More nForce - Abit Suxx

[funkedup]

I tried out an Abit N7V-133R today.  

Everything fits (unlike Asus).

RAID/ATA133 works fine.

Onboard LAN works fine.

Zero stability issues.

3DMarks are slightly better than the Asus A7N266-C.

But somehow they screwed up the sound.  There is crackling and popping on the analog outputs and some really annoying interference on the mic input.  I've played with all the settings to no avail.

So it looks like I'm going to keep the A7N266-C and use Mr. Dremel to modify the ACR bracket so that it fits.

At this point I should have just bought a KT333 board and an Audigy.  But at least I don't have to deal with VIA and Creative now.

[bloom25]

That's really odd.  The MSI board I used seemed to have no issues with the sound, but I never hooked up a mic or used more than two speakers when I tested it...

[funkedup]

I switched back to the A7N266-C today.  Audio quality is perfect.

The ACR card still doesn't fit but I came up with an interim fix.  I removed the screws holding the PCB to the bracket and replaced them with very small nylon wire ties.  That allows the bracket to move closer to the card (so it fits in the case) but it keeps the card from flexing laterally.

Bloom AFAIK the MSI board has no sound issues beyond the lack of rear channel analog output.  Supposedly it's a driver problem, not hardware related.

But the Abit board definitely has some noise issues in the DAC/ADC circuits.

[Lephturn]

Crap, I ordered that board.  :/

We'll see how it turns out for me I guess.

[funkedup]

Leph there are some guys on amdmb.com forums who don't have a problem with the sound.  But there are some noise complaints like mine.  I think the key is probably to use the optical inputs & outputs.  But I don't know of any optical mics.  

[bloom25]

Optical mic, now that might be a good idea...  I never thought of that when I designed my wireless digital audio project at OSU.

I think I know a way of building a mic/phono input to optical (Toslink, SPDIF) converter.  I even have most of the parts I'd need here, so it wouldn't cost me much to try it.  Would it be useful though?  Is there any good reason to have a standalone A/D converter for something like a mic?  I think it'd be pretty simple to do, but other then being able to use the optical connector because Abit doesn't know how to mix analog and digital circuits, are there any applications for it you can think of funked?

[Animal]

bloom, the best reason to do it, is because you can

[funkedup]

Bloom I was thinking along the same lines as well.  But I can't think of any use for it other than overcoming Abit's deficiencies.

[weazel]

Disable USB in the BIOS, then uninstall/reinstall the sound card drivers, enable USB when you reboot.

I've run into this problem with both Via and SiS chipsets, but haven't built any nForce systems.

[funkedup]

Well I already boxed it up and am sending it back, but thanks anyways.  

[bloom25]

Funked, did you happen to notice whether or not Abit actually used the onboard sound provided by the nForce chipset, or a separate chip (Asus uses a seperate CMedia chip)?  I'm thinking this is most likely a problem caused by EMI/RFI (or Abit was too stupid to isolate their analog voltage supplies from their digital supplies, but that's very unlikely).

[beet1e]

Funked, sorry to see you had problems.
Interested that the Asus board "didn't fit" - what kind of case do you have?

What problems did you have with VIA and Creative? My Creative sound card is the one piece of kit that I've carried over from my previous build (1999) when upgrading to that version of WB that we wont talk about. No problems with it. Sound quality excellent, drivers very good.  VIA ? I'm still on 4.36, and everything's fine. Never had a problem there.

[funkedup]

Bloom, all of the nForce boards seem to use some third party chips in the sound system.  On the Abit board it was Realtek ALC650 (AC-Link).  There were two of them on the board IIRC.

Beetle I have an Antec 660B.  But the problem has nothing to do with the case.  The ACR card is simply too long.  Many users (with all kinds of cases) are reporting this defect on the Asus and amdmb.com forums.

VIA and SB Live! problems are legendary.  Just do a web search.  

[bloom25]

I do know that the MSI K7N420 Pro (the nForce board I used) does use the nForce's sound built into the southbridge, rather than a separate chip.  It look like all the other brands are using seperate chips.

[funkedup]

Bloom the Abit and Asus boards use the nVidia sound on the southbridge, but apparently they need the third party stuff to get analog I/O.
I bet if you examine the MSI board you'll find some third party sound chips.