DFI looks to have a winner here.

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Originally posted by Kinsy
10-20%? Bull :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: mate, not with modern processors.

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Honestly, I don't really care if you believe me or not :) It's been verified countless times by other sites. Here's the latest:

http://www.techreport.com/etc/2004q3...o/index.x?pg=1

I've also verified it myself. My Shuttle nForce2 board had onboard sound, so I sold my soundcard, and the NIC and firewire card because they were built in. I thought the setup was OK until I figured out how much of the CPU it was using, especially in EAX. I immediately bought an OEM Audigy 2 for $50. If you intend to use DFI's onboard sound over an Audigy card, you'll be throwing away the very performance gained by overclocking.

The only exception to this rule was the true MCP-T Soundstorm, which hardly used the CPU at all with excellent sound quality. Unfortunately, there is no Soundstorm on the nForce3 line.

Anyway, I think it would be wise to use an Audigy 2 if you have it. Mine works great with Doom 3. No problems whatsoever. Sounds awesome on my Z-680s.

Well I am not sure what is going on with it then...me and my friend have the same exact problem with it, ill post more on it later

It cleared up later in the game for me.

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Originally posted by aldamon
Why would you do that? Onboard audio can result in a 10% - 20% performance hit in games. If you already have an Audigy ZS, it seems silly to throw away the performance.

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where do you get that from? if that was the case, people would be turning off their onboard as a matter of course. And the benchie community would make a good sound card their #1 recommendation.

nah, I call shenanigans, or at least urban legend

*edit* I read that article, and results taken form one game, still in beta, mind you, from one source, and not a well known one at that, still does not convince me. I know for the best benching runs you turn off LAN, USB, basically whatever you can afford to turn off. But 10-20% in real world use is just an exaggeration. maybe a frame here and there, maybe more if you jack the audio quality. but most poele prefer to ratchet up the grpahics, and not the audio effects.

Ok after this post no more about audio problems...lets make a new thread on it somewhere where it is suppose to be...

Now when you run EAX it slows your system down of course taking more CPU power to run it...I am not sure though on it.. I am not saying anyone one person is right I myself just don't know. Tell you all what I will do...I ll bench Doom 3 with onboard and with the SB card. And I will let you know but I have to wait until the DFI arrives...now get back on track with the thread subject please! lol

agreed...though I am interested in the results....I wouls like to balance them wuth some legacy games like unreal or call of duty, not jsut the latest greatest system resource hogs. since there have been few patches for either game, inefficiencies are bound to have an effect, as are the relevant audio settings. Defult audio would give the best indication, I have no doubts that teh highest settings make you take a hit in FPS

Alright....what I will do is do a test on these games...running default settings on the video and audio that the game supplies and the balanced setting on the video card itself...UT2K3 and Doom 3. And we shall see the difference. Well I'll do it if I can get around to it...lol

Part of the reason for buying this DFI board in this thread is for overclocking. Overclocking is often a game of percentage-point increases, so why throw away that precious performance by having the CPU run the sound? Also, the onboard audio on my last board introduced lots of noise and interference when overclocked. My Audigy 2 doesn't exhibit these effects.

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Originally posted by ugp
Alright....what I will do is do a test on these games...running default settings on the video and audio that the game supplies and the balanced setting on the video card itself...UT2K3 and Doom 3. And we shall see the difference. Well I'll do it if I can get around to it...lol

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You will, except in Doom 3. I believe Doom 3 processes all sound on the CPU. Other games don't work like that. Like I said, the link I posted was simply the latest article I saw written on the subject. Obviously, the audio has to come from somewhere if your CPU processes it. A 10% - 20%, or higher, hit is pretty common. RightMark Audio Analyzer is an excellent tool for testing these CPU utilization:

Rightmark Audio Analyzer

Here are some screenshots I took last fall after I realized what onboard audio did to my performance. Feel free to download the latest version of Rightmark and check out the results on your own. I'm certainly not going to turn on my onboard audio and test it again when I have the Audigy 2 installed. Been there, done that so to speak.

Realtek AC'97 onboard audio performance:

http://www.damontech.net/aldamonrightmark2.jpg

Audigy2 performance:

http://www.damontech.net/aldamonrightmark3.jpg

If you can live with onboard audio on the DFI, then all the power to you :)

when is the DFI finally coming out?? my AMD 64 3200+ is waiting ....:D

F*ck that then...I am using my SB!

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Originally posted by guinche
when is the DFI finally coming out?? my AMD 64 3200+ is waiting ....:D

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Ever so soon! Less than 3 days now! :)

Well monday is a holiday so that is another day mine will be delayed...it would have been pointless for my to do 2 day shipping when it will be here tuesday regardless because I am in Florida. If not tuesday I believe it will be wednesday I will have it. So until then I sit here and wait for it...

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Originally posted by aldamon
[B]snip

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benches have no sound

3dmark03 does. so do many game specific benches.

you are thinking of 3dmark01 I think.

last thought on the subject from me.....
it is true that people use the major benches (01/03) with no sound - in 03 most run only the game tests. So the audio is moot in those. and in actual gaming, most of us have waaay more frames than are acutally needed to be completely smooth.
I could turn my res down to 640x480 and get tons more frames - I could turn the audio completely off, and all the textures down. But you make some allowances to play the darn game, like taking the hit of AA and AF. maybe an expensive creative card can offset teh audio hit, if there really is one, but so might the same $ appilied to another go fast goodie, one that is probably more fun to mess with than a sound card. I've had one, I never noticed any better sound quality, and I have been a Dj for a few years.
Okay, back on topic for me. Though this IS an interesting one, at least moreso than that ram sidetrack whose answers were pretty concrete already.

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Originally posted by __TRONIK__

last thought on the subject from me.....

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For sure, if 3DMark and "benches" are all a person will use with this DFI board, then I can see why the onboard audio would be appealing :) I was more concerned for Ugp who actually has an Audigy 2 and was thinking about using the onboard audio instead. That didn't seem like a wise decision to me. I think your points are valid for a regular user who doesn't already have an Audigy or Audigy 2 laying around. If the onboard audio is good quality, and they don't mind the hit, then why not use it I guess? It's free, money-wise. The framerate will be plenty high with an Athlon 64. However, I don't think many people pre-ordering the DFI based on its overclocking performance and voltage options are going to write off a performance hit that can be addressed by a $25 Audigy 1 or a $50 Audigy 2 OEM.

Ok, ok, I am going to continue to use my Audigy...my next thing I am getting is a god damn Liquid Cooling system....anyone know one...I posted a thread in the "Liquid Cooling" section. Please reply and help me out I am sick of heat.

Plz i want info on the DFI board and stuff related to it.
Not anything else.
So make new threads for questions about other stuff.
Ok ?

So the quality of a Creative Soundblaster Live! player 5.1 would be beter than the onboard sound? or is it another one you mean by audigy 1, because i cant find the "1".

grtz,
Frederick

Not over the onboard of the DFI no....the onboard is 7.1 and 16-Bit...your SB Live is 5.1 and 16-bit...depends on what you want...onboard though I think would be better for you.

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Originally posted by Ubermann
Plz i want info on the DFI board and stuff related to it.
Not anything else.
So make new threads for questions about other stuff.
Ok ?

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The DFI board isn't out yet. I'm sure the thread will get back on track next week when everybody gets them. Until then, who cares? It's not like we're talking about football.

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Originally posted by Lifeless
So the quality of a Creative Soundblaster Live! player 5.1 would be beter than the onboard sound? or is it another one you mean by audigy 1, because i cant find the "1".

grtz,
Frederick

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The sound quality on my Live! was never that good. CPU utilization will be lower with the Live! installed, but I don't know about sound quality. I think sound quality takes precedence over performance. If you buy the DFI, try out both in gaming situations and music playing and see which one you like better. If both sound the same, use the Live. If you have a 6.1 or 7.1 speaker setup, the onboard sound would be a better option by default.

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Originally posted by ugp
Ok, ok, I am going to continue to use my Audigy...my next thing I am getting is a god damn Liquid Cooling system....anyone know one...I posted a thread in the "Liquid Cooling" section. Please reply and help me out I am sick of heat.

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The best kits are the ones you put together yourself. I bought a good pump, a top-of-the-line block, an awesome dual-fan radiator and made my own reservoir. I've experienced some pitfalls along the way (leaking), but I knew about that possibility going in. Goop and silicone sealant are your friend. Use lots of it :)

Can't leaks ruin your sh*t though? Only thing I would be worried about and it is so expensive to do it...and I really want new Memory and I want to get two new HDDs so I can run a RAID 0

Ohhh nevermind then...

Bad news if you were hoping to use the new Thermalright XP-120 with the DFI. Ubermann contacted DFI in Taiwan and I contacted Thermalright tech support and they both say that the XP-120 will not fit on the LanPartyUT 250GB. :(

However, the good news is that Thermalright has another new heatpipe called the XP-90! It takes a 92mm fan. While looking just as impressive as the XP-120, Thermalright tech support says it knows of no MBs that would be incompatible with the XP-90! :banana: :banana:

The Thermalright tech support guy says that the XP-90 runs 3C cooler than the SLK-948U on his machine. :toast:

Heatsink Factory says that the XP-90 should be available this week.

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Originally posted by GreyBeard
Bad news if you were hoping to use the new Thermalright XP-120 with the DFI. Ubermann contacted DFI in Taiwan and I contacted Thermalright tech support and they both say that the XP-120 will not fit on the LanPartyUT 250GB. :(

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:eek:

Was looking forward to getting an XP-120 when the LP-UT arrives in the UK :(

Hopefully a new Zalman cooler will come soon then :rolleyes:

If youre going to use H20 cooling, you need to take precautions. Ive seen many H20 water setups where people throw it together using no hoseclamps. Generally it wont leak, but give it some times to clear the air bubbles and low and behold, you will begin to see leaks. Cinch down you hoses with clamps, run the system before placing it into the case and you will have no problems. When you take shortcuts or try to rush things, expect the worse. A Little common sense goes a long way. BTW, ive been H20 cooling for 6 yrs now :)