Just in the middle of an upgrade cycle that will take my BX / Cel
566@850 / 256mb PC100 ram system into the 21st century.
My current plan is to go for an nForce2 / 2100+ XP / 512 Dual DDR
setup (comment if you want to, but that's nearly set in stone now)
My question is re. the audio on the nForce2 chipset. I'll be getting
an MCP-T northbridge based mobo, and I don't know whether or not to
offload my current Hercules Fortissimo II sound card in favour of the
intergrated sound for optimal gaming performance.
I've suffered for years with an AWE 64 value card without realising
the performance hit that sound was having on my gaming, so I am wary
of cheap sound solutions.
I would obviously love to test with this card and without, but I may
have to sell on this card in advance of buying the new rig to fund the
new purchases (!), so I thought I might try to get your advice first.
So, the question is - will I *hear* any difference and will I notice
any performance difference with these choices?
I haven't seen much experience with the nForce 2 mobos posted around
here, so I thought I'd ask.....
Matt
While I don't have any direct experience with the Nforce chipsets, anything
that sucks CPU cycles is something I stay away from.
MadDAWG
I have a nforce2 mobo (asus a7n8x) but i have a sb audigy so i havnt tried
the onboard sound. My advice would be to not use it but to buy a soundcard
instead, they always seem to rpoduce better results than onboard sound
dan
"Matt Larkin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted text (26 lines)
> Just in the middle of an upgrade cycle that will take my BX / Cel > 566@850 / 256mb PC100 ram system into the 21st century. > > My current plan is to go for an nForce2 / 2100+ XP / 512 Dual DDR > setup (comment if you want to, but that's nearly set in stone now) > > My question is re. the audio on the nForce2 chipset. I'll be getting > an MCP-T northbridge based mobo, and I don't know whether or not to > offload my current Hercules Fortissimo II sound card in favour of the > intergrated sound for optimal gaming performance. > > I've suffered for years with an AWE 64 value card without realising > the performance hit that sound was having on my gaming, so I am wary > of cheap sound solutions. > > I would obviously love to test with this card and without, but I may > have to sell on this card in advance of buying the new rig to fund the > new purchases (!), so I thought I might try to get your advice first. > > So, the question is - will I *hear* any difference and will I notice > any performance difference with these choices? > > I haven't seen much experience with the nForce 2 mobos posted around > here, so I thought I'd ask..... > > MattIn article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] (Matt Larkin) wrote:
>Just in the middle of an upgrade cycle that will take my BX / Cel
>566@850 / 256mb PC100 ram system into the 21st century.
>
>My current plan is to go for an nForce2 / 2100+ XP / 512 Dual DDR
>setup (comment if you want to, but that's nearly set in stone now)
thats exactly what i'm planning on getting at the end of the month :)
2100+ XP, Asus A7N8X nForce2 Deluxe to be exact, and 2x512mb pc2100 (not
planning on clocking so pc2100 should be enough) and a pair of seagate sata
80gb drives. the only problem is that the 2100+ is no longer in production
and might not be available when i'm ready to buy... but i'm hoping the
stores will try and get rid of existing stock and lower the price ;) oh and a
leadtek Ti4200 vivo.
i've been reading up on the nForce2, MCP-T and the Dolby Digital encoding.
from what i've read the audio is just as good as the soundblaster audigy
series. but i'm planning on using the digital out for DD5.1 hooked up to a
home theatre set-up (yamaha receiver, jamo speakers and yamaha sub. all
'proper' HT gear, and not pc speakers). there is a 70ns delay, but i don't
think i'll notice. should be great driving in the middle of a pack in n2002
:D
there is a problem with the audio plugs. if you want to use the 5.1 outs (not
the digital out) for surround sound, you have to make a cable to fix/reverse
the centre/sub out. and if you want mic-in at the same time you have to
use some trick. i've also read the line-in is *really* loud and has bad
distortion.
besides the problems above, i've only been hearing good things about the
nForce2. with sata, usb2.0 (x6) and ieee1394 (x2) lan (x2) it should last me
my 3 years before the scheduled update :) my last update was a
P3-850(100fsb) :) hopefully in 3 years time 5Ghz chips will be common/cheap
so i can stick with my x2.5 speed upgrade rule :)
"Dan_Leach" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:avmkm4$gv85v$[email hidden]...
: I have a nforce2 mobo (asus a7n8x) but i have a sb audigy so i havnt tried
: the onboard sound. My advice would be to not use it but to buy a soundcard
: instead, they always seem to rpoduce better results than onboard sound
: dan
The nForce 2's onboard sound is quite superb. I cant find it for the life
of me - but if memory serves me right - the %'ge hit of having sound turned
on in Q3 was considerably less with an nForce / nForce 2 integrated sound
solution than with a SB live
Bleugh - I can find the nf2's figures
http://www.hardocp.com/image.html?image=MTAzODgwNzQxM0JMRTFxUnViZTJfNV8xX2wu
Z2lm
Anyway - have no fear with the nForce 2 onboard sound - the only mainstream
cards I can think of that would outperform it are a Hercules Game Theatre XP
and an Audigy 2
Doug
"Doug Ellison" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:avmn10$hihg5$[email hidden]...
>
> "Dan_Leach" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
> news:avmkm4$gv85v$[email hidden]...
> : I have a nforce2 mobo (asus a7n8x) but i have a sb audigy so i havnttried
> : the onboard sound. My advice would be to not use it but to buy asoundcard
> : instead, they always seem to rpoduce better results than onboard sound
> : dan
>
> The nForce 2's onboard sound is quite superb. I cant find it for the life
> of me - but if memory serves me right - the %'ge hit of having soundturned
http://www.hardocp.com/image.html?image=MTAzODgwNzQxM0JMRTFxUnViZTJfNV8xX2wu
> Z2lm
>
>
> Anyway - have no fear with the nForce 2 onboard sound - the onlymainstream
> cards I can think of that would outperform it are a Hercules Game TheatreXP
> and an Audigy 2
I'm typing this on an EPOX 8RDA+ based machine.... (NForce 2)
I found the onboard sound to be pretty bad. The Midi sound used for the
engine sound in LFS broke up after a few laps, and I had stuttering sound
problems in various FPS games too (Q3, Wolfenstein & B1942). I've since
disabled it and put my SB-Live! back in.
YMMV.
Full spec, T-Bird 1.3GHz running at 1.33GHz (8x166). 1Gb PC2700 (running @
166 FSB), 3Com 3c950tx-m, MSI GeForce 4 Ti-4600, SB Live! 5.1. (Note the
3Com LAN adapter - the onboard one sucked CPU cycles like nothing I've ever
seen before!)
Quoted text (7 lines)
> on in Q3 was considerably less with an nForce / nForce 2 integrated sound > solution than with a SB live > > > Bleugh - I can find the nf2's figures > >In article <3e1ed767$0$27993$[email hidden]>, [email hidden] (Obake) wrote:
http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardware/audigy2_versus_nforce2/default.asp
[email hidden] (Obake) wrote in message news:<3e2665fb$0$7813$[email hidden]>...
> In article <3e1ed767$0$27993$[email hidden]>, [email hidden] (Obake) wrote:
>
> http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardware/audigy2_versus_nforce2/default.asp
So for �97.98 I just bought an Audigy 2 comparable soundcard, plus
SATA, 6 x USB 2.0, Firewire, 2 x LAN, Dual DDR capability and Socket A
motherboard.
Sounds good to me!
On 16 Jan 2003 03:55:15 -0800, [email hidden] (Matt
Larkin) wrote:
Just make sure you read reviews first, Chaintech for example DISABLED
the NFORCE2 Dolby APU http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NDE0
Other than that if they leave it alone, it looks like my SB live will
get an early retirement on my next upgrade.
