Figured I'd Put This Here...

Comments

• Dezmodium Join Date: 2002-10-23 Member: 1575Members

  January 2003

  yeh i think onboard sound works fine..... depends on what you've got.... on the other onboard video is not. i have had too many problems. its seems good at the time but down the road when you need to upgrade youve usualy got a bad pain in the butt

  0 Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
• J3U Join Date: 2002-11-13 Member: 8497Members

  January 2003

  as far as which motherboard to use go for the cheaper one unless you plan on using the others RAID features, cause that's the only difference I noticed.

  0 Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
• someoneElse Join Date: 2002-12-19 Member: 11135Members

  January 2003 edited January 2003

  The newer (Dragon series and above) Soyo boards are really nice. Stable, some not bad introductory overclocking features, and a nice bundle. I'd say get the more expensive of the two, based on the bundle and the features, as the cost of the difference is well over $100 USD. But I'm not sure what features and additions you would need.
  
  The C-Media onboard audio is actually nice. (Optical and coax SPIDF in/out, bult in surround support, even) It's about the same value as any soundblaster live or audigy platinum, but with less line noise and you won't have those problems with the Soundblaster cards not conforming to the PCI specs...<!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
  
  The C-Media isn't a Turtle Beach of course, but far FAR from the lame AC97 audio. Most games seem okay, but emulation is nearly IMPOSSIBLE with AC97.
  
  By the way, ATI video products are not crap. nvidia fanboys (Comprising most of the people on the internet these days) love to bash them, though..<!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo--> Much better overall performance (Meaning overall, not how many frames over your monitor refresh rate it renders in Game X) and image quality, thanks to a lack of quality control over most manufacturers of nvidia products, often using substandard board components to save cost. ATI is almost up there with Matrox for 2D performance and image quality. And for the record, Radeon 8500-9100 are very good for the extremely low price they are offered. And as for 'less than a 9700' The Radeon 9000 is basically like having a gforce 3 sold at a gforce 4mx (gforce 2.1) value price point. And the 9500 Pros are set to become the most popular mainstream performace product on the market.
  
  [/useless_rant]

  0 Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
• littlewild Join Date: 2002-11-20 Member: 9467Members

  January 2003

  Get a $170+ Sapphire Radeon 128MB 9500<b>Non-pro</b> and soft mod it into Radeon 9700.
  
  Soyo has some pretty good review out there on the net, but I have never used it before. On board sound/LAN is fine.
  
  AGP8x cards are backward compatible with AGP4x ports. The 8x cards only offer about 3-5% more perfomances than their 4x cousins any way.

  0 Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
• Salty Join Date: 2002-11-05 Member: 6970Members

  January 2003

  My 744 mhz tnt2 owns all you!

  0 Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
• Dezmodium Join Date: 2002-10-23 Member: 1575Members

  January 2003

  im no expert but that system you are setting up is vaguely similar to mine and i have a sweet computer.
  
  If all goes well you should be fraggin up a storm with that beast.

  0 Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
• DOOManiac Worst. Critic. Ever. Join Date: 2002-04-17 Member: 462Members, NS1 Playtester

  January 2003 edited January 2003

  I haven't been keeping up in the new hardware stuffs lately, but I do have a few comments to offer:
  
  1) I see no mention of a Geforce4 or ATI 9700 Pro (Nothing less will do w/ ati, as the rest of their products are crap) :O No point in running a killer rig if you can't run any games :P
  
  2) Onboard sound... Might as well kill yourself. Pick up a SB Audigy 2 or an SB Live! 5.1 Value OEM.
  
  Also if you're going to be purchasing a NIC, I highly recommend the 3Com 10/100 3C905B-TX. Its a little more expensive than your average NIC, but its well worth the extra $ you pay a hundred times over. Its the best NIC I've ever owned, love it to death.
  
  Also, that Soyo platinum seems to be one hot ticket, everybody at quakecon was foaming at the mouth over that puppy. Plus its quite sexy on the eyes what with the silver color and all. HardOCP recommends that if you get that board you put a window in your case to show that sexy thing off. =D

  0 Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
• xioutlawix Join Date: 2002-11-05 Member: 7118Members, Constellation

  January 2003

  Hehe, thank you much guys.
  To my knowledge, I do believe that both mobo's support those graphics cards, it has an agp pro slot (handles 8x, 4x, etc.) which to my knowledge means that its backwards compatible. Though if you know something I don't, speak up now! I get horribly frightened at the prospect of buying equipment i can't use / don't want, and then not being able to return it.

  0 Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
• FloppyDisk Join Date: 2002-12-11 Member: 10648Members

  January 2003 edited January 2003

  <!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->1) I see no mention of a Geforce4 or ATI 9700 Pro (Nothing less will do w/ ati, as the rest of their products are crap) :O No point in running a killer rig if you can't run any games <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
  <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->]
  
  
  pfftt... <a href='http://www.designtechnica.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=58&page=1' target='_blank'>radeon 9700 pro, half the price</a>

  0 Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
• Nemesis_Zero Old European Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 75Members, Retired Developer, NS1 Playtester, Constellation

  January 2003 edited January 2003

  <!--QuoteBegin--DOOManiac+Jan 27 2003, 04:40 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (DOOManiac @ Jan 27 2003, 04:40 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> 2) Onboard sound...  Might as well kill yourself.  Pick up a SB Audigy 2 or an SB Live! 5.1 Value OEM. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
  I'm currently listening to my favorite Eels song via my On-Board soundchip, and so far, have only felt the soft urge of slightly bruising my wrist.
  On-Board is a lot better than people think.

  0 Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
• AllUrHiveRblong2us By Your Powers Combined... Join Date: 2002-12-20 Member: 11244Members

  January 2003

  I never saw why everyone hated onboard so much. I think it's fine to use.

  0 Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
• xioutlawix Join Date: 2002-11-05 Member: 7118Members, Constellation

  January 2003

  Hehe, I think the people who really bug about onboard sound are either the perfectionists or the people who take audio as a side-hobby, which is perfectly alright, having beautiful sound is a beautiful thing. I just don't weigh it too heavily myself when thinking about my system <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->

  0 Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome
• Delarosa Naturally Custom Join Date: 2002-11-29 Member: 10214Members, NS1 Playtester

  January 2003

  video - i'm running a ati 7600, works perfect with all my games...even UT2k3
  
  Sound - onboard is fine, it's what's connected to them that spice it up... don't know about anyone else, but if i could afford a klipsch, i'de do it...
  
  Nic - get the 3com, it's worth the extra cash, i've got a 3 com 10/100 that's 4 years old, and it's still better than my onboard.
  
  Mobo - spend the extra cash, i've got a really nice mobo, and a not so great cpu, i can still upgrade my cpu, and have a whole new system!

  0 Off Topic Disagree Agree Awesome