onboard vs sound card

[MaLfUnCtIoN]

i'm looking to get new mobo (NF7. i wont be installing it cause i never get it to work) and was wondering if it would be any faster if i got a cheap sound card vs using the built in sound. will it?

[kram 2.0]

Well, I know that a few would attest that onboard sound is pretty decent, though often times, it puts a very small strain on the system resources, as it does use the CPU and Memory on the motherboard, not its own. If you're going to get one, I suggest you should be prepared to spend enough to get the Creative SB Audigy2 ZS as that is where you get the quality to approve of the extra spending.

The onboard sound on the Abit NF7-S, however, if you're looked into it, looks pretty good. It's a nVidia SoundStorm with Dolby Digital Ready. I'd recommend just going there if you want onboard.



Hope that helps,
kram

[MaLfUnCtIoN]

i dont really have the cash for an nf7-s. nf7 is the best i can do for the moment. sound card wise, i looked at aopen cobra aw850 5.1.

here (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=29-117-105&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE)

it doesnt have to be an amzing sound experience, ya know? basiaclly, i just need it to do sounds for battlefield 1942, RTR, DC, DCX, and cs. that and play mp3's. thats it. i dont do music editing or anything.

make a suggestion if you like. just no more than 30 bucks plz.

[kram 2.0]

If you're going to spend less than 30 USD, integrated sound might be a good way to go. If not, I think the best card I can find would be the <a href="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=29-118-103&depa=0">Turtle Beach Voyetra Riviera</a>, which I've actually heard before and was pretty good. It's barely running the line at 29 USD, but I think it's well worth it. I just saw that shipping is four dollars though.

Hope that helps,
kram

[BARNEY]

That turtle beach card (riviera) uses the CMI 8738 (cmedia) that is the exact same thing that the A-open aw850 uses (they just try not to overtly advertise it in any text documets). The only difference is $29.00 verses $17.00. I know it's hard to believe that Voyetra would do that but they did. Also chaintech has the CMI 8738 soundcard at newegg for $18.00 and $13.00 respectively at newegg here (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?Submit=BROWSE&manufactory=1487&DEPA=1&bop=and&InnerCata=57)

My suggestion would be the older Turtle Beach Santa Cruise OEM for about $36.00 here (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=29-118-101&depa=1). If you must get a CMI 8738 card I would just get the cheapest one found at newegg - as they are all the same basically. Another options might be to just get an nforce2 motherboard with at least a "bit" better sound than regular AC97 ALC 650 sound. If you can't afford an NF7_S you might look at the Epox 8RDA3I which uses the CMI 9739a which is not bad at all. It's better than ALC650. You can see the reviews for that board here (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-123-208&depa=1) at newegg. Seems people like it. Then you could take kram8806's advice and just use onboard for now if you have to have the Abit NF7 regular MCP board. Chaintech also has some mATX nforce2 board that use CMI 9739a onboard. Chaintech also has a regular-atx nforce2 that uses CMI 8738 onboard.

Here is the review by Sudhian for the new line of Turtle beach cards. I will link the page that descibes the cmedia 8738 on that aformentioned Riviera-
Link (http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=512&pid=1924)