Onboard AC97 vs. SB Live

[jlorenzo]

Dear Community !

Although I have onboard sound on my MB I use a Soundblaster Live Value soundcard in my system (Athlon XP 1,6 GHz, 256 MB RAM, GF2 Pro). My question is, whether there is an influence on FPS if I use onboard sound or external soundcard. Meanwhile I am quite happy with the FPS rate I get, but since my system is on the low side, as you see, I am always looking for the optimum. Before I start experimenting, I would like to know your experiance in this issue.

Thanx,

Johannes.

[Gunn]

A decent sound card should save some CPU cycles. Check somewhere like Tom's Hardware for comparisons.

AC97, in my experience, is very average at the best of times despite being very widely distributed. I have two motherboards with AC97 integratred and they are both switched off.

A good sound card should be better for your FPS than onboard sound in just about every case.

Do your homework though, some soundcards are high on features but low on performance.

[jmkz]

I'd say you'll gain a few FPS
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&number=3&artpage=454&articID=111

the AC97 is worse than nForce2 in performance

[96 GTS]

I'm actually quite happy with my AC '97 soundcard, but they're not all the same. Mine's on a Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000Gand the onboard sound is really nice, optical digital out, digital coax out, 5.1 surround sound, jack sensing, all that. On the other hand, my old mobo also had onboard AC '97, and that really sucked. You'll probably be happier with the SB live, especially if your CPU isn't all that fast, but don't immediatly diss onboard sound hehe.

[jmkz]

but don't immediatly diss onboard sound hehe.

the only onboard sound which should be "diss"-ed is nForce2 soundstorm and Intel's HD Audio.

the difference between AC97 5.1 and SB Audigy 5.1 is remarkable

[96 GTS]

the only onboard sound which should be "diss"-ed is nForce2 soundstorm and Intel's HD Audio.

the difference between AC97 5.1 and SB Audigy 5.1 is remarkable
Yes, I know, a true soundcard will always be better, I was just saying that a good share of people will be perfectly happy with onboard sound. I will probably get an Audigy in the not too far distant future, but for right now, I'm content.

[Fordman]

Me goes to dig out my old SB Live Soundcard as I am running onboard AC97.

Thanks for that.

[tristancliffe]

SB Live conflicts with 9800Pro All-in-Wonder, so I use Ac'97 (Optical SP/DIF output).

Of course, the optical out causes lots of problems in it's own right - e.g. keyboard volume control no longer works, and TeamSpeak seems to pick up all my computer sounds, not just the mic sound, and send that to the other people on TS.

Anyone know any solutions (but keeping the optical out?)

[xaotik]

TeamSpeak seems to pick up all my computer sounds, not just the mic sound, and send that to the other people on TS

Meaning it sends all of your computer's "audio out" (game sounds ,etc)? If so then in your mixer select your recording source to be your mic only, and not "what you hear".

[jlorenzo]

Thanx guys for that complete advice ! So I will keep my SB Live inside.


Have a nice day and keep racing clean !

Johannes.

[xaotik]

Another thing you might want to try out are the KX project drivers (http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/) for SBlive cards.

They're mostly made for musicians but they do improve performance of the sblive card and offer tons of additional functionality. The only downside is that they don't support EAX (which is no biggy really for the sblive). On the other hand though people have noted that in games there are no audio stutters using those drivers and they also provide more audio channels (64 vs the 32 of the creative driver).

[jmkz]

KX drivers saved me from selling my recently acquired SB Audigy 2 ZS Pro, the Creative drivers SUCK :(

if you plan on buying new SB card, you might want to reconsider.. http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&message.id=21230&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

[Tweaker]

Anything and everything with AC97 in the name of the soundcard hardware is terrible. Just from my experience in Tech Support, lots of people called and these onboard sound systems were the main source of many problems in games. I don't know if they've improved ever, but people called even about their game not installing because the installer used just a quick music tune upon loading the autorun menu... :rolleyes: Low and behold, it was the AC97 card that was causing faults.

Still, I have the SB Audigy 2 ZS Pro and it is great (I had to get it for my 5.1 speakers). Just don't use onboard stuff :D

[jmkz]

what motherboard/cpu do you have Tweaker? :)

[vpr01]

nothing will be noticable, of that i can guarantee you. sb live value is a pretty naff card anyway.

[jlorenzo]

@xaotik: thanx for the link, will give them a try
@jmkz: also thank you for the link. Man, these guys are really pissed and the only thing, the poor girl from CL can say is: "refrain from using bad language on these forums", Very funny !

Bye,

Johannes.

[jmkz]

nothing will be noticable, of that i can guarantee you. sb live value is a pretty naff card anyway.

are you referring to onboard vs dedicated soundcard?

I can assure you that it IS noticable: http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2005q4/soundblaster-x-fi/index.x?pg=1

[bo-kristiansen]

wuh... so THATS why my fps has gone up.

My AC97 recently started to distort when turning up volume more than 1/3,
so I replaced it with SB live.

-didnt know that the onboard soundcard could cause lower pc performance.
is that true?

[budabudabass]

nothing will be noticable, of that i can guarantee you. sb live value is a pretty naff card anyway.

When you're a musician or sound engineer of any form you can spot a huuuge difference as you've trained your ears to do so. If I used onboard sound I think I'd be forced to cut my ears off... I just can't cope with it. I could even spot a difference with new drivers (those kX ones).... totally tightened everything up.. and there's no dodgy peaking or anything.

But the average person with average ears should still be able to pick up differences... if not so much.

[jmkz]

-didnt know that the onboard soundcard could cause lower pc performance.
is that true?

100% true as the CPU will take care of the soundpart , while a dedicated soundcard will reduce CPU usage 2-10%

[budabudabass]

wuh... so THATS why my fps has gone up.

My AC97 recently started to distort when turning up volume more than 1/3,
so I replaced it with SB live.

-didnt know that the onboard soundcard could cause lower pc performance.
is that true?

It's logical really.... If you have a soundcard then you have a device dedicated just to doing that task. With onboard sound you have something that has to use shared resources in order to work... resources that could be better used for other things.

It's a kinda crap explanation... but I'm too high to do any better.

[ColeusRattus]

And a tipp for those who want to upgrade to a PCI Sound card from an onboard device:

Do not forget to deactivate the onboard sound chip in bios. For me not doing this messed up the performance and the microphone handling of my headset ,which was too silent in output and had a bad quality when I used it with my new soundcard.. but deactivating the on board chip solved it.
Also, not all driver options might be available when the old onboard sound processor is still activated (like microphone 20 db boost)

[jmkz]

I'm using my onboard soundcard for Headset & Audigy 2 ZS Pro for all the rest; works perfectly, I have PS2/XBOX sound coming through line in 2/3 from the breakout box of the Audigy 2. Until now, everything still working as it should ;)