Onboard or Audigy?

[crazynico]

getting a new rig soon, and i was wondering something. i mainly play games, so i wanna know if the onboard on this motherboard is better than an Audigy.

ECS 965T-A P965 Chipset w/7.1 Sound

the audigy is just a plain jane audigy that is about 4 years old. i'm out of touch with the latest technology, so how is onboard sound coming these days?

i use a Plantronics USB headset for my speakers.

[Ankerson]

I would re-think that motherboard choice and go with Asus, Intel, or Gigabyte.

ECS isn't a good choice.

[RamonGTP]

Audigy all the way.

[Ankerson]

Audigy all the way.

I doubt he would notice any difference between the Current on board sound and the old Audigy using headphones.

I can't notice any difference between the on board sound and my Audigy 2 so I pulled it out.

[RamonGTP]

Well I can't speak for headsets since I rarely use them, but I can tell a huge difference between onbaord and my Audigy 2 with speakers. There is really no comparison.

[Ankerson]

Well I can't speak for headsets since I rarely use them, but I can tell a huge difference between onbaord and my Audigy 2 with speakers. There is really no comparison.

I am using speakers and can't tell the difference personally.

[crazynico]

i don't have an audigy 2, just an audigy. i would think that onboard would be better since the card is years old. so you guys are telling me that a regular audigy, not an audigy 2 is better?

also, anyone else want to comment on the motherboard? this was the recommended board from iBuypower.

[Ankerson]

i don't have an audigy 2, just an audigy. i would think that onboard would be better since the card is years old. so you guys are telling me that a regular audigy, not an audigy 2 is better?

also, anyone else want to comment on the motherboard? this was the recommended board from iBuypower.

The on board sound on the newer better motherboards is really pretty good, better than most people think it is.

I can tell you that every single person I know that has built a Core 2 Machine using a good i965 board that asked the same question and all of them are still using the on board sound.

I just told them to try the on board first as it is personal preference.

[crazynico]

here is my setup on the computer that will arrive on Tuesday. i hope the ECS board holds up, because it's too late for me to change the order:


Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6300 (2x 1.86GHz/2MB L2 Cache/1066FSB

Liquid CPU Cooling Fan System Kit --- [for INTEL CPU] )

ECS 965T-A P965 Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, USB 2.0 PCI-E MB

1024MB [512MB X2] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module Corsair XMS2 Xtreme w/Heat Spreader

NVIDIA GeForce 7950GT 512MB w/DVI + TV Out Video

250 GB HARD DRIVE [Serial-ATA-II, 3Gb, 7200 RPM, 8M Cache]

Sony DW-G120 Dual Format/Double Layer 16X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive Black


what's your opinion on this rig? pretty decent? anything i should look at upgrading soon?

[Ankerson]

You got a liquid cooling kit?

Over kill if not overclocking, the stock retail HSF is very good.

I hope you don't expect to overclock the E6300 on that motherboard because it doesn't have many options and doesn't overclock well from what I have read.

If running stock speed everything looks fine except you might want to add another 1024mb of memory later on if you game a lot.

[crazynico]

the liquid cooling comes with the computer. i don't overclock at all. if my comp gets too slow, i buy another one. but the price was the same with the liquid cooling.

i think i should go ahead and get 1024 more of the RAM now that you mention it.. shame about the mobo, but now that it's all assembled, i can't really go back and change it.

by the way, i've heard bad things about dual core processors and gaming saying how the games can only use one of the processors at a time, etc.

what's your take on this?

[RamonGTP]

I am using speakers and can't tell the difference personally.

I'm not doubting that you personally don't notice the difference, but there definatly is one. If I'm playing a poor quality MP3 I can't tell MUCH difference. Gaming or listening to a CD, It's a world of difference, and that is on several different (newer) board with onboard sound. They simply can't hold a candle to a dedicated Audigy2 (or Audigy) card in sound quality, features, CPU overhead or pretty much anything else, except for of course, cost. Since he already has a card, there is really no reason to NOT use it unless he needs the PCI slot for something else. While there may be a select few onboard solutions that are nearly as good, most boards, even newer ones are using products that are inferior to an Audigy.

[crazynico]

Ramon, what's your take on the ECS motherboard?

i know it may not be the latest and greatest, or something to be used for serious overclocking, but it's a decent board isn't it?

[RamonGTP]

I've built a few budget computers with ECS boards and have not had a problem with any of them. They aren't the best overclockers, even the ones that have overclocking options in the bios don't overclock well or at all. Their onboard devices usually are not as good as other baords, in particual, sound, ironicly enogh. But for a basic, no frills budget baord, it works.

If you are planning to dabble in overclocking, even minor, I'd suggest a different baord. If not, you should be ok.

[Ankerson]

i think i should go ahead and get 1024 more of the RAM now that you mention it.. shame about the mobo, but now that it's all assembled, i can't really go back and change it.

Yes I would.

by the way, i've heard bad things about dual core processors and gaming saying how the games can only use one of the processors at a time, etc.

what's your take on this?

Most games are not multi-Threaded so they don't use both cores.

That isn't a bad thing at all.

The games will be multi-threaded in the future to take advantage of Dual Core CPU's.

With the Core 2 Duo's it doesn't matter because they are so powerful.