Azalia vs AC '97

[xbdestroya]

For those who've owned boards with both, is the difference noticeable, or is it more psychological? Sound for me is very important, but at the same time I want to know what the 'real-world' expectations of a move to Azalia should be. I just made a motherboard purchase based partly on it's inclusion of Azalia, but in retrospect I'm wondering if it should have played as large a part of my decision as it did.

 

[Vette73]

Azalia is AC97, just a HD version of it with a intel name. Some AMD boards support HD ac97 sound now. But azalia is juts a intel name.

Look at teh ac97 codec and that will tell you if it is just plain ac97 or hdAC97.

 

[xbdestroya]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Azalia is AC97, just a HD version of it with a intel name. Some AMD boards support HD ac97 sound now. But azalia is juts a intel name.

Look at teh ac97 codec and that will tell you if it is just plain ac97 or hdAC97.

Thanks for the information, but that stuff I already knew. What I'm asking is how does it sound in the real world - not whether it's classed HD or not.

 

[Vette73]

yep everything I have READ says it does make a nice difference. I am stuck with some POS realtek junk so I would not know.

So if you find 2 boards you like and one has HDac97 and the other is plain ac97 (like realtek) then get the HD AC97

 

[xbdestroya]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
yep everything I have READ says it does make a nice difference. I am stuck with some POS realtek junk so I would not know.

So if you find 2 boards you like and one has HDac97 and the other is plain ac97 (like realtek) then get the HD AC97

Well I just purchased one actually (as indicated in my first post), but I was just kind of wondering if I focused too much on the sound and not enough on other features - basically *more* overclocking. But if it turns out to make a very noticeable difference, I'll be happy with the decision. I should have the thign set up Christmas day or the day after.