Is my sound card good?

[Cytraz]

Hey again,

I just have a quick question. I have been trying to figure out what sound card I'm using, since I'm looking to buy a new headset/pair of headphones, but some headsets require me to have a good sound card in order to sound really great.

So, I'm going to post whatever info I have about my sound card.

Sound card: Realtek High Definition Audio

I don't really know anything about sound cards, which is why I ask you, if this is a good sound card or not. Incase you need more information about it, could you tell me, where I can find it? I have been trying to figure out how to find out, but I just can't.

Thanks!

 

[SmoulderingCircuits]

As i'm kind of half asleep and didn't understand much of that i'll just say any 192khz 24bit soundcard with upwards 100dbs ouput is about as good as you'll get and any ddr3 motherboard likely has this already onboard so a soundcard will only reduce your airflow. better off spending the money on higher quality headphones/set

 

[Cytraz]

As i'm kind of half asleep and didn't understand much of that i'll just say any 192khz 24bit soundcard with upwards 100dbs ouput is about as good as you'll get and any ddr3 motherboard likely has this already onboard so a soundcard will only reduce your airflow. better off spending the money on higher quality headphones/set

so as I said, I'm a noob a sound cards. are you saying my sound card is good and that I should invest money in a high quality headset?

 

[SmoulderingCircuits]

If you have a ddr3 motherboard, yes. if you have a scrawny ddr2 micro atx abomination, no. look on your motherboards specs if it has 8 way hd audio most likely is 192khz > best you'll get (most headphones only go up to 40khz if not 20khz anyway). IOW get the headphones/ headset

 

[alienware]

If you have a ddr3 motherboard, yes. if you have a scrawny ddr2 micro atx abomination, no. look on your motherboards specs if it has 8 way hd audio most likely is 192khz > best you'll get (most headphones only go up to 40khz if not 20khz anyway). IOW get the headphones/ headset

Eh?

What difference does having a DDR3 motherboard make to having a DDR2 motherboard with the same realtek sound card on it?

The Realteks are all the same. More than good enough for day to day use unless you encode music or need a huge sample table for creating music.

My Asus M3A32 has a 7.1 channel Realtek and it's no different to the one on any DDR3 board with the same ammount of outputs. Infact it's exactly the same chip.

 

[SmoulderingCircuits]

I was reffering to the ONBOARD audio. ddr3 motherboards have generaly better audio than ddr2 as they are newer. i have x-fi onboard for instance so don't need a soundcard. the same may be the case here. i have seen ddr2s with 6 way but all ddr3s i seen have 8 way hence i say if you have ddr3 you likely don't need a soundcard. hope that was thorough enough (i'm not very clear most of the time)

 

[Cytraz]

Well, I'm 100% sure I got a DDR3 motherboard, so I guess my sound card should be just fine?

 

[SmoulderingCircuits]

<mr. bison>

Yes!

Yes!

</mr. bison>

 

[alienware]

I was reffering to the ONBOARD audio. ddr3 motherboards have generaly better audio than ddr2 as they are newer. i have x-fi onboard for instance so don't need a soundcard. the same may be the case here. i have seen ddr2s with 6 way but all ddr3s i seen have 8 way hence i say if you have ddr3 you likely don't need a soundcard. hope that was thorough enough (i'm not very clear most of the time)

I was referring to ONBOARD audio too. And for about four years the Realteks haven't changed one jot.

They're perfectly fine cards and you have no reason to replace them (well, disable them and fit a card) unless you need it for the reasons I listed above. It has nothing AT ALL to do with DDR2 or DDR3 but what you paid for the board. If the board is a pile of cack and cost nothing then don't expect a decent feature set. If the board is high end it will offer more function and more features irregardless of whether it uses DDR2 or DDR3.

 

[SmoulderingCircuits]

*Sighh* the point is ddr3 mobo DOESN'T AFFECT THE AUDIO IN ITSELF but being the newer standard and costing more, it is more likely to have better onboard sound. which is basicly what you said above. it would be like saying a more expensive higher wattage psu will likely come with more accessories than a cheaper lower wattage one - although the wattage has nothing to do with it.

Mama mia!

 

[Cytraz]

so basically, I can't tell if my sound card is good, but since I got a ddr3 motherboard, I can only assume it's somewhat decent, as ddr3 motherboards aren't old?

 

[Stryker64]

Can you give us the name of the motherboard please? Because one we can figure out if the onboard sound is good or bad, and two we know whether or not you need PCIe or just a PCI soundcard

 

[Cytraz]

Can you give us the name of the motherboard please? Because one we can figure out if the onboard sound is good or bad, and two we know whether or not you need PCIe or just a PCI soundcard

I don't really know how to find that information. Do you know some sort of program I can use to find out details about my motherboard?

 

[Cytraz]

Ok, I think I might have details about my motherboard. Here it comes:

Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.

Model: P55M-UD2

 

[Stryker64]

The sound card that comes with the motherboard is pretty average. It's a Realtek ALC888B btw. But with headphones in the $150 range I would think an after market sound card would help. I personally use a USB sound card which does make a noticeable difference, but not a big difference.

 

[Cytraz]

The sound card that comes with the motherboard is pretty average. It's a Realtek ALC888B btw. But with headphones in the $150 range I would think an after market sound card would help. I personally use a USB sound card which does make a noticeable difference, but not a big difference.

So if I were to buy a headset such as the Sennheiser PC 360 (this is just an example, I should get a better sound card?

 

[Cytraz]

The sound card that comes with the motherboard is pretty average. It's a Realtek ALC888B btw. But with headphones in the $150 range I would think an after market sound card would help. I personally use a USB sound card which does make a noticeable difference, but not a big difference.

So if I were to buy a headset such as the Sennheiser PC 360 (this is just an example), I should get a better sound card?

 

[Aurus_OC]

So if I were to buy a headset such as the Sennheiser PC 360 (this is just an example), I should get a better sound card?

If you want to get any of the real high quality ones you want to get a seperate soundcard. The Sennheiser PC 360 have a high impedence which is why they will take advantage of a sound card with a dedicated headphone amplifier. But this is just if you want to get the most out of your headphones, they will work with the onboard. You may just don't want to buy expensive high quality headphones if you won't be using them to its fullest potential.

 

[equk]

i have x-fi onboard for instance so don't need a soundcard

A lot of the new 'x-fi' motherboards have basic mini pcie cards and the x-fi features are actually software driven.

eg: Asus mobo's which feature the X-Fi Supreme FX.

X-Fi MB

X-Fi MB is a software solution that enables basic X-Fi features on computers with integrated audio into an X-Fi device. It requires some degree of driver support from the audio hardware manufacturer. X-Fi MB is commonly bundled with motherboards and computer systems, and is comparable to an X-Fi XtremeAudio. Bundled with some Asus motherboards, the X-Fi MB is sold as X-Fi Supreme FX and is actually an standard Analog Devices integrated HD audio codec paired with X-Fi MB. The X-Fi features are implemented entirely in the software. Other hardware vendors sell the X-Fi MB solution simply as Sound Blaster X-Fi Integrated Sound.

The card it's comparable to (XtremeAudio - has no RAM unlike most high spec'd X-Fi cards which are based on the EMU20K1 chipset):

X-Fi XtremeAudio

Low profile card (half height), does not contain the EMU20K1 chipset used by the rest of the series. Is based on the same chipset as the Audigy SE, Audigy Value and SB Live! 24-bit. It also has Crystallizer and CMSS-3D. Also available for PCI Express (using CA0110 chipset) and ExpressCard. Note, the CA0110 does not work on Linux with ALSA 1.0.23

If you're not happy with onboard it might be worth getting a card.

Depends on your speaker/headset setup and what you use it for I guess. AC97 devices should be enough for most stuff but most gamers buy soundcards. (Xonar's seem to be quite popular recently)

http://www.overclock3d.net/content/audio

 

[alienware]

*Sighh* the point is ddr3 mobo DOESN'T AFFECT THE AUDIO IN ITSELF but being the newer standard and costing more, it is more likely to have better onboard sound. which is basicly what you said above. it would be like saying a more expensive higher wattage psu will likely come with more accessories than a cheaper lower wattage one - although the wattage has nothing to do with it.

Mama mia!

See that great big dark hole there? that would be the one you are digging for yourself. Please stop going around offering bummy advice that's not what we do here on OC3D.

DDR3 boards cost no more than the equivalent DDR2 boards cost when new. I know this all too well from owning an Asus board that as new would have cost £350. I also owned a DDR2 Crosshair II Formula that also had a top grade Xfi based sound card on.

And stop bringing in useless comparissons to try and bolster an argument that makes absolutely and utterly no sense.

Ah yes here we go. One Asus M3A32-MVP WIFI Deluxe. I suppose next you'll be going around telling people that DDR3 boards have more PCIE slots, more functions and better cooling?

7.1 channel Realtek onboard audio. The same 7.1 channel onboard Realtek that can be found on any board over the past three years.