sound card?

[Chalenge]

Skuzzy, I have the new Reaper (x64) DAW installed, but I also have the physical hardware for ADAT, Effects (Virtualizer), and graphic equalizer (which I use for the outputs to speaker). All of these tie into the firewire interface (Behringer FCA1616) and to Windows via ASIO.  Which do you think will introduce the least amount of lag, the Virtualizer, or DAW with VST plugins?

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Asus uses C-Media sound chips.  They do not design their own chips.  C-Media may produce a version of their product for Asus exclusivley, but they are C-Media devices.

That statement does not counter the fact that onboard sound devices, sharing the memory bus, require more CPU time (running time, and dead time due to locking the bus), and cannot run in parallel to the CPU like a dedicated sound card, in a separate bus can.

As to how much an impact that is will vary from application to application.  In a DAW environment where you are sampling and mixing at 24 bit/192Khz, you will notice the difference, as an example.

This is a moot argument again like your catalyst thing. 10 years ago it may have mattered, today if you lose 1 frame per second from your 200+ it makes no real world difference at all.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Ripley, you already lost this argument in a thread that went like six pages Onboard audio of any kind is the last place you want to go, and it does not matter how fast the CPU is.

Lost which argument? There are onboard audio and there are onboard audio. Best onboard audio solutions have their own chips that offload them even from cpu. You're just stuck to ancient way of thinking.

[Chalenge]

You're trying to resurrect a long dead argument. The problem is that it is not one frame. The problem is that stuttering occurs, which is not only irritating but can cause long-term lockups at the worst possible times.

Again, onboard is the last thing you want to do, especially in a game like AH where consistent, smooth frame rates are so important.

[Skuzzy]

This is a moot argument again like your catalyst thing. 10 years ago it may have mattered, today if you lose 1 frame per second from your 200+ it makes no real world difference at all.

Has nothing to do with frame rate.  Here is where you show a level of ignorance in how the difference between true parallel I/O impacts the actual operation of a computer versus serializing all the I/O.

I really do not care if you want to believe the nonsense you are spewing, but I do care when it is being spewed at our player base.  Please, just stop it.

What was true 10+ years ago, is still true today and is why Intel/AMD/NVidia all look to try and run as many parallel threads as they can.  It is simply more efficient to overlap I/O so things do not stall.

[Zoney]

Thank you Skuzzy.   As an illiterate computer person I really need to be able to separate the BS from the facts.   This is the only game I play and the only interaction I have with computer geeks.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

See Rule #4

[Chalenge]

Wrong again, but I recognize someone reaching for a safety.

The Steam boards are full of people complaining about stutters in many, many games by all of the bigger software houses. Because of comments like yours it has become impossible to tell anyone that onboard audio is the issue. They will argue until the world ends that it is not their hardware.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

See Rule #4

[Chalenge]

I never said that, Ripley. Stop putting words in my mouth.

[Skuzzy]

Ripley you are so far off the mark, again.  I am not going to allow this any longer.  You have no idea what you are talking about.  You are making statements which are blatantly false.

[Skuzzy]

Skuzzy, I have the new Reaper (x64) DAW installed, but I also have the physical hardware for ADAT, Effects (Virtualizer), and graphic equalizer (which I use for the outputs to speaker). All of these tie into the firewire interface (Behringer FCA1616) and to Windows via ASIO.  Which do you think will introduce the least amount of lag, the Virtualizer, or DAW with VST plugins?

That has a lot of variables in it, but from a logical perspective, the external hardware will be able to run when the plugins can't.  Overall the hardware should offer a smoother experience, but it depends on the quality of that hardware.

I do not have firsthand experience with it, so all I can do is draw from logic.

[Skuzzy]

Thinking about getting a sound card and forgoing the onboard sound.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for any input.

Back to this original question.

I am not going to make any suggestion, but this.

If you get a card which uses the same onboard chip as the motherboard does, you are going to lose efficiency.  If you get a card which has a complete bus master solution with its own processor and RAM, you will gain efficiency.

How the efficiency is impacted will vary from computer to computer depending on the configuration of hardware and software.

[Hungry]

Anyone have a minute to check this one out, sorry im at the office, supposed to be a gem find in the sub human gamer circles $35. at amazon

Asus Xonar DG

Seperate headphone amp

Reviews give this card "best value" for the money and looks like it always hits top 5 in the reviews, anyone have any experience with it?

[Getback]

Back to this original question.

I am not going to make any suggestion, but this.

If you get a card which uses the same onboard chip as the motherboard does, you are going to lose efficiency.  If you get a card which has a complete bus master solution with its own processor and RAM, you will gain efficiency.

How the efficiency is impacted will vary from computer to computer depending on the configuration of hardware and software.

How will I know if it has it's own processor? Never mind I found one with it's own processor.