigaworks) upward, and very pronounced on some headphones (the higher end Sennheiser, AKG and Beyerdynamic) and IEM.

And I still find the CMSS feature to work amazingly with headphones for movies. For that reason alone, I would still get an X-Fi if I was to build an 'all-purpose' home PC (for all the evil Creative has done).

But no, I wouldn't count on it to increase the FPS in any significant manner. That's why I tend to suggest sticking with the base card unless 1. you need the extra input/output or 2. you are particularly demanding in which case you should go Azuentech or the Elite Pro. The cards that are in between (e.g. Fatal1ty range) do not offer any benefit over the base card from a sound quality perspective.

[Maz_D]

I have an Asus Xonar DX sound card and I can notice with difference in many areas compared to an on-board sound card. The main areas of difference I notice is the noise levels are much better on the Asus sound card, their is no hiss the higher the volume is, and also there is a very good virtual speaker setting that in games and movies makes it sound like there is surround sound even if you only have a 2.1 setup.

[dfour]

The CMSS and Crysilizer make a big difference to mp3 but the main upgrade I found over the onboard sound was when playing games especially as all onboard are limited to EAX2 and the X-FI is EAX HD5 (or something like that) and the difference is night and day there (I use XP so no idea with the way vista screwed the sound all up if it will be the same).

[Infinite]

just did a quick comparison on my speakers (Altec Lansing MX5021 THX) from me just listening:

X-Fi >>>>> Laptop Realtek HD Audio >> iPod Touch 2nd Gen

lol