ok, so i've got a sound blaster live! card situated in my comp, but lately i've started to wonder if the on-board sound is actually better than the slot one. i've got an nforce2 board with the realtek alc650 sound chip on. it's not soundstorm, but it's a six channel processor anyhow, same as the sb. can anyone say, or give me a linkage to a compare between these two? can't find anything about it myself. if the on-board sound performs better, i'm gonna scrap the live! board

From http://www.bjorn3d.com/_preview.php?articleID=263:

"I was impressed by the onboard sound. This board can be setup for 6 channels of sound and completely blows away my aged Sound Blaster Live. Using the supplied bracket, you can access the additional channels, SPDIF jack and SPDIF coaxial. Setting it up is easy through the nForce control panel, and the manual has a section that walks through the settings if needed. These audio capabilities should be acceptable to nearly anyone unless you are just some crazy audio guru."

That is all I can find so far, but i'll keep looking.

dude, that realtek is AWESOME

I have an ALC650 on my MB as well as a SBLive 5.1...

Under 3DMark03 the ALC650 has no hardware acceleration support for sound where the SBLive does...

Don't know if this is a issue for you or not.

well that STILL is a great codec.. the SoundStorm DOES have hardware acceleration... it is ALL hardware in fact... but too bad he does not have the NVIDIA SS solution.

i don't have the bracket that dude talked about in your post bull, but my live! card have an spdif jack implemented and of course eax support, although 1st gen. choices choices.. have to look into this some more.

Trolls right LL, thats the kicker. Usin my onboard sound in games I have no hardware excell, with the SB Aud. 2 I do. And you can tell the difference. For that reason alone I may put my Aud.2 back in. Not sure yet. If anyone has more information on the subject..... please post.
Im so confussed

correct.. a software codec uses the cpu alot and has practicly no hardware accell for everything... you'd be better of with the sb audigy2 if your worried about that.

well, my onboard audio has issues, so i'm back at the live!-board. locked up all the time running it, with extensive memory problems. nice going nvidia

Mine seems to work fine. No major issues as of yet.

I thought the idea of having onboard was so you got the advantage of great sound with less cpu usage.
Can anyone clear this up....MANNY???

Yea my sound on Nforce2 had problems...FIXED by installing a soundcard and Nic too

yeah, i ALSO had an issue with the onboard network controller. wtf..

first off, let's see what hardware you ACTUALLY have on the MOBO and what drivers you are using.

my mobo has NEVER had any problems with DD 5.1 Digital out OR NIC so I have no freaking idea what any of you dudes are talking about.

Post your mobo specs. I will be glad to work with any of you to solve whatever problems you have.

One word of caution... DO NOT put ANY PCI card in the slot closest to the AGP slot. Often, that can cause IRQ/DMA conflicts.

Yes BigO, the onboard SoundStorm gives you fantasic sound with little if any CPU overhead... even in-game.

Another thing you all may want to do is; remove your sound cards, boot up, change your BIOS to High Performance Default, and see if the problems still exist.

Another thing is... USE the nForce drivers from your MANUFACTURER!!!

With nForce2, that is WAY important. So many are not just plain reference chipsets anymore. I KNOW the ASUS A7N8X series have "extras" in them that the reference drivers will not allow you to use if you use them.

Please, replace your drivers with Manufacturer ones if you are using nForce2 and reset your BIOS's to Hi Perf Defaults. Then if that don't work, try moving any PCI card from slot 1 to a different slot.

I am grabbing at straws because none of you have given any details I can work with... just, "my mobo sound had issues" aint gonna cut it... too many variables and unknowns.

what are the issues please....

and, are u using Digital systems like the Cambridge SoundWorks DTT 3500 or Analog systems.

pain, pm me or something, or let's msn chat about it live so we can fix whatever problems you have.

I would RMA the board if there were ANY problems.. same to you LL.

What board u got LL anyway. Let's see if you can do something about the problems.

http://www.bjorn3d.com/_preview.php?articl...D=85&pageID=183

hmmm the Chaintech does NOT have SoundStorm... so throw out your "problem remarks" there Pain.. looks like CMedia issues.

read on....

nVidia should hire on Manny for PR and Technical Support Director

What you all should learn is this. Not all manufacturer's use NVIDIA's reference chipset in thier respective designs.

It is YOUR responsibility to do the research for the products that BEST suit your needs, and buy accordingly. I have ranted and raved about the A7N8X Deluxe, and how my brother has over 20 of them in his organization with ZERO problems since birth. I have also stated that a few dozen local friends have them here and have NO problems whatsoever with NIC (remember this one has a 3Com also) or Digital/Analog Audio.

I love how everyone thinks that the nForce2 boards are all the same and get whatever they want and then crab because the audio is crappy. If it ain't SoundStorm, too bad for you all.... because if it ain't SoundStorm, it AIN'T hardware..... so how could you have Hardware Acceleration without the hardware "SoundStorm" Audio Processing Unit?

here is more on the Chaintech from Amdmb.com



http://www.amdmb.com/article-display.php?A...ID=222&PageID=2

no ghandi, just everyone do your HOMEWORK or RESEARCH first! Instead of spreading un-truth's and leading other's to false conclusions.

I DO NOT want any of you to take anything that I say and believe it. Go prove it for yourself with your own research. I just try to show links to information so you can all read that stuff and learn for yourselves.

i did and noone cares

won't bother. current config works as it should

Great input Manny, know it sounds like were all buttin heads with you but I for one want to know what the real deal is (and your the man who knows this shit....in my opinion) I got the 415D chipset, feel like am taken a cpu hit in games usin the onboard vs the SB Aud. Plus with the onboard Im usin anolog.....with the SB am usin dig. What you think my informed friend?????

manny u said- One word of caution... DO NOT put ANY PCI card in the slot closest to the AGP slot. Often, that can cause IRQ/DMA conflicts.

Most of the time u cant use that pci slot cause of HSU on GFXcards are too big these days.... :P

If I remember correctly BigO, the Digital Output card that came with your system never fit correctly so you are not using it. If that is the case, you can ONLY use the onboard Realtek of CMedia codec, and you will take a serious hit in performance in that case.

i think he is right... never mind :P

Just as an FYI, nVidia has released a new set of nForce drivers for those of us lucky enough to own one:

http://cozmos.4peeps.com/modules.php?name=...article&sid=935

They rock.

I installed them and lost all my IDE drives. I got to the boot screen and the little bar just keeps going, and going, and going....

I had to do an F8 and boot to last good configuaration.

well actually, with the new release the "optimized" ide-drivers works now with my computer, burning included, so not bad. still don't know if there are any performance-gains included with em. haven't noticed anything here anyhow. audio-drivers included still suck juicy-whale-limb, so fuck em for now

I (modded) the card and got it to fit.
Did some checkin and am going back to my SB aud and digital sound.
With the new vid card I plan on doin some gamin and as crappy as I am I need all the cpu I can get.

even the best cpu in the world can't help a n00b like you bigo

BigO, what did you use to test the digital card you have. Are you sure it is a digital card?

I would need to see the specs. You have an ABIT 415 or the ASUS? I am gonna dig on that one for a while

The MSI nForce1 uses a little rizer card. the card is linked to the mobo by a cable. that cable links the SoundStorm APU to that card for actual output.

The sounds I get are phenominal, in-game and out. In Vietcong, the hardware works flawlessly on all channels. it really is amazing to hear the bullets as they zip over head at all the different angles.... that scares the shit out of my wife but I love that sound....

hell, if ya hear it, it did not hit you right?

This be it Manny

Asus 415D chipset
Audio (Optional) Integrated APU (Audio Processing Unit) in MCP-D
built-in Dolby Digital (AC-3) Encoder
Bundled ACR 6-channel daughter card with S/PDIF Digital Output Port


http://www.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=A7N266-C

You suck Big moose cock.....you know that dont you?

BigBro,

3DMark03 gives me this....

dude, if that ain't hardware acceleration I don't know what is. All hardware acceleration means is that sound is processed in hardware and not software.

I am scratching my arse on this one dude.

please post your results.

Why do I only get decent sound under the software setting in audio in UT 2003.

probalby a bug in the software. do you have the equalizer shut off in the SoundStorm panel? In several games, sound gets messed with if that is left on.