Audio
Remember a few pages back (don't worry, I barely remember myself) when I had to make a decision on which board to put in my system and it came down to the layout of the Biostar and Jetway board? The decision is because I wanted to upgrade from the Realtek onboard sound (HDMI audio out is not being used) to something better - mainly for listening to music, but movies and gaming would also get a boost. The Jetway board does include a PCI Express x1 slot but due to the GF8200 heatsink location, it is only good for half-length cards. That knocked what I consider one of the better "value" audio cards out of contention for me on that board.
The audio card I am enamored with is the ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 at a reasonable $89. This card offers every possible option I need in this particular system while offering exceptional sound quality for music and DVD playback. Gaming performance is very good and with the last driver updates, even the EAX 5.0 emulation is coming up to speed quickly in both quality and compatibility with the latest games.
The Xonar DX features ASUS' AV100 audio processor - really just a name change to a large degree from the AV200 used in the D2X card. The DX utilizes a combination of Cirrus Logic CD4398 and CD4362A DACS for analog out duties compared to the Burr Brown PCM1796 DACS in the D2X card. Analog-to-Digital duties on both cards are handled by Cirrus Logic with the DX utilizing the CD5361 and the D2X having the CD5381.
Besides slightly lower signal-to-noise ratings on the DX card, it drops support for DTS interactive encoding, although Dolby Digital Live encoding is still available as is Dolby Headphone and Virtual Speaker. Anyway, the DTS feature is not that important to me as I only have a 2-channel setup on this particular system. About the only problem I have run into is with the microphone settings; at various times I get static or dropout while on Skype that required turning on microphone boost and increasing microphone volume to 85% or more.
For my daughter's system, I chose the Auzentech X-Plosion 7.1 DTS Connect card based on previous experience. In addition, the latest driver release on 5/19 addressed several problems under Vista. Of course, it did not hurt that I picked up an open box return sample with new warranty for $54.99. While my daughter probably could have lived with the onboard audio, her movie, music, and game addiction called for something better. This card offers real-time DTS and Dolby Digital Live encoding via the C-Media CMI8770 chipset along with swappable OPAMPS. Although I prefer the recently canceled X-Meridian card, it was not available at this price point.
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jay401 - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
Gary - where can I read more about this card being cancelled? I wasn't aware it was cancelled and didn't see any news to that effect anywhere but sure enough it's no longer listed on Auzentech's products page. Thanks.Badkarma - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
Hi Gary,Have you heard anything from Nvidia as to why 5.1 LPCM via HDMI has been removed? Also, have you seen the posts on AVS stating that a Phenom is required to get BD playback? Do you know if Nvidia will be updating their drivers to allow X2 cpu's to playback properly?
Thanks.
royalcrown - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
Nice build, but I think you should have shopped more carefully for your video cards...http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...turesmx-...
I got this ECS 8800 gts for 159.00 ( I asked for $10 off because it went up by ten.)
It would give you an average of 10 percent over the 8800gt for free and dump the heat outside the case, so maybe cooler even; most certainly it would kick the crap out of that radeon.
Don't be in a hurry next time when you buy video cards ;)
FYI- I am running mine on a 450 watt kingwin w no probs...
masouth - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
Do people bother to actually READ these articles before posting?This looks like a great deal but it seems fairly clear to me that he wants a single slot cooler.
FITCamaro - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
I just bought two of those cards for my system. Terrific value at that price. I replaced the cooler though with a Accelero S1 Rev. 2 w/ the turbo fan. Extremely quiet. Haven't seen temps yet though cause I only just got Vista loaded late last night. I was going for a near silent gaming system. Went with those coolers, a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme, and 4 16db 54cfm 120mm fans(3 case, 1 cpu cooler). With the case open I barely hear everything.autoboy - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
My favorite cheap cooler is the Arctic Cooling Alpine 7 (or 64 if you want a 3 pin fan). You can find it for around $10-$13, and it is much quieter than the stock fans you get with the processor. They are not the greatest coolers for high heat processors, but for anything less than 65W with some fan control they are inaudible even in completely silent computers. I use them in all my regular builds except for my gaming rigs that see overclocking. I cannot recommend them enough and everyone that uses them (in 65W and lower rigs) loves them. I put one on a 95W Athlon at one time, and while the fan had to ramp up to where you could hear it, it was still much quieter than stock coolers and cooled the processor enough to keep it under 60C which is my cutoff.bauser - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
Interesting read, especially because I just built 3 mATX systems in a row. Total cost varied from $800 to $1000 CDN for each system. The tradeoff for the lower end system was the lack of a video card and sound card. Some savings were offset by the need for keyboard/mouse (at this price range 20 bucks makes a big difference).Your findings highlight that sacrifices must be made to save money. In this price range, every decision you make will have a cost/benefit consideration. Personally, I'd sacrifice the sound card and 5.1 speaker system and spend the extra dough on a better processor (E8400, Q6600) and motherboard. I'd also go for an 8800GT over the ATI. Good stuff, looking forward to part 2.
BPB - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
"I had bought new monitors for each of us last year so that major expense was out of the way. We both upgraded from first generation Acer 22" LCD panels (Ed: wonder what the parents will get for Christmas this year…) to the Gateway 24" FHD2400 we recently reviewed. I ended up purchasing a couple of under 30 day open box returns for $279 each, a major expense yes, but about $200 less than street price along with a new warranty."How the heck did you get two open box Gateways? I'd love to do the same.
poohbear - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
the AMD 4850E is relatively overclockable compared to a e7200? it wouldn't provide anywhere near the same overclock as an e7200. just fyi.Lightingguy - Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - link
Good article! But as a builder of mid-range systems for friends and family, I've got to point out that your budgets/actual expenses don't include entries for the OS. While I'm sure that you can get a good deal given your connections, that is a major budget item for those of us out here who don't want to use a Linux release.