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You are currently reading a thread in /g/ - Technology
Is there any objective evidence that dedicated sound cards are better than the integrated sound on modern motherboards?
Sound cards offer additional I/O, and can definitely be better than integrated in some cases, it depends on the board/system.
>>55514679
I've listened to quite a few onboard sound systems and most, if not all, have issues with noise. For instance, when you plug in a USB device you'll hear a pop, or when you move your mouse around or when you run a video benchmark or whatever, you'll hear artifacts in the audio. Sound cards generally don't have these types of issues.
>>55514855
this, on my integrated sound card, i got some nasty interference when the CPU shifted into gear.
>>55514679
Evidence? I don't have any actual empirical evidence.
But sometimes I used my m-audio audio interface to work sound through to my studio headphones and regular earbuds and the difference is night and day.
Of course, you have to be using at least decent headphones.
Theyre useful for those using surroundsound who need the channels, but for normal people, no, the onboard audio is just fine
>>55514679
Off-mainboard solutions will always be better even if it's just a bit.
You can try yourself without even buying a soundcard, just try out listening to something through your video card's HD audio driver.
Even GPUs will typically have a better sound solution than top-of-the-line "116db goyimware supreme" integrated audio.
>>55514679
I was forced to spend $25 on one when I had a shit motherboard that was getting way too much electronic interference from my GPU. That was the only noticeable difference.
>>55515026
uhh what kind of video card do you have with an analog audio out? It sounds like talking about using your TV's DAC instead of your onboard DAC.
>>55515029
that's a pretty huge difference
>>55514855
Typical of really cheap or old motherboards. High-end motherboards don't have this problem. Source: Using onboard from a $200 ASUS motherboard. Never had artifacts.
>>55515006
nigger, even my cheap-ass $60 motherboard has optical and coaxial SPDIF
>>55515044
this, video cards have digital SPDIF output, never analog.
>>55515044
Monitors with headphone out.
>>55515152
So, let me get this straight. Your monitor is connected via either HDMI or DP right? And then you're using the analog out from the monitor?
If so, you're using the monitor's built-in DAC because there is no analog audio in HDMI or DP.
>>55515221
Yes. My speakers are connected to my monitor via 3.5mm which is connected to my GPU through DisplayPort.
It works surprisingly well.
Onboard is Realtek ALC1150 while the GPU is a 970 for reference.
>>55515289
That means that the GPU is sending bits, not analog waves to the monitor. The DAC is in the monitor not the GPU.
>>55515289
>Onboard is Realtek ALC1150
That doesn't matter because you're not using it
>>55514679
they reduce your cpu load. check audiodg.exe's cpu use when playing anything with sound processing. also lower delay, less interrupts on your cpu etc. this matters more as you increase bitrate and use DSP
>>55515289
Honestly ALC800-ALC900-ALC1100 or whatever doesn't really matter. Every single commonly-used onboard Realtek DAC can give audio output indistinguishable from the others - if the implementation is done well. That's the problem really - the implementation. ALC1150 vs ALC897 or whatever is meaningless without the proper capacitors, protection, and regulators. Sound is very seldom done well on a motherboard.
>>55514679
Depends on the motherboard.
Higher end ones these days have isolated sound circuitry (including channels isolated on seperate PCB layers), de-noise circuits and built-in amps that can compete with most basic add-on cards. Cheaper boards might not carry these features and you'll get a lot of the nose described by people like >>55514855 and >>55514910 however.
Modern high-end boards can support most of the features people need like surround output and digital S/PDIF out, so sound cards are mostly redundant these days aside from high-end ones with interfaces for specialized use like MIDI and so on.
One benefit I can see is 7.1 surround support, which most boards only support 5.1. However in terms of signal to noise ratio and such my motherboard (ASUS X99-A II) supports the same as all but ASUS' highest-end offering for example (116db SNR vs 124db).
tl;dr - For 99% of people onboard is fine as long as you don't get a cheap shit motherboard.
Cheap sound-cards with high-end motherboards are placebo though unless you need them for 7.1 surround setups.
>>55514679
>objective evidence
Dedicated sound cards tend to have stereo mix functionality. Most integrated ones don't.
Gigabyte Z170 boards are plagued with onboard audio problems that COULD be fixed with a simple driver update, but they refuse to. So far the only solution is to buy a dedicated card otherwise you have to restart the entire computer, which sometimes works for more then a few hours, and if it keeps happening you more or less have to reinstall the drivers and hope it decides to keep working then. Its fucking sad.
