On board Sound -

[Mood]

Ok i have an Asus a8n-SLI deluxe mobo and Logitech X-530 speakers...
They sound decent but if i have the volume turned up to max on the Volume Control Panel it sounds like garbage. I have the ALC850 driver insalled... Is there a better driver? Or is this how onboard sound is supposed to be.

[naptownman]

You probably have a combination of problems: First, most on-board sound solutions are low-end and basic. They're just there to add sound - not necessarily good sound. Second, your speakers are probably distorting from their internal power amp.

Best sound would come from using a separate audio card. You'll have to decide if you want 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, etc. and choose from there. You can get decent sound from relatively cheap cards. I've got a Chaintech 7.1 PCI sound card that was about $40 that's killer when used with decent speakers.

[Mood]

from my understanding... on board sound is becoming very good these days... I was under the impression that onboard sound would soon make sound cards useless... guess this isnt the case from my problem :/

[Midknyte]

The ALC850 is supossed to be pretty good as far as onboard goes.

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloads.aspx

turn the volume up on your speakers, then adjust with the software.