naddie Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 Usually, onboard sound is not worth comparing to a dedicated sound card, but since it seems like the Karajen is hyped up, I wonder how does it compare to the SB X-Fi? If not that, what about the Audigy 2 series? I would like to know what it is comparable (or what it beats) in 3 catagories - Sound Quality, Features (# of voices simultaneously, # of wav samples simultaneously, etc), and CPU Utilization. If there are other catagories that should be looked into, please add info on that as well. Thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uplink Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 umm ok this is easy to answer cuase i just upgraded from the audigy 2zs and am still waiting for my new x-fi so i can tell you this the diference between on board and audigy 2 is liek night and day the onboard is less than quality work and i canot wait for my new x-fi also its been proven that if you have an indipendant sound card it takes more stress off of your mobo and cpu.. as for x-fi vrs x-fi thiers a reason im upgrading is that the x-fi is used in the latest games and my pal bought one and it made his crappy little speakers sound like decent speakers for his little room .... just be sure to remove the on board sound if you get one make sure you also uninstall it and when you put a sound card in yu always wanna put it the farthest aways from the graphics card as possible.. if you can go for th x-fi its worth it ..i get poping and hissing ect with the onboard and basicly on board vrs my old audigy 2...its like the onboard is saying pow pow in bf2 ...quite sad and my 7.1 wont even work right with it thats my 2 cents go for the x-fi Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_vandyl Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 i run x-fi platinum on my signature machine and x-fi extreme music on this one...it is WAY better than an Audigy 2 or 4, i sold my audigy 4 to get the Platinum.....the x-fi is so nice, however there is a known issue with the x-fi and Nforce 4 boards...in particular, the 2 i own, this system is a NF2 chipset, the platinum has been problem free on my sig machine Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
-.-PhanTom-.- Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 ..however there is a known issue with the x-fi and Nforce 4 boards...in particular, the 2 i own... U have a link for this? Update>nevermind..found it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uplink Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 i run x-fi platinum on my signature machine and x-fi extreme music on this one...it is WAY better than an Audigy 2 or 4, i sold my audigy 4 to get the Platinum.....the x-fi is so nice, however there is a known issue with the x-fi and Nforce 4 boards...in particular, the 2 i own, this system is a NF2 chipset, the platinum has been problem free on my sig machine What slot you put it in i havent got my music yet is it really that much better than the audigy 4 ?? lol Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebaruna Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 CPE Utilization for one is easy. The Karajan board has an audio codec on board, which means it only knows how to process audio, it doesn't do the processing itself. With graphics cards like the Audigy1/2/4 and X-Fi you have a dedicated audio processor. Thus, with an add-in card you will have less CPU utilization. Also note that this "hyping" of the Karajan board is compared against other onboard solutions, not against dedicated audio cards. It will produce reasonable audio, but it won't impress your girlfriend or make coffee or anything. Bottom line: if you want the best audio and you're willing to spend the extra dough (and have a free slot) get an add-in audio card. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyo Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 CPE Utilization for one is easy. The Karajan board has an audio codec on board, which means it only knows how to process audio, it doesn't do the processing itself.With graphics cards like the Audigy1/2/4 and X-Fi you have a dedicated audio processor. Thus, with an add-in card you will have less CPU utilization. Also note that this "hyping" of the Karajan board is compared against other onboard solutions, not against dedicated audio cards. It will produce reasonable audio, but it won't impress your girlfriend or make coffee or anything. Bottom line: if you want the best audio and you're willing to spend the extra dough (and have a free slot) get an add-in audio card. I posted a seperate thread (before i managed to see this) on a query which you have answered Which can be seen here So basically if i you had a PCI sound card instead of using the Karajan module then this should relieve strain on the CPU? That probably what i am going to do if my updated drivers don;t fix it. Was thinking along the same lines that a seprate card should help give less load on a already stressed CPU if there a lot going on particular with online gaming. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ElAguila Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 Because of the layout of the nf4 ultra and the fact that i have 2 controller cards I am forced to use onboard sound. While the karajan module won't do what audigy cards do, it does have pretty good sound. I am running it with 5.1 logitech speakers and the sound is great. Also it does not use as much of the cpu as people tend to think it does. Before this x2 cpu I had a sandy cpu and it ran the audio great as well. If you don't want to spend the extra money or can't, the onboard solution is good enough for gaming, watching movies, and listening to audio cd's. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uplink Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 Because of the layout of the nf4 ultra and the fact that i have 2 controller cards I am forced to use onboard sound. While the karajan module won't do what audigy cards do, it does have pretty good sound. I am running it with 5.1 logitech speakers and the sound is great. Also it does not use as much of the cpu as people tend to think it does. Before this x2 cpu I had a sandy cpu and it ran the audio great as well. If you don't want to spend the extra money or can't, the onboard solution is good enough for gaming, watching movies, and listening to audio cd's. complete oppisate of what i think tho cuase i get nothing but pops and hisses so really itsall in how much you like clarity ...aslo it reduceses cpu usage so its really pluses all the ways around Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DublinGunner Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 I'm picking up an X-FI next week, but I use an old SBLive!!! 5.1 and even think thats 10x better than using a Realtek codec. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_vandyl Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 i use the lowest PCI Slot, my front panel sits in the lowest slot and the huge interface cable is folded over several times and zip tied to the bottom of the mobo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
naddie Posted January 5, 2006 Posted January 5, 2006 This is weird - I installed the nVidia drivers, and my sound and eveyrthing is detected as nVidia's. However, once I installed the RealTek driver (whichi s also on DFI's website), the nVidia is complaining that the hardware is gone, but my sound still works fine. Instead of an nVidia sound card, it says its a Realtek 97. Seems like the Realtek driver took over. Which should I have done? Just used the nVidia's driver, or use Realtek's? I will probably go for an X-Fi MusicExtreme (dont need any extra breakout boxes) in the future, but not now (money is tighter, now that I got my rig together - even THAT I bought in pieces over a couple months, haha). So for reference for people who would use the onboard on a perm basis, which driver to use? Thanks for the replys so far. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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