Question on soundcards/on board sound

ProPain · 31-08-2005, 21:58

I have a friend who wants to buy a new comp. Basically he wants to do basic MS Office tasks, some photo editing and listen to mp3's.

I noticed that lots of mobo's have on board 5.1/7.1 sound support. Is this any good or is the difference with soundcards still big?

I grew up when on board sound meant you get a 'bleep'when you make an error, so I;m biased to buying a soundcard, but frankly I really dont have a clue how on board sound has developed.

Would love to hear your vision/experiences on the subject.

PP

Rik Meleet · 31-08-2005, 22:17

Hardly any of the new PC's have soundcards nowadays (last 2 years) anymore. The reason -most likely- is that onboard sound has reached a high enough quality that it made soundcards obsolete. Soundcards are "optioneel" at best.

DrAlimentado · 31-08-2005, 22:22

yeah unless you need studio stuff then onboard sound is pretty sophisticated nowadays. for example 5.1/7.1 have 3d sound as standard iirc.

Markstar · 31-08-2005, 22:25

For the tasks you described onboard sound is more than sufficient. This changes when games are involved but since this is no concern I say go with it.

ProPain · 31-08-2005, 22:34

Thanks for all the quick replies

I bought a soundcard in my pc (for gaming) and immediately got punished because some apps get confused when I use my headset (which apparently uses its own built-in soundcard) choosing from 3 different soundcards seems to hard for some progs

I did have a problem with surround sound on my laptop, it couldnt handle 5.1 format, seemed it just ditched a few channels resulting in very soft partial sound. Anybody experienced stuff like this with on board sound?

Rik Meleet · 31-08-2005, 22:35

Even when games are involved; onboard sound will do. The only reason I see for getting a soundcard is if you want to play or compose music on your PC with 12 speakers surrounding you while you have the gift of "absolute hearing".

- a bit exaggerated, I know, but trueish nonetheless.

Rik Meleet · 31-08-2005, 22:37

PP: a laptop isn't designed for excellent sound; it is "just below acceptable" at most. The main reason is that the build-in speakers have to be tiny.
I assumed you were talking about desktops. Desktops usually get shipped with good speakers; which will do the trick. Unfortunately a set of good speakers fail to give good sound on a laptop. Don't know why.

ProPain · 31-08-2005, 23:30

I was talking about desktops, just encountered that problem on my old laptop.

My new laptop has built in JBL speakers and has excellent sound

Rik Meleet · 01-09-2005, 09:34

Additional information:
Onboard sound takes some CPU-time. A soundcard doesn't. If your friend is going "budget" on CPU + Memory-size and is listening to MP3's while photo-editting, video-editting (+ other intensive tasks like CivIII); he might notice it; not in the sound but in the video-editting. In that case it is worth consdidering to get a sound-card; not for quality but for efficiency reasons.

31-08-2005, 21:58	#1
ProPain Customized Admin :) Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: sailing the seas of cheese. Posts: 5,852	Question on soundcards/on board sound I have a friend who wants to buy a new comp. Basically he wants to do basic MS Office tasks, some photo editing and listen to mp3's. I noticed that lots of mobo's have on board 5.1/7.1 sound support. Is this any good or is the difference with soundcards still big? I grew up when on board sound meant you get a 'bleep'when you make an error, so I;m biased to buying a soundcard, but frankly I really dont have a clue how on board sound has developed. Would love to hear your vision/experiences on the subject. PP __________________ I fed my Dog the American Dream Well, he rolled over and he started to scream He said, I dig the taste of salt but it don't keep me alive yeah, yeah

31-08-2005, 22:17	#2
Rik Meleet Moderator Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Nijmegen, Netherlands. Posts: 2,502	Hardly any of the new PC's have soundcards nowadays (last 2 years) anymore. The reason -most likely- is that onboard sound has reached a high enough quality that it made soundcards obsolete. Soundcards are "optioneel" at best. __________________ Social life ? Sounds like fun !! Where can I download that ?

31-08-2005, 22:22	#3
DrAlimentado Moderator Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: the cookie jar. Posts: 1,568	yeah unless you need studio stuff then onboard sound is pretty sophisticated nowadays. for example 5.1/7.1 have 3d sound as standard iirc. __________________ <font color=\"red\">sign up for the best game on the forum</font id=\"red\"> <font color=\"green\">My Army</font id=\"green\"> <font color=\"green\">Help my orcs to prosper</font id=\"green\"> MapTweaker Utility beta (copy/paste/resize biq files)

31-08-2005, 22:34	#5
ProPain Customized Admin :) Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: sailing the seas of cheese. Posts: 5,852	Thanks for all the quick replies I bought a soundcard in my pc (for gaming) and immediately got punished because some apps get confused when I use my headset (which apparently uses its own built-in soundcard) choosing from 3 different soundcards seems to hard for some progs I did have a problem with surround sound on my laptop, it couldnt handle 5.1 format, seemed it just ditched a few channels resulting in very soft partial sound. Anybody experienced stuff like this with on board sound? __________________ I fed my Dog the American Dream Well, he rolled over and he started to scream He said, I dig the taste of salt but it don't keep me alive yeah, yeah

31-08-2005, 22:35	#6
Rik Meleet Moderator Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Nijmegen, Netherlands. Posts: 2,502	Even when games are involved; onboard sound will do. The only reason I see for getting a soundcard is if you want to play or compose music on your PC with 12 speakers surrounding you while you have the gift of "absolute hearing". - a bit exaggerated, I know, but trueish nonetheless. __________________ Social life ? Sounds like fun !! Where can I download that ?

31-08-2005, 22:25	#4
Markstar King Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Germany. Posts: 1,746	For the tasks you described onboard sound is more than sufficient. This changes when games are involved but since this is no concern I say go with it.

31-08-2005, 22:37	#7
Rik Meleet Moderator Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Nijmegen, Netherlands. Posts: 2,502	PP: a laptop isn't designed for excellent sound; it is "just below acceptable" at most. The main reason is that the build-in speakers have to be tiny. I assumed you were talking about desktops. Desktops usually get shipped with good speakers; which will do the trick. Unfortunately a set of good speakers fail to give good sound on a laptop. Don't know why. __________________ Social life ? Sounds like fun !! Where can I download that ?

31-08-2005, 23:30	#8
ProPain Customized Admin :) Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: sailing the seas of cheese. Posts: 5,852	I was talking about desktops, just encountered that problem on my old laptop. My new laptop has built in JBL speakers and has excellent sound __________________ I fed my Dog the American Dream Well, he rolled over and he started to scream He said, I dig the taste of salt but it don't keep me alive yeah, yeah

01-09-2005, 09:34	#9
Rik Meleet Moderator Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Nijmegen, Netherlands. Posts: 2,502	Additional information: Onboard sound takes some CPU-time. A soundcard doesn't. If your friend is going "budget" on CPU + Memory-size and is listening to MP3's while photo-editting, video-editting (+ other intensive tasks like CivIII); he might notice it; not in the sound but in the video-editting. In that case it is worth consdidering to get a sound-card; not for quality but for efficiency reasons. __________________ Social life ? Sounds like fun !! Where can I download that ?