Buyer's Guide: Mid-Range to High-End, May 2005
by Jarred Walton on May 23, 2005 5:30 PM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Sound and Speakers
We've covered almost everything with the exception of sound. We feel that the integrated audio is sufficient for anyone who doesn't intend to do any recording of audio, so we don't feel that an actual sound card is really necessary. If you do want a sound card, you can always pick up a Creative Audigy 2 ZS for about $75 or the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 for about $90. Both are good cards, with the Creative having more of a gaming slant. However, those cards are rather expensive for the offered features, and you might want a sound card if your motherboard doesn't offer an S/PDIF connection for output, though you need speakers with an S/PDIF input to make use of such a feature. Since that's what we'll use for our High-End speaker selection, we're going to include a sound card specifically for that segment.
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Sound Card: Chaintech AV-710 7.1
Price: $27 Shipped
We're not going to blow a ton of money on the sound card, especially when all we're really interested in is the digital audio output. The good news is that the Chaintech card is still a good quality card and provides audio comparable to that of the Revolution 7.1 at a much lower cost. Powered by the VIA Envy 24PT chip, the card provides clean, crisp audio that many will feel is more than worth the price. Two stereo input ports are also present, which allows for line-in as well as a microphone. About the only thing missing is an S/PDIF IN port. If you want that, you'll need a more capable sound card like the Turtle Beach Catalina. It has 24-bit 7.1 audio along with optical in and out ports for around $50 if you're interested.
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Speakers: Logitech Z-5300e 5.1
Price: $135 Shipped
We're going with more capable speakers for our mid-range setup than what we've recommended in the past. If you don't need really nice audio from your PC, you can go with the cheaper X-530 speakers from Logitech or some good quality 2.1 speakers. You could even get by with no speakers, though we feel most people will want at least decent audio out of a $1000+ computer. The Z-5300e is the big brother to the X-530, with higher quality and better sounding satellites. They're also capable of much higher volume levels, so you can make sure that the whole neighborhood knows which movie you're watching - or not. Other than getting even louder speakers, the only real omission on the Z-5300e is support for digital connections. It's certainly not required, but many home theaters use digital audio connections, and with good reason. That brings us to the High-End recommendation.
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Speakers: Logitech Z-5500d 5.1
Price: $245 Shipped
If the Z-5300 is the big brother of the X-530, then the Z-5500d is the X-530's daddy. While there are other differences between the 5300 and 5500, the major addition is support for DTS and Dolby Digital decoding on the speakers. Sure, you can have the PC or sound card do that for you, but then you have to deal with potential noise and interference from the circuitry within the computer. If you go with a digital connection, you're basically guaranteed to get no interference up to the speakers. If you don't already have a decent home theater setup, the Z-5500d speakers are capable of giving much more expensive speakers a run for the money. They're not likely to beat out speakers costing thousands of dollars, but for the price, they're extremely impressive.
We've been saying "Logitech" a lot while talking about speakers, but they certainly aren't the only option out there. Altec Lansing, Boston Acoustics, Creative, and Klipsch are all reasonable alternatives, and the way sound is perceived varies from person to person - what we like may not be what you like. That said, Logitech has been extremely aggressive with their pricing. Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 speakers are another favorite of the high-end, and many would say that the warranty and support provided by Klipsch is more than worth the increased price. You would lose the digital aspect of the Z-5500d's if you go that route, however, and which speaker actually sounds better is something that audiophiles could debate for hours on end. We think that they both sound good, but digital inputs and $100 in savings is hard to argue with, which is why we've gone with the Logitech speakers. If you have further questions on the matter of speakers, the peripherals area of our forums is a good place to start.
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Calin - Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - link
Oh, and no micro ATX board is the flagship of any mainboard manufacturer. VIA is the only one that has a small mainboard as the flagship (the Mini ITX platform)Calin - Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - link
Hi TujanI think I would like to see more Micro ATX mainboards too. But the idea is that micro ATX boards are not in the segment that typical reviewers like. They usually lack any kind of overclocking potential, their expansion possibilities are very restricted, and in some cases the performance is lacking compared to their big brothers (ATX). Also, they usually have 2 memory slots (unlike 3 to 4 of ATX), and the layout is much more cramped.
Advantages? There could be a price advantage, size and maybe cooling.
JarredWalton - Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - link
crimson117 - Hey, I gave plenty of options for more RAM. The fact is there are very few people that really need more than 1GB of RAM right now. If you need more than 1GB, I'd probably go for 2x1GB rather than 4x512MB, as that gives you the option of upgrading to 4x1GB in the future. Still, 1GB DIMMs are expensive, so 4x512 isn't a terrible choice. Just realize that unless you really need more than 1GB of RAM, you'll end up with slightly slower performance, as none of the boards we've tested will run with 1T command rates and maximum timings when using four DIMMs.crimson117 - Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - link
If you go for the AMD board, I'd recommend getting 4x512mb ram.crimson117 - Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - link
It is a crime to limit such great systems with a mere 2x512mb of ram.KristopherKubicki - Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - link
arswihart: All motherboard manufacturers do that.Kristopher
arswihart - Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - link
that chaintech card is one of the best values in computer hardware, it only has a few downsides, including lack of eq control, no eax (who cares?), can't use microphone input when hi-quality mode (24-bit 96 khz) is enabled, and no spdif in (who needs it?). The Hi-quality 24-bit 96 khz 2-channel mode is what this card is all about, and it is a noticable improvement over onboard audio.Regarding the Catalina card, the sound quality of the DAC's on that card are obviously worse than the Chaintech.
berkut7 - Monday, May 23, 2005 - link
My brother owns the Chaintech soundcard, and the drivers do not have an option that allows control of either treble, or more imortantly (he has the Logitech's Z-560 speakers.) Plus, the soundcard doesn't feature any EAX support, but I don't think EAX even does anything to make games sound better.Tujan - Monday, May 23, 2005 - link
Im a little aprehensive about putting money into Nvidia now.Since there are plenty of other vendors wich have AMD solutions.True Nvidia is the one to best. But it simply cant be an all Nvidia show.Your article is most of dealing with what 'cost is for given components.Think that the smarter buyer is purchasing,especially the first time buyer,based on fact of 'future proofing . In a performance based category. The smarter buyer,is buying performance,they are buying cheaper components on a performance upgrade path.
An example for the AMD setup,a 1.8 Winchester,could be used instead.And too a video card such as an ATI x600pro PCI-e. This shaves about 120.00 off of that notch. A 300+ LCD ? Dont think so. However anyway,the fact is the 'smarter buyer,is taking the cheaper expense,to a platform wich is 'performance.
I know Ive seen the benchmarks for the different Video cards.It isn't a bragging thing to me.My grandma uses DDRMemory on here video card,with a 400Mhz Ramdac,but she uses it on a PCI-e board.
The range of performance/platform is a little different for an Intel platform,where processors run from Celerons ,to EM64 Prescotts.Then stop at where we are now,the 945,955/dual core 'boards.But the range of upgrade is there,and its based on performance.The smarter buyer is taking the least expense,for the platform with the longest upgrade range.
First time buyers are the most luckiest because they do not have to take second chances with their money.
Would like to see more m-atx performance platforms.Motherboards w/o onboard graphics for example.There are only a few.However this would probably be something 'performance should win,over 'cost analysis.
Like IDE,IDE went to IDE33 all the way through to UDMA133. Only criteria was the prerequisite of the 40 pin connector on the motherboard.
Limiting 'range on a 'cost effective analysis is anybodies choice.If there is such a choice.
arswihart - Monday, May 23, 2005 - link
i hope you didn't dump your 8rda+, you should send it to epox I know they will fix your caps or give you a new boardmy caps started bulging as well, without any problems though, but I sent it to Epox anyways and i had another 8rda+ with high-quality caps just over a week after i sent it out. Thats great customer service.