Soundcard review?

[HalloweenJack]

Many many years ago THW did a review on sound cards and performance in games:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/sound-...iew-26565.html


now , could hexus do a modern version?

it would be nice to see how modern codecs and sound cards effect game performance.

[kalniel]

Agreed, but it's a huge and draining experience because so much of sound is subjective. The performance side is straight forward, but sound qualities are much harder. Would be best carried out in Hexus labs, possibly with double blind tests and ratings from a number of different people.

[Terbinator]

Many many years ago THW did a review on sound cards and performance in games:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/sound-...iew-26565.html


now , could hexus do a modern version?

it would be nice to see how modern codecs and sound cards effect game performance.

I think most games have abandoned EAX and the like for games now so at least it comes down to pure quality for the most part.

FWIW I recently compared the sound from my D2X to the on-board audio of a GENE-Z, which I'd assume will have a decent on-board sound, and the D2X did sound better but i can't decide why or to what extent.

The D2X also cost half of what it would to buy a GENE-Z.

[HalloweenJack]

i think the crux of the article is more about relative performance - you can `re-enable` hardware acceleration on the high end cards , and if they give a boost to dps then surely its a good thing?

[kalniel]

i think the crux of the article is more about relative performance - you can `re-enable` hardware acceleration on the high end cards , and if they give a boost to dps then surely its a good thing?

Since Vista there is no hardware acceleration of sound.

[Agent]

Since Vista there is no hardware acceleration of sound.

Not through the old legacy DirectSound3D API, but there is nothing stopping developers using OpenAL as an interface to the hardware, thus accelerating sound without an issue.

Doesn't always mean it's the best route, though.

[HalloweenJack]

even realtek have a programme to re-ad hardware accelration for onboard codec`s to vista and win7 (as well as alchemy for x-fi and audigy)

[Hicks12]

Well windows 8 brings back hardware acceleration so in the next year or two it could be making a strong come back .

I always notice a difference between onboard vs soundcards, primarily the microphone quality is much better on the higher cards and static/interference is another extremely annoying issue! All my onboard sounds have introduced static and so headphones pee me off alot, shove them on a dedicated soundcard and its gone .


But no, really its hard to say X is better than Y... ears are so subjective

[HalloweenJack]

if you read the THW article , they show that , at least 9 years ago , there was a noticeable performance difference in fps with onboard > off board sound

was thinking , could it be similar , nowadys , in a heavy loading game with better sound (eg, more fps)