TR Forums

Hey.

Integrated sound seems to come in three flavors.
1) the Avance Logic AL201A chip that produces AC97 sound.
2) C-Media CMI8738 that produces "PCI" sound.
3) Creative CT-5880 that produces "PCI" sound.

(ripped from tomshardware.com review of the SiS 645 motherboards)

I wish i knew the difference in sound quality and driver support. Am I sacrificing EAX if I go with any of those solutions? Are any integrated audio solutions acceptable to gamers? Does the nForce integrated sound support EAX extensions? Or, if I wish to avoid Creative Labs evil, am I resigned to Turtle Beach goodness?

MaceMan bows before the recommendations of the audiophiles out there...

I've heard the NForce audio is actually pretty good for intergrated audio. I would suggest a Hercules Game Theater XP or one of the Hercules Fortissimo cards. Why are you trying to avoid Creative Labs cards?

Creative Labs has had lots of problems with VIA chipsets. Various people are complaining about pops and hisses with them. As a techie, I'm frustrated with their complete lack of innovation if another company (Aureal) isn't pushing them. Politically, I despise their suing Aureal, who one, but went bankrupt, and then buying out all of Aureal's assets.

So while there's no one CRUSHING argument, I think there are several pretty good ones.

The C-Media 8738 is a pretty good chip. It uses a bit more CPU processing than the Creative SB-Live! or Audigy, but the 6-channel versions of the chip can provide 5.1-channel 3D sound. Support for EAX is included. If your motherboard comes with very old drivers, the newer ones (available from the Windows Update site or from your mobo manufacturer) may eliminate occasional skipping. The 4-channel version of this chip is used in the Hercules Gamesurround Muse XL add-in sound card.

The Creative CT-5880 is essentially a SoundBlaster AudioPCI 128. It is better than AC'97, but significantly inferior to the CMI-8738 or SB-Live.

AC97 sound lacks even a hardware wavetable. Almost everything is done on the CPU. It will do for a business environment, but it is not good for gaming.

MaceMan wrote:

Creative Labs has had lots of problems with VIA chipsets

Its just not with VIA chipset. Some Intel Chpisets have the same issue. As I have said before Creative built there Live! series out of PCI spec and their Audigy line is the same chips used on the Live! just with some new update software/firmware.

C Media is an excellent choice.

JustAnEngineer: That's EXACTLY the type of info I was looking for. Thank you! MaceMan hands JustAnEngineer the "You Da Man" award of the day. (Are there enthusiast review sites that compare integrated chipsets?)