Am I the only one...

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weasel2htm

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 8, 2004
Messages
332
Am I the only one that would like to purchase a MOBO without onboard sound?! As I will want to install a High quality sound card anyway. Yeah, I know you can just disable the O/B but I don't want to pay for chips that I'm not going to use that and if a sound chip (that I'm not using) smokes and keeps the system from booting I'm screwed, it's one more thing to go wrong.

You guys will probably think I'm crazy. When I can find a board without sound, it's freaking expensive and last time I looked, I couldn't find any.
 
It'll be next to impossible to find one. You won't pay for the onboard sound. The chips are dirt cheap, that's why they're poor quality. Also, the chances of the onboard sound messing up and ruining your motherboard is slim to none.
 
just take it...disable it..RMA it if something goes wrong...

im not using onbord sound after i get rid of my NF7-S (unless im missing somehing and NF-3 boards have soundstorm sound) since ill just use my cheapass soundcard insted of the even cheaper onboard sound....

and yes..intels are good for heat...i run my old p3-800mhz with only passive heatsink all day long (the rig i have to use till about the 15th when i can finally get an A64 setup :D :D
















s754 only though :( , oh well..its A64!!! :D
 
Most of the onboard sound provided in newer mobos is integrated into the chipset so it'll be there no matter what. Unless it's an nForce2 w/ soundstorm or one of the new Asus LGA775 mobos w/ Dolby Digital Live and you are going to use one of those mobos w/ an external reciever then just use a soundcard. The SoundStorm and DD Live boards will encode all sound into Dolby Digital 5.1 on the fly and you then pass this through to a DD 5.1 reciever where it is decoded and you have great surround sound on your home theater speakers. Otherwise just disable it.
 
I would if I could find a good board that has all the cool stuff without sound, but there are really not a lot of boards out there without sound....
 
The Intel D875PBZ is the only board I know of that doesn't have onboard audio. There is an OEM variant that does. But the retail board doesn't.
 
I have only seen Intel motherboards that come without a sound card built in, like the one in my Sig.

Novensu
 
WOW! I got busy and forgot about this thread, thanks for the replies and that there are SOME that are like what I want. It won't be long until I start looking. I plan to buy either an Intel or an Abit brand MOBO. The sites I got looking for MOBOs at are New Egg and Zip Zoom Fly and CompGeeks.
 
Is the SB Live! you have on your rig what you consider to be a "high quality sound card"? Ha! I pulled my Audigy 2 and now always just use the onboard sound solution (been problem/crash free ever since). Creative is crap. Patiently awaiting a fully DD out solution, until then, onboard is the best thing going (unless you want HT quality... thats another thing entirely).
 
canislupy said:
Is the SB Live! you have on your rig what you consider to be a "high quality sound card"? Ha! I pulled my Audigy 2 and now always just use the onboard sound solution (been problem/crash free ever since). Creative is crap. Patiently awaiting a fully DD out solution, until then, onboard is the best thing going (unless you want HT quality... thats another thing entirely).
Click to expand...

I can more easily understand him, referring to his SBLive! as quality in comparison to onboard audio, vs. you, who pulled an Audigy2 to use onboard, and think it's the best. That is, unless your tone-deaf.
 
canislupy said:
Is the SB Live! you have on your rig what you consider to be a "high quality sound card"? Ha! I pulled my Audigy 2 and now always just use the onboard sound solution (been problem/crash free ever since). Creative is crap. Patiently awaiting a fully DD out solution, until then, onboard is the best thing going (unless you want HT quality... thats another thing entirely).
Click to expand...
ill take that "Crap" audigy 2 off your hands for $5 :D

yes..SB live is much better than onboard of any kind......and creative is good...may be the best for PC sound cards...not the best for audio in general though
 
I will be purchasing a new sound card. Audigy 2 will be my purchase unless I find something I like better, or if I get tired of looking and say "Screw it!"

I do audio editing on my computer. I would do more if my current one wouldn't dog so bad on larger files.

I need a good Sound card both for editing (hobby, not profession) and a poor quality card will be apparent because I have high quailty speakers that will whoop just about any "computer" speaker.

http://www.paradigm.ca
http://www.paradigm.ca/Website/SiteParadigmProduct/ParadigmModels/Performance/PerformanceSpecs.htm

BTW I'll buy the audigy 2 for $10. :D
 
weasel2htm said:
I will be purchasing a new sound card. Audigy 2 will be my purchase unless I find something I like better, or if I get tired of looking and say "Screw it!"

I do audio editing on my computer. I would do more if my current one wouldn't dog so bad on larger files.

I need a good Sound card both for editing (hobby, not profession) and a poor quality card will be apparent because I have high quailty speakers that will whoop just about any "computer" speaker.

http://www.paradigm.ca
http://www.paradigm.ca/Website/SiteParadigmProduct/ParadigmModels/Performance/PerformanceSpecs.htm

BTW I'll buy the audigy 2 for $10. :D
Click to expand...

Glad to see someone else that understands/enjoys real speakers for use with a computer.

Which of Paradigm speakers do you use? From the links you posted, it didn't show a specific set. Also, how do you have them hooked up, as in, what receiver or such?
 
Check Siggy

I have an older version of the phantoms.

I have my SB Live! connected to the Tape 2 connections of my 30 year old Sansui 5000X (55 w/ch 8ohms) I have my PC to where I can record from LP, CD, TV, VHS, NES, AM/FM, etc... using my PC essentially my PC is hooked up like a tape deck.
To listen to PC audio I just turn on the Tape 2 monitor, With it set up like that, I can adjust my TV volume using my volume control on my taskbar. Perfect for freaking out my friends. :D

One bad thing is that my right speaker sits just to my left due to space constictions. Most people will shudder at the thought but for what I use my stereo for, I can live with it.

My Full Stereo:
Paradigm Phantom Speakers v2 $384 new
Sansui 5000X $19 Gsale
Pioneer DV-250 DVD/CD $65 new
Sony TC-WR635S Tape $5 Gsale
2 Gemini XL-DD30 Turntables FREE
My PC w/ SB Live!
Motorola Digital Cable

Also:
NES, SNES, N64, NGC and DC
Emerson ECR-1350 Color TV
Phillips-Magnavox Hi-Fi Stereo VCR
Crapload of daisy-chained selector boxes. :D :rolleyes:

I have now hijacked my own thread (not on purpose)
 
Hey, you're going to think I'm crazy but you should look at this card:

CHAINTECH 7.1 Channel PCI Sound Card, Model "AV-710"

Now, go ahead and look at AVS Forums or wherever you want. This is one of the best soundcards out there right now. It's awesome if you want two channels because it has excellent DACs on the first two channels but then cheaper ones for the surround channels. And it only costs $25! Don't be put off by the price, it easily outperforms the Audigies for dual channel mode and quality sound reproduction (Audigies are awesome gaming cards though! - I have both of these cards). I really didn't believe what people said about this card until I decided what the hell. Do research if you don't believe it because I surely didn't but you will see what people are saying.

If you want something a little fancier look at the Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1. It uses a slightly enhanced version of the chipset used in the Chaintech card above and costs about $100. It sounds pretty awesome. BTW, it is actually possible to flash the Chaintech bios with the Prodigy bios. If you do this you can use the Prodigy card's drivers because that is the main problem with the Chaintech card, the drivers really suck! I've heard that Audiotrak is trying to stop this but I don't know if they've been able to.

Here are a couple links you may want to check but do more research and check out AVS Forums. There may be some new stuff around.

http://htpcnews.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3616
http://htpcnews.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3225
 
Concerning your question you really have nothing to lose with an onboard audio motherboard. Disable the card in the BIOS and you're done.

Mainboard manufacturers are putting sound into motherboards to help attract users into using their solution. Some even have good quality chips like MSI's K8N Diamond, it has an Audigy 2 Creative Chip implemented in the board.

Anything that uses Realtek, Via, C-Media or even Intel's new high def chip is done with no cost difference. Those chips are purchased in bulk usually at the rate of pennies on the dollar and are practically plug and play as far as mainboard makers are concerned. I don't use the onboard sound on my P4P800 Deluxe so I have it disabled. There's no additional card, it doesn't take up space that could be used for something else and it's nice to have for temp use if my sound card fails.
 
The_Mage18 said:
Concerning your question you really have nothing to lose with an onboard audio motherboard. Disable the card in the BIOS and you're done.

Mainboard manufacturers are putting sound into motherboards to help attract users into using their solution. Some even have good quality chips like MSI's K8N Diamond, it has an Audigy 2 Creative Chip implemented in the board.

Anything that uses Realtek, Via, C-Media or even Intel's new high def chip is done with no cost difference. Those chips are purchased in bulk usually at the rate of pennies on the dollar and are practically plug and play as far as mainboard makers are concerned. I don't use the onboard sound on my P4P800 Deluxe so I have it disabled. There's no additional card, it doesn't take up space that could be used for something else and it's nice to have for temp use if my sound card fails.
Click to expand...

True, But I think it looks tacky to have o/b sound jacks + jacks from a sound card. I think I'm between a rock and a hard place, I'll probably just have to live with the tackyness.
 
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