Realtek 898

D

davet

n00b
Joined
Mar 13, 2012
Messages
43
So I recently upgraded to a Z77 that has Realtek 898 on board and heard the 898 is one of the best onboard audio.

I only care about audio for gaming and was looking to get a headset with mic.

From what I have been reading if you don't have a dedicated sound card, you should get a USB one like the Corsair 1500.

But I was wondering with the Realtek 898 can I still get decent sound say with an analog Corsair 1300? Or should I still get the USB one?
 
Personally, I'd pair the 1300 with a soundcard like the Xonar DG. The better positional 3D dsp on the Xonar would be better than the onboard sound for gaming. It still comes in a roughly the same price as the usb 1500 with the added benefit of being a pretty good soundcard for other things like movies and music. I prefer separate headphone and mic, but if you want an all-in-one the Corsair isn't bad.
 
davet said:
But I was wondering with the Realtek 898 can I still get decent sound say with an analog Corsair 1300? Or should I still get the USB one?
Click to expand...

It will sound decent until you've heard what a discrete sound card outputs...
 
It depends on your needs. Years ago I popped in an X-Fi XtremeMusic after using Realtek 885. In the end, I didn't feel that the difference justified the cost of the sound card, but then, my speaker/headphone setup wasn't high end anyway. Since your onboard audio is included, I would just use it for a week or two. At that point, determine if you want something better, and then add it in.
 
shadow_419 said:
Personally, I'd pair the 1300 with a soundcard like the Xonar DG. The better positional 3D dsp on the Xonar would be better than the onboard sound for gaming. It still comes in a roughly the same price as the usb 1500 with the added benefit of being a pretty good soundcard for other things like movies and music. I prefer separate headphone and mic, but if you want an all-in-one the Corsair isn't bad.
Click to expand...

To be honest it not the price of the soundcard, I just did not want to worry about another piece of hardware especailly if i already got onboard.

I would rather go the USB route if the onboard will not cut it.

But I really only use this machine for games, no movies, or music, so really trying to figure out difference in terms of games between an analog with 898 or a USB with sound chip on it.
 
What kind of gaming do you do? There is a X fi usb that has dolby headphone.
 
davet said:
Mostly FPS and MMORPG like BF3 / SWTOR3 and soon to come GW2
Click to expand...

mannyman said:
Well grab the USB X fi go, Its a bit better than onboard sound.
Click to expand...

I'm sure that this recommendation is a good one, but I would still start by using onboard. It's essentially free. Determine if this is adequate or if it's missing something. If the latter, then go with Manny's suggestion. No harm in giving the free solution a shot first :)
 
Medion said:
I'm sure that this recommendation is a good one, but I would still start by using onboard. It's essentially free. Determine if this is adequate or if it's missing something. If the latter, then go with Manny's suggestion. No harm in giving the free solution a shot first :)
Click to expand...

Yeah I was doing a comparison and the Realtek 898 comes with Creative X-Fi fidelity M2 software including THX Studio Pro

I am just going to go with the Corsair 1300 analog and if it does not sound good then I guess I will add a sound card.

Thanks everyone!
 
Last edited:
Let us know how they sound in BF3. My buddy is looking at the 1300s to use with onboard in BF3.
 
Xeth said:
It will sound decent until you've heard what a discrete sound card outputs...
Click to expand...

a discrete sound card will sound decent until you hear what a usb DAC sounds like with decent speakers (ie: Swan's)
 
I won't trade the *bit* more clarity I would get out of a USB dac compared to my X-Fi HD and my Denon's considering my X-Fi does its own processing and doesn't have USB overhead.
 
OFaceSIG said:
I won't trade the *bit* more clarity I would get out of a USB dac compared to my X-Fi HD and my Denon's considering my X-Fi does its own processing and doesn't have USB overhead.
Click to expand...

Please explain. I was under the impression that USB has less overhead than modern sound cards. I was also under the impression that for soundcards, audio processing is still done in software when using Vista/Win7, regardless of which soundcard you have. The exception being external audio devices, such as USB DACs.

Anyway, those are my (mis)conceptions. If I'm wrong, pleas educate me and supply me with links. No, I am sincerely not being a smartass, I actually want to learn. I'm curious on the results.
 
The USB bus has overhead because it is controller by the CPU.

Your onboard audio, xonar cards and usb/dacs don't have hardware controllers so the driver has to be controller which use CPU and causes overhead.

Two layers there.
 
Yeah but the overhead is not to bad, And with modern computers is not an issue at all anymore.
 
Manny is right. I'm just old school and like my sound cards to do their own work. I still use a ps/2 mechanical k/b, etc. I'm weird that way.
 
OFaceSIG said:
Manny is right. I'm just old school and like my sound cards to do their own work. I still use a ps/2 mechanical k/b, etc. I'm weird that way.
Click to expand...

Audio processing is done in software in most games and with most soundcards these days. I have more than enough horsepower to spare, that doesn't bother me.
 
OFaceSIG said:
Manny is right. I'm just old school and like my sound cards to do their own work. I still use a ps/2 mechanical k/b, etc. I'm weird that way.
Click to expand...

Its not wired at all, I too enjoy it. Analogue is good and old school is a synonym for analogue.
 
OFaceSIG said:
The USB bus has overhead because it is controller by the CPU.

Your onboard audio, xonar cards and usb/dacs don't have hardware controllers so the driver has to be controller which use CPU and causes overhead.

Two layers there.
Click to expand...

Sounds about right. Now, please correct me on some other (mis)conceptions that I might have.

-USB has low overhead, regardless
-Windows Vista/7 does the sound processing in software regardless of the hardware that you have (hence Creative's change in direction with the Recon series)
-The above is why EAX "wrappers" (Alchemy, Asus GX, Realtek Soundback) have an even larger software overhead as they're taking what used to be done in hardware and converting it to software

Bottom line is that my understanding is, soundcard or not, if you're on Vista/Win7, audio is done in software. But again, this is not my area of expertise, so if you have the time, please correct me where I am wrong.
 
1) I didn't say the amount of overhead was large but USB does indeed have overhead. Using the PCI-E bus doesn't have this overhead. (Onboard sound, Xonar cards, X-Fi and Recons have this advantage.)

2) Not all audio is done in software. If you have an OpenAL game series such as Dirt3, an X-Fi WILL decode and do that audio work in hardware. (The recon no longer does this)

3) Hardware cards still do certain things in hardware. The driver for X-Fi cards use the controller to do the driver's work. Not the processor. (X-Fi and Recon do this.)

4) Effects such as CMSS-3d are done by the X-Fi's processor. Dolby headphone on Xonars requires the host CPU to do this I *believe*. I'm not 100% sure on that anyone please correct me if you know better.
 
All of the Recon3D's digital signal processing is done on-chip by the SoundCore3D chipset.
 
I just got my corsair 1300 today.

Took me a while to figure out how to get the surround system working with my realtek 898 and THX Studio Pro, but as soon as i did, wow it is fantastic!!!

Batman and BF3 are like different games now.

Obviously I cannot compare and say this is better then a discrete sound card or USB, since I don't have them to compare, but I am happy!
 
davet said:
I just got my corsair 1300 today.

Took me a while to figure out how to get the surround system working with my realtek 898 and THX Studio Pro, but as soon as i did, wow it is fantastic!!!

Batman and BF3 are like different games now.

Obviously I cannot compare and say this is better then a discrete sound card or USB, since I don't have them to compare, but I am happy!
Click to expand...

Told ya so :p

Enjoy it. But, if you're ever curious, just buy a card from a place with a great return policy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top