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Integrated Sound Cards Roundup |
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Written by Ivan Vuijc
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Friday, 26 September 2008 |
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Page 2 of 7
Gaming tests
Connectors
Today’s integrated sound cards beside standard 3.5mm analog connectors have also S/PDIF digital in/out connectors. Some of them have optical and coaxial S/PDIF. Mark S/PDIF is actually shortcut from “Sony/Phillips Digital Interconnection Format” or “Sony/Phillips Digital Interface”.
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For gaming tests we used motherboards in combination with same processor and memory. By doing this we got realistic view as much as possible. In one of tables are displayed framerates compared to “no-sound 3Dmark03” test, i.e. sound effects set on high level against same effects on low level in rest two games. This helped us to get insight on how much fps reduces in games, when additional effects are turned on. Based on results, we can conclude that their affect is irrelevant and all sound cards performed very well. We should also mention that in games and 3DMark03 test the biggest fps gave Realtek ALC88x cards and X-Fi. The rest gave for 1-2% less framerate except ALC662 that was slower for 5-10% comparing to other models. One more note, 3Dmark03 didn’t allow performing of sound test on IDT sound card.
Gaming Test Results
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800 x 600 low
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3D Mark03
24 sound
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World in Conflict
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Crysis
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ALC 662
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0.888
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1.000 |
0.995 |
ALC 888
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0.912 |
0.970 |
0.998 |
ALC 885
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0.912 |
0.984 |
0.972 |
ALC 889a
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0.881 |
0.956 |
0.999 |
ALC 1200
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0.885 |
1.000 |
0.998 |
IDT 92HD206
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N/A |
1.000 |
0.998 |
ADI 2000B
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0.950 |
0.933 |
0.999 |
ADI 2000B SupremeFX
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0.949 |
0.933 |
0.992 |
Creative X-Fi Music
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0.918 |
1.000 |
0.998 |
More thoughts
Channel transfer
Standard 3.5mm analog connectors can transfer through one cable up to 2 channels and that’s why 5.1 or 7.1 systems need more of those cables. That’s not the case with S/PDIF that through one cable can transfer more than 2 channels. This is the first advantage of S/PDIF against regular analog connectors. |
According to test results, Realtek integrated sound cards gain the victory against its competition. Although most sound cards acted quite well in games, it might happen that ADI chips from time to time have sound stutter problems. Also, we noticed that Realtek works a lot on new drivers and lunches very often new versions. So in case if you have any problem, they will be fixed in short time. Example for that is Windows Vista and first beta Realtek drivers. At first, sound could chop in Winamp and in time newer drivers reduced that effect up to nonexistence.
The newest drivers beside improved software versions bring also better sound quality. That can be easily noticed on better quality speakers. In 5.1 mode, framerate in games doesn’t fall much, so these integrated sound cards can be used also for watching DVD movies and for playing games that don’t support surround. New integrated sound cards beside better sound reproduction than their predecessors also have EAX. All Realtek HD audio codecs have EAX 1.0 and EAX 2.0 that work only under XP, while ADI 2000B even supports EAX 4.0. All tested integrated advanced functions support detection of jack that’s in use and its purpose, which is great option if you don’t know how to connect your 5.1 system and you can set every function of every output from software. It’s important to say that isn’t the same to have integrated sound card on cheap motherboard and vice versa. So, ALC888 could have weaker sound quality on cheaper motherboard and weaker characteristics than same ALC on expensive motherboard. That’s because manufacturers pay more attention to expensive motherboards by placing more elements around audio chip. Some manufacturers often underline this on motherboard’s boxes or on their sites, to direct users’ attention into that. Of course that we performed all tests on cheaper motherboards so that all audio chips would have equal treatment. If it’s up to us, the most pleasant sound came from Realtek’s ALC88x chips in category of integrated sound cards (889a and 885 even though differences between them were small) and the worst is ALC662 while all the rest produced sound of approximate quality like ALC88x chips.
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MultiMedia 
