Mobos and Sound Cards

RikiRude · 08-26-2007, 06:07 PM

What's a good website were I can learn more about them?

I mean as far as sound cards go, I want good sound out of my games, I don't really care about other audio applications, and I usually use headphones, a pretty good low price pair ($30 logictech) and a 5.1 sound system that I won't bother replacing anytime soon. So what features that sound cards have do I really need?

What is SNR, digital audio, midi joystick, sample rate?
And what is x-fi? I know it's good for games, and I know it must stand for extreme fidelity, but what is it?

My main question is, do I really need a $145+ x-fi sound card? Or would I not notice the difference if I just had one of the $90 ones?

And motherboards have always confused me, no matter how much I read about them, there are just so many options. I mean I know to pick the right socket type to match your CPU and that you need one with PCi express 16 and you need an ATX format for some cases, but that's about it. I know a faster FSB is better

What's the north and south bridge? What's PATA? HDmi? I know I don't need a mobo with integrated audio or video, but most higher end ones seem to have that standard anyways.

Anyways thanks in advance guys!

JohnnyPissoff · 08-26-2007, 08:40 PM

Wow Riki that's a lot to chew on man...heh-heh, but I'm stoned, coffee'd out on Cuban grind and waiting on my woman to get home, so I got a minute or two to blow.

- Two sites I go to whenever I need a heads up on whats new:
http://www.tomshardware.com/us/
http://www.hardocp.com/

- Really the only features you need in a sound card for gaming is the 5.1 support and EAX. Price isn't really the issue for gaming as it's mainly your getting the card to utilize hardware sound not the on-board software generated sound.

- SNR = signal to noise ratio (measure of frequency responses mainly for audio quality...I wouldn't be overly concerned as your just gaming.

- Digital audio = going directly from digital source to digital reproduction bypassing digital/analog conversion. Nice but not necessary for gaming.

- Midi = Musical Instrument Digital Interface, it's a way an analog instrument communicates with digital synthesisers and samplers. Not for gaming but your a musician you might be interested in it at some time (kx drivers!)

Sample Rate = It's a digital measure of frequencies in kilohertz (KHZ) bits per second. Most conventional sound frequencies for gaming as well as mp3 are measured at 44KHZ. You shouldn't be bothered by it unless you try converting different frequencies. Like it took me weeks to convert some live music 48KHZ Digital audio tape(DAT)to MP3

x-fi = Hype for gamers but very welcome for musicians as it has built in 24bit recording as well as 24 bit playback for home studio. once again kx drivers!! (Cd's are recorded at 24 bit and played back at 16 bit btw.

- Main question; do you need to spend $145 HELL NO..lol...get an Audigy2 for about $50.

- North/south bridges = these are twin chips that reside in whats called the core logic chip-set. The north bridge is at the top of the mobo and connects and communicates with the CPU, memory, video bus and the south bridge. It resides at the bottom of the board and allows devices (sound card, USB, drives etc) to communicate with the CPU and memory. *If you have an AMD64 type board the north bridge is missing and integrated in the CPU with its extremely fast hyper-transfer bus. This is why that CPU is so fast for gaming.

- PATA = Is the older parallel type hard drives still in use along with the newer SATA drives. (dunno what the acronym means actually)

- HDMI = Is really very interesting and something you might need in the future. It refers to a new way to connect Hi-Def audio and video via one cable one jack not a bunch of different crap for each device. It's how you'll be connecting your PC to your TV and sound system In fact all audio/video components will be connected this way sooner or later, most plasmas use HDMI connectors now.

- Integrated audio and video. Well you know the drill about on-board video but the latest audio protocols are actually quite good with up to 192KHZ capabilities, but the thing is the better they get the more resources they will demand (CPU cycles and memory) so the hardware sound card is more about extra muscle than sound quality.

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08-26-2007, 08:40 PM	#2
JohnnyPissoff Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: République démocratique du Congo Posts: 1,249	Wow Riki that's a lot to chew on man...heh-heh, but I'm stoned, coffee'd out on Cuban grind and waiting on my woman to get home, so I got a minute or two to blow. - Two sites I go to whenever I need a heads up on whats new: http://www.tomshardware.com/us/ http://www.hardocp.com/ - Really the only features you need in a sound card for gaming is the 5.1 support and EAX. Price isn't really the issue for gaming as it's mainly your getting the card to utilize hardware sound not the on-board software generated sound. - SNR = signal to noise ratio (measure of frequency responses mainly for audio quality...I wouldn't be overly concerned as your just gaming. - Digital audio = going directly from digital source to digital reproduction bypassing digital/analog conversion. Nice but not necessary for gaming. - Midi = Musical Instrument Digital Interface, it's a way an analog instrument communicates with digital synthesisers and samplers. Not for gaming but your a musician you might be interested in it at some time (kx drivers!) Sample Rate = It's a digital measure of frequencies in kilohertz (KHZ) bits per second. Most conventional sound frequencies for gaming as well as mp3 are measured at 44KHZ. You shouldn't be bothered by it unless you try converting different frequencies. Like it took me weeks to convert some live music 48KHZ Digital audio tape(DAT)to MP3 x-fi = Hype for gamers but very welcome for musicians as it has built in 24bit recording as well as 24 bit playback for home studio. once again kx drivers!! (Cd's are recorded at 24 bit and played back at 16 bit btw. - Main question; do you need to spend $145 HELL NO..lol...get an Audigy2 for about $50. - North/south bridges = these are twin chips that reside in whats called the core logic chip-set. The north bridge is at the top of the mobo and connects and communicates with the CPU, memory, video bus and the south bridge. It resides at the bottom of the board and allows devices (sound card, USB, drives etc) to communicate with the CPU and memory. *If you have an AMD64 type board the north bridge is missing and integrated in the CPU with its extremely fast hyper-transfer bus. This is why that CPU is so fast for gaming. - PATA = Is the older parallel type hard drives still in use along with the newer SATA drives. (dunno what the acronym means actually) - HDMI = Is really very interesting and something you might need in the future. It refers to a new way to connect Hi-Def audio and video via one cable one jack not a bunch of different crap for each device. It's how you'll be connecting your PC to your TV and sound system In fact all audio/video components will be connected this way sooner or later, most plasmas use HDMI connectors now. - Integrated audio and video. Well you know the drill about on-board video but the latest audio protocols are actually quite good with up to 192KHZ capabilities, but the thing is the better they get the more resources they will demand (CPU cycles and memory) so the hardware sound card is more about extra muscle than sound quality.