Hardware & Technical Sound card or No? Opinions sought.

[Zak Gordon]

Depends on what you have. I've never had any onboard audio solution that didn't produce very audible buzz on line-out and nigh useless headphone output (microphone input not even worth mentioning).

You might have been unlucky? The last dedicated sound card i bought was about 15 years ago and since then over a few builds (and a few laptops) i've never had an issue with sound. I've also just used stereo rather than multiple speakers. Even running my PC sound over HDMI to the TV (and it's internal speakers) has good sound.

Now IF i was wanting to make music it would be a different story and i'd invest in decent (sound) hardware for that.

For just playing games or watching films onboard has been good enough for a while and you're better off getting decent speakers if anything.

 

[Shadowdancer]

You might have been unlucky?

That's possible. I've since then come to the conclusion that the nimbus of superiority surrounding Asus isn't worth all that much. I'm still annoyed that a nondescript plastic box with a USB cable and stereo RCA output beats the pants off any electronics that was soldered onto those

For simple solutions that aren't deep into Maxim 37 territory like mine, I'd still like to see how something like the Yamaha AG03 does. Having physical knobs and sliders for volume is really useful.

 

[Morbad]

I've since then come to the conclusion that the nimbus of superiority surrounding Asus isn't worth all that much.

ASUS tends to have a solid firmware release schedule for the their mid-range and higher end products, as well as the occasional unique feature that is meaningful (being the only manufacturer with an 'OC socket' on the LGA-2011-v3 platform for the first 6 months it was available is a significant example). However, most of their boards are nothing special and paying enough to get one that is usually means overpaying on the motherboard, especially when it comes to mainstream platforms.

 

[Patrick_68000]

I have an audio chipset Supreme FX on the motherboard. I am very satisfied with the sound quality.

If I were an audiophile, I will probably buy a discrete card, but this is not the case.

 

[MaxG10]

.I don't have a 7.1 surround speaker setup and have no plans to do that upgrade so take that out of the equation. Think 5.1 only.

What speakers and sub do you use?

I am asking because that would be my defining element to decide whether it's better to use an external amp or whether the onboard sound is sufficient enough to drive a 5.1.

 

[bitstorm]

If I was gonna bypass onboard motherboard sound I would (and did) buy a decent USB DAC.

This will last you across computers, can be used in laptops, desktops and maybe other places and it s piece of sound equipment in its own right.

I'm using an Objective 2 ODAC and can recommend, but it's just two channel, not 5.1 as OP wants.

 

[Broon]

What speakers and sub do you use?

I am asking because that would be my defining element to decide whether it's better to use an external amp or whether the onboard sound is sufficient enough to drive a 5.1.

Oh they are just cheapy OEM Dell speakers. I have heard way worse ones though. The SB Audigy card helped the sound a fair percent compared to the onboard sound of the Dell proprietary mother board in the XPS 8700 system.

So far the onboard sound of the AsRock board in the new build is quite nice and I believe I will be happy with it.




So yes, the build is done, it's stable and it's fast as hell!!! I am soooo liking it

The CPU runs a bit hotter than I had thought it would but a quick internet search showed that the temps I am getting are quite common so I am no longer worried that they are high. Then again an 8 core chip should run hotter than a quad core, right?

 

[MaxG10]

Ah ok, yeah on board sound is fine then.

I had a look at the components, nearly fainted at the price of this graphic card. Here this card goes for around Euro 745. I guess this must be a helluva card, probably suitable for cutting edge work.

I am just recently looking into PC tech, and the market with graphic cards is, well shall we say a little confusing. LOL

Congrats, looks like a helluva "calculations-slave".

 

[Broon]

Ah ok, yeah on board sound is fine then.

I had a look at the components, nearly fainted at the price of this graphic card. Here this card goes for around Euro 745. I guess this must be a helluva card, probably suitable for cutting edge work.

I am just recently looking into PC tech, and the market with graphic cards is, well shall we say a little confusing. LOL

Congrats, looks like a helluva "calculations-slave".

I actually got a really good deal, IMO, on the graphics card.

Not long ago the perfect storm formed. The crypto mining bubble burst and GPU prices started falling so I started looking at new GTX 10 series cards. Prices were getting pretty reasonable on non-ti cards and I was about to commit to the card I bought forjust around $500 US, but then the RTX 20 series got announced. Prices dropped even further at that point but then Ebay got flooded with used 1080's from both the miners and the enthusiasts who just had to have the 2080. I ended up winning an auction for a card that the seller had just bought (so he said) that had very low miles on it (so he said again) for just under $400 US. The card was really clean when I got it and has operated flawlessly so I feel like I got a really good deal and wasn't lied to by the seller.

Then the RTX 2080 actually got released and the real benchmarks came out. Sine it wasn't the super awesome card everyone had hoped for the prices on many of the 10 series cards went back up and my card peaked back up around $1000 again (now like $750-800ish I think). I'm glad I got it when I did!

I shopped the hell out of this system over the past year, watching sales/rebates, buying parts as I could here and there.

 

[Judz]

Sennheiser GSX 1000 AMP and GSP 600 Headphones (7.1). Nuff said. They are perfect in FPS games and in Elite.

I have z5500 Logitech speakers (5.1) and a SoundBlaster Titanium Fatal1ty Champion soundcard as well, if I want to watch films or listen to music, these are what I switch to, if I am playing games then the Sennheiser's are what I use. The best part about the Sennheiser's is you don't need a soundcard installed, you just plug the GSX into a USB port and away you go, the sound is crystal clear.

 

[MaxG10]

The crypto mining bubble burst ...

Awww, but of course, makes sense! I had not thought about this side of things. Just looking into this pC thing since a week.

Personally I would not have the guts to drop 400 bucks or more on a used graphics card or other component except with a reliable warranty included, but I guess it was without.

I wonder how you determine the mileage of such card.

 

[MaxG10]

Because I use the Beyerdynamic DT1770 Pro (closed version 600 ohm) since years for composing via RME soundcard, when I use cans that is, normally I monitor via JBL LSR, I would love to try the Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic MMX300 side by side.

Sennheiser GSX 1000 AMP and GSP 600 Headphones (7.1). Nuff said. They are perfect in FPS games and in Elite.

I have z5500 Logitech speakers (5.1) and a SoundBlaster Titanium Fatal1ty Champion soundcard as well, if I want to watch films or listen to music, these are what I switch to, if I am playing games then the Sennheiser's are what I use. The best part about the Sennheiser's is you don't need a soundcard installed, you just plug the GSX into a USB port and away you go, the sound is crystal clear.