Author Topic: external Versus Internal sound (Read 249 times)

maddog · « **on:** November 23, 2004, 05:50:29 PM »

Currently running on internal (motherboard) sound ..... I'm led to believe that its better to use a sound card as it frees up CPU (3200+) resources.

Would like to know the gain if I go spend $100 on an Audrey2 card......

llama · « **Reply #1 on:** November 23, 2004, 07:20:35 PM »

Anantech recently compared CPU utilizations for soundcards. Most on-board sound took between 5% to 15% of the CPU. Most sound cards took 1%-3%.

My maths says, assuming you aren't limited by your video card, that you'll see an improvement of between 2% and 14%.

Plus, you'll get a better sound and possibly a good gameport out of the deal.

I have a regular Audigy LS and it works just great at 3 GHz, including the gameport.

-Llama

maddog · « **Reply #2 on:** November 23, 2004, 11:50:22 PM »

Tanks a lot...!

MOSQ · « **Reply #3 on:** November 24, 2004, 11:01:26 AM »

No one has convinced me yet that an Audigy 2 is any better than a plain Audigy or a Turtle Beach. Maybe they sound better thru high end speakers in surround sound or have more features for creating synthesized music, but for gaming with the headsets most of us use, the $ is not worth it. Save the $100 in your hidden piggy bank (the one your wife can't find) for a better video card or cpu in the future.

I have a plain whitebox OEM version Audigy I got at Fry's, it works great. $49 regular, but I've seen them for $35 on sale.
They are getting hard to find, but you can buy a factory refurbished Audigy direct from Creative for $49 at http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=84&subcategory=85&product=10483

Newegg also has various versions of the Audigy under $50.

DAVENRINO · « **Reply #4 on:** November 24, 2004, 12:01:02 PM »

Make sure that whatever you buy has the output connectors you may need as Creative has a wide variety of combos. I need the 6 channel SPDIF output for my home theatre surround sound. The Audigy 2 doesn't have it until you step up to at least the ZS version, yet the $28 Live 5.1 does have it. I am still happy with the digital output of my onboard Nforce Soundstorm and have never had any VOX issues.

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #5 on:** November 24, 2004, 03:31:23 PM »

I use a Live 5.1 card and I have no problems with it, it has all the hookups for the surround sound. I wouldnt reccommend it if you use Win98 though. The XP drivers work great, but the .vxd drivers even directly from Creative I have had corruption issues with. That and the newest drivers for the Live! series cards under Win98 are from 2003 I believe with no new ones forthcoming.