External sound card audio vs Onboard audio

[xstayxtruex]

im contemplating on stopping the use of my external sound card because its a little out dated and im thinking it might be the cause of the stuttering when i play oblivion. so could someone give me some advice about this? maybe use the onboard in the meantime before i get an internal? i've got a Creative Sound Blaster Live! Ext. card. my mobo has Realtek ALC888 onboard. i've ruled out that its my video card because im running an ati 2600XT on high settings, i've also tried running the game on lowest settings, it still stutters while im moving in the game. so, any thoughts would be cool. another note, im using a 5.1 set up.

[imNAKED]

Is your system overclocked? I was running an SBLive card at 38mhz PCI instead 33mhz which casued some stuttering during game play.

Originally Posted by xstayxtruex

im contemplating on stopping the use of my external sound card because its a little out dated and im thinking it might be the cause of the stuttering when i play oblivion. so could someone give me some advice about this? maybe use the onboard in the meantime before i get an internal? i've got a Creative Sound Blaster Live! Ext. card. my mobo has Realtek ALC888 onboard. i've ruled out that its my video card because im running an ati 2600XT on high settings, i've also tried running the game on lowest settings, it still stutters while im moving in the game. so, any thoughts would be cool. another note, im using a 5.1 set up.

[Namslas90]

Could easily be a driver conflict with the sound card (common). Check your Virtual Memory (page file) settings. You can probably increase those settings with the ammount of Ram you have, it may help the stuttering also.

[xstayxtruex]

Originally Posted by imNAKED

Is your system overclocked? I was running an SBLive card at 38mhz PCI instead 33mhz which casued some stuttering during game play.

well my SBlive card is external, so it wouldnt have anything to do with my PCI bus

[imperialreign]

Originally Posted by xstayxtruex

im contemplating on stopping the use of my external sound card because its a little out dated and im thinking it might be the cause of the stuttering when i play oblivion. so could someone give me some advice about this? maybe use the onboard in the meantime before i get an internal? i've got a Creative Sound Blaster Live! Ext. card. my mobo has Realtek ALC888 onboard. i've ruled out that its my video card because im running an ati 2600XT on high settings, i've also tried running the game on lowest settings, it still stutters while im moving in the game. so, any thoughts would be cool. another note, im using a 5.1 set up.

what kind of stuttering? Is it graphical stuttering, where it looks like you're watching a slideshow because the screen starts "skipping" - or is it audio where the sound from the speaker is sounding choppy?

[xstayxtruex]

well i cant really say for sure, it could be graphical because it only does it when im moving my character in the game. which in turn makes it skip. it doesnt really do it so bad that it tells me that its a graphical problem. it doesnt do it any other time.

[imperialreign]

Originally Posted by xstayxtruex

well i cant really say for sure, it could be graphical because it only does it when im moving my character in the game. which in turn makes it skip. it doesnt really do it so bad that it tells me that its a graphical problem. it doesnt do it any other time.

so . . . both the graphics and the audio skip?

Have you added any new hardware or peripherals recently?

[xstayxtruex]

well i've recently upgraded my whole rig, i've just placed my old HDD in this new rig. though the driver cd that came with my mobo was DOA so all i could do was install the LAN drivers that were on my friends cd with the same chipset but different cd version. i couldnt install the proper PCI controllers. and i cant seem to get a new cd from newegg, where i got it from.

the SB Live USB's drivers are up to date, and everything else i have is fully updated driver wise.

although i cant find the PCI controller drivers anywhere. not even on the biostar website.

[Namslas90]

Originally Posted by xstayxtruex

...although i cant find the PCI controller drivers anywhere. not even on the biostar website.

Included in chipset driver set. All your drivers are here;

http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en-us/...r.php?S_ID=287

[xstayxtruex]

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=52422

post on that thread if you want to understand the rest of the whole PCI thing. im still wondering about my audio stuttering on oblivion.

[sixor]

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/...3&DownTypeID=3

realtek´s web page
keep the drivers updated

and maybe if there is an option in oblivion, don´t enable eax

[Nitro-Max]

If you use alot of usb devices go with onboard.
External ones can eat up usb bandwidth and you might see the not enough bandwidth message if you plug too many usb devices in especially if your running in 24bit sound mode.

[trog100]

why not use onboard permanently.. i see nothing at all to be gained by useing external usb sounds..

trog

[imNAKED]

Originally Posted by xstayxtruex

well my SBlive card is external, so it wouldnt have anything to do with my PCI bus

Sorry I did not see that, it might just be the crappy Creative driver. I say give the onboard sound a chance and ditch the USB sound card.

[Nitro-Max]

i use usb my self its fine its just if you overload the usb ports you get the not enough bandwidth message so you either unplug somthing or switch to 16bit audio.

[Graogrim]

If you're having sound problems and you have an easy alternative at your disposal you should go ahead and try it. Don't wait for someone here to tell you what to do.

That said, in this particular case you would likely be better off using integrated sound than an external SBLive. Even PCI SBLive cards had some significant performance issues. Another option would be to purchase a more modern PCI sound card.

Some advice if you if think of the PCI route: don't make do. Either get a fully functional card with complete hardware 3D and effects acceleration or else just stick with you've got. If you go with a bargain card you're basically choosing the same level of sound support as motherboard integrated, with the added constraint of the PCI bus' limitations.

[xstayxtruex]

im actually thinking about getting the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1

its relatively cheap and puts out 96KHz all around.

my usb is 48kHz in 5.1 mode and up to 96kHz in stereo mode. so its cut in half once i put my 5.1 up to it.

[Nitro-Max]

depends what you want your sound for.
I got 5.1 surround speakers for gaming and music and found i only used it for music.
you cant beat a nice headset for gaming.

In my case i feel i should have just used the cash i payed for the 5.1 speaker setup and bought a better card and head set.

[imperialreign]

Originally Posted by xstayxtruex

im actually thinking about getting the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1

its relatively cheap and puts out 96KHz all around.

my usb is 48kHz in 5.1 mode and up to 96kHz in stereo mode. so its cut in half once i put my 5.1 up to it.

decent card, and not too expensive, either.

You can choose either 48kHZ or 96kHz playback - unless you have extremelly high end speakers, or are very audio sensitive, you'll never hear the difference in the sampling.

Asides, though, the features of the card make gaming fun all over again.