Epox 8DRA+ onboard sound or Audigy Platinium sound card?

[AdamDuritz99]

Which has better sound quality? Ther reason I'm asking is b/c someone said that the epox onboard sound is leaps and bounds better than the soundblaster live, and I thought the audigy was good but not that good. Also if the onboard is better, is there anyway to hook up the audigy drive to the mother board without the audigy sound card?

peace
sean

 

[DannyBoy]

Im pretty damn sure you cant hook up the live drive without the audigy card, but that and the 8RDA+'s sound are pretty much the same

Dan

 

[Confused]

No, there is no way to hook up the Audugy Drive to the SoundStorm on the 8RDA+ board.

But for sound quality, people have been saying that the SS is better than the Live/Audigy, but the Audigy2 is slightly better than the SS


Confused

 

[Dimitri]

Isn't onboard sound more CPU dependent?

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Dimitri
Isn't onboard sound more CPU dependent?

That's a myth from what I've read, at least somewhat. I bet the user Peter will drop by this thread and go a little nuts from seeing that question.
Onboard sound was generally....well, less than good. If the same onboard crap were put on a PCI card, it would probably have about the same CPU utilization. If a sound chip is powerful, it will have low CPU utilization, regardless of being on the motherboard or on a PCI card. I'm pretty sure that's how it works anyway.

 

[Brian48]

The nForce2 is a very excellent sound solution and is more than comparable to the Audigy. The only question is whether or not you can live without the Livedrive. If you don't need it, then stick with the on-board.

 

[AdamDuritz99]

Originally posted by: Brian48
The nForce2 is a very excellent sound solution and is more than comparable to the Audigy. The only question is whether or not you can live without the Livedrive. If you don't need it, then stick with the on-board.

I like my live drive, for guitar and such. I guess i'm going to keep my sc then.

peace
sean

 

[Caveman]

The CPU hit using onboard sound is a valid question that no one seems to know the answer to. One of the Audigy's brag points was that it saved CPU cycles. So... I guess the question is, does anyone know if the CPU sound is as robust speedwise as a standalone card?