Nforce2 - WTF?

[GodzillaFan]

I'm totally confused about the whole audio thing with the Nforce2.

in this (http://www.vr-zone.com/reviews/Chaintech/7NJS/) review, they reviewed a board with the MCP-T, yet it has a CMEDIA 5.1 audio!. Why in heck would you add another sound chip, if the southbridge already has sound? This seems to be a commend trend, too.

I thought the nforce2 audio was supposed to be bad ass. Or is it not? I can't think of any other reason for mobo makers to be going with 3rd party audio on Nforce2 boards.

I want integrated audio. Should i be looking for a soundstorm-enabled board, or is the cmedia etc better?

[netviper13]

The Cmedia chip does normal sound functions, the nVidia sound chip does real-time Dolby encoding. Meaning even a two-channel stream is coded into 5.1 glorious channels in real time (theoretically of course).

[Nutty]

I was looking at the Abit NF7-S nforce2 mobo. But it says it only has 2 usb ports on it.. which is a bit cack really.. anyone know if this is for real? I want about 4 at least. kb, mouse, camera, printer.. etc..

[thcdru2k]

it probably is, just grab a cheap usb hub.

[Nutty]

what d'ya reckon.. asus or abit?

I have an abit kt7a now, and have been very happy with it. My mate bought an asus mobo a while back, and he had all sorts of problems getting his pc to run at the proper speed.. I want abit, but that lack of usb ports is annoying..

[Ascario]

The Asus board looks nice to me, but be sure to get the deluxe edition, cause Asus has a annoying tendency of making a lot of versions of 1 board, all with the same name! Not only confusing for resellers but especially for consumers!

I currently have an Asus A7N266-C, had no problems untill a couple of months ago, my USB ports started dying and the board isn't 100% stable anymore. :( Asus has a good reputation though, i'm just going to change to Abit (probably) cause i want to try something else than Asus for once.

[GodzillaFan]

:confused:

[mbvgp]

Originally posted by netviper13
The Cmedia chip does normal sound functions, the nVidia sound chip does real-time Dolby encoding. Meaning even a two-channel stream is coded into 5.1 glorious channels in real time (theoretically of course).

I already have a SB Audigy Gamer and am thinking of buying the nforce 2. So going by this can I plug the Audigy gamer and get the advantages of both the onboard APU (i.e. Real time Dolby encoding) and the Audigy as well?

[saturnotaku]

Originally posted by mbvgp
I already have a SB Audigy Gamer and am thinking of buying the nforce 2. So going by this can I plug the Audigy gamer and get the advantages of both the onboard APU (i.e. Real time Dolby encoding) and the Audigy as well?

No. It's my understanding that if you insert a PCI sound card, the onboard sound is automatically disabled.

[netviper13]

Originally posted by saturnotaku
No. It's my understanding that if you insert a PCI sound card, the onboard sound is automatically disabled.

I'm pretty sure that's how it works too. It's how video works anyways.

[Nutty]

Doesn't the audigy do real-time dolby encoding anyway? I thought even the old SB 5.1 cards did that? If not, then that is utter cack for such a premium sound card.

How do you even get dolby sound out, if it doesn't encoded it?

[GodzillaFan]

they do DD decoding, for playing dvds etc... not encoding

[SavagePaladin]

Originally posted by Nutty
Doesn't the audigy do real-time dolby encoding anyway? I thought even the old SB 5.1 cards did that? If not, then that is utter cack for such a premium sound card.

How do you even get dolby sound out, if it doesn't encoded it?
Preencoding, like DVDs and AC3 files.