Hi And thanks for reading this post.
I am trying to build a pc for music and movies and needed to know which motherboard to buy, a mobo with high quality soundcard and graphics card built in.
Not interested in separate mobo and sound/graphics cards
My amp and speakers are two channel stereo.
I have looked around but the higher end mobos all seem to be adding features for gaming, which i am not interested in.
Can anyone please advise, a mobo with high end sound and graphics card, with minimum gaming features.
Many thanks in advance. John.
I am trying to build a pc for music and movies and needed to know which motherboard to buy, a mobo with high quality soundcard and graphics card built in.
Not interested in separate mobo and sound/graphics cards
My amp and speakers are two channel stereo.
I have looked around but the higher end mobos all seem to be adding features for gaming, which i am not interested in.
Can anyone please advise, a mobo with high end sound and graphics card, with minimum gaming features.
Many thanks in advance. John.
What you are looking for is "Contradictio in adjecto", manufacturers are using "better" onboard audio chips on more expensive motherboards which are gamers oriented.
However, integrated sound hardware has improved dramatically over the
years and you probably won’t notice the difference between different onboard audio devices or even between onboard vs dedicated sound devices.
I have this motherboard in my PC which is small, and most importantly, very silent:
FM2A88X-ITX+
ASRock > FM2A88X-ITX+
Kind regards
Marko
Hi. Thanks for the reply, much appreciated.
I have to agree with you, i've tried a few sound devices and there is a small improvement when compared to the onboard codec, but the difference is so small.
I purchased an audiolab m-dac (£600) - Slight improvement
I pulled out a few old soundcards i have lying around Asus xonar dx2 (£100) and creative soundblaster x-fi pro (£250) - small improvement again, really not even worth bothering with. I have to agree with you the onboard is good in the first place, however i don't know if it is that or is the motherboard not working well with other audio devices
When you say manufacturers are using better onboard chips can you name names, which exactly are these chips.
I hear for analog devices the best is AD1988B
ALC898 for realtek
Also have noticed top end boards use Cmedia 6632A, and Realtek ALC 1150
Many thanks. John.
I have to agree with you, i've tried a few sound devices and there is a small improvement when compared to the onboard codec, but the difference is so small.
I purchased an audiolab m-dac (£600) - Slight improvement
I pulled out a few old soundcards i have lying around Asus xonar dx2 (£100) and creative soundblaster x-fi pro (£250) - small improvement again, really not even worth bothering with. I have to agree with you the onboard is good in the first place, however i don't know if it is that or is the motherboard not working well with other audio devices
When you say manufacturers are using better onboard chips can you name names, which exactly are these chips.
I hear for analog devices the best is AD1988B
ALC898 for realtek
Also have noticed top end boards use Cmedia 6632A, and Realtek ALC 1150
Many thanks. John.
Hello John,
I was using term better in quotes, meaning not necessarily better sound but more features and better specifications on paper. I suggest you read the following link:
Audiophile PC Sound - The Real Cost of Hi-Fi - Tom?s Hardware
Instead of building pc for music and movies, would you be willing to try your audiolab dac with raspberry pi 2, openelec installed with this plugin:
Add-on:XSqueeze - Kodi
I presume you already have another PC in the house on which you should install Logitech Media Server and stream all of music from it to your stereo system via remote application on your mobile device.
What you get is completely silent, cheap video and audio device and in terms of audio quality as equally good solution as a dedicated pc IMHO.
I hope it helps
Marko
^ as above, for years i ran Pioneer 5.1 home theater system from the PC via an optical link, worked great for movies/tv.
If your serious about quality audio i wouldn't use any computer sound card. I have one of those "high end gaming" motherboards, and an X-Fi sound card. The PCIe X-Fi has a lower noise floor than the on board so i use it for software measurements, but for listening to music i only use them as transports to external DAC's.
If your serious about quality audio i wouldn't use any computer sound card. I have one of those "high end gaming" motherboards, and an X-Fi sound card. The PCIe X-Fi has a lower noise floor than the on board so i use it for software measurements, but for listening to music i only use them as transports to external DAC's.
That only applies to OEM versions and has been since Windows 8, AFAIK. Bit of a headache if your mo/bo breaks, then the flash BIOS chip will have to be transferred to a new one of same type.
As an aside, I don't think ITX is really worth it unless you really really need a system that is as small as possible. The problem is that the form factor constricts power supply fan size, and only very recently have matching supplies in a somewhat larger formfactor been introduced that can take a 120 mm fan. I'd prefer sticking with standard µATX boards and good standard ATX supplies for the time being. Doesn't need to be the latest and greatest, Haswell can be really good for power efficiency already (people have gotten systems to idle in the 6 W vicinity with efficient boards and power supplies).
As for what the best sound chips are... I think the best Realtek still is the ALC889. ALC898 is not bad but going by my Audigy FX that uses it, digital filter ripple and distortion values on the ADC side are nothing particularly worth writing home about. ALC1150 may boast super high output SNR - but that's only for one pair of channels, the rest are standard 98 dB fare à la ALC887.
And of course, the best chip is good for nought if the board manufacturer skimps on a +5V analog supply (a lot of Realteks can run on +3.3V only if need be) or screws up the ground routing. Speaking of which, even a relatively high-end case is no guarantee for a properly-implemented front panel that does not add a ground loop right away.
It is not true that the all ITX cases are limited regarding PSU size, in fact most of the better ones are not. My case Fractal design node 304 accepts
ATX PSUs up to 160mm in length.
Kind regards
Marko
Hi. Thanks for the replies
Sorry i will get back to you, am just reading this while dashing off to work
@mcandar Can you please share your set up i have xfi elite pro soundcard what is your mobo and hardware
@dangus i purchased an audiolab m-dac and hooked it up via usb, it won best dac up to £1k in what hifi is this a mistake should i have gone for hdmi audio instead i was told the m-dac bypasses all the pc hardware but in real life there is little difference compared to onboard realtek codec.
What do you think of a media player these are supposed to be small pc's optimized for a/v but there are so many makes and models not sure which way to go
Are these any good Or would i be better off build my own pc from scratch
Many thanks. john.
Sorry i will get back to you, am just reading this while dashing off to work
@mcandar Can you please share your set up i have xfi elite pro soundcard what is your mobo and hardware
@dangus i purchased an audiolab m-dac and hooked it up via usb, it won best dac up to £1k in what hifi is this a mistake should i have gone for hdmi audio instead i was told the m-dac bypasses all the pc hardware but in real life there is little difference compared to onboard realtek codec.
What do you think of a media player these are supposed to be small pc's optimized for a/v but there are so many makes and models not sure which way to go
Are these any good Or would i be better off build my own pc from scratch
Many thanks. john.
Hi. Thanks for the replies.
After a whole load of googling i'm thinking about the asus rampage III formula mobo with onboard alc 889 audio
Here's a link to the review Anything Above $2 Buys More Features, Not Better Quality - What Does It Take To Turn The PC Into A Hi-Fi Audio Platform?
Supplied by Marko
The board is a few years old can't find it for sale anywhere might try amazon or ebay for a used one..
I can get a 3.3ghz cpu for this board for 30 bucks, ram 4gb for 30 bucks.
What do you think any thoughts on this mobo
Many thanks. John.
After a whole load of googling i'm thinking about the asus rampage III formula mobo with onboard alc 889 audio
Here's a link to the review Anything Above $2 Buys More Features, Not Better Quality - What Does It Take To Turn The PC Into A Hi-Fi Audio Platform?
Supplied by Marko
The board is a few years old can't find it for sale anywhere might try amazon or ebay for a used one..
I can get a 3.3ghz cpu for this board for 30 bucks, ram 4gb for 30 bucks.
What do you think any thoughts on this mobo
Many thanks. John.
John,
If you are ok with small form factor, you can check out the Intel NUC. A good starting model can be the NUC5PPYH. It comes with a quad-core Intel Pentium Processor, which is very energy efficient.
The unit is small at 115mm x 111mm x 48.7mm, has built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, Gb ethernet, HDMI out, VGA out, and TOSLINK out. You already have a DAC with TOSLINK input, so you can connect via that interface.
The Intel NUC is powered by a notebook style "power brick", which sits outside the chassis.
The unit is available as a "barebone" - you need to add a HDD or SSD, memory, and load the OS, drivers etc.
If you are ok with small form factor, you can check out the Intel NUC. A good starting model can be the NUC5PPYH. It comes with a quad-core Intel Pentium Processor, which is very energy efficient.
The unit is small at 115mm x 111mm x 48.7mm, has built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, Gb ethernet, HDMI out, VGA out, and TOSLINK out. You already have a DAC with TOSLINK input, so you can connect via that interface.
The Intel NUC is powered by a notebook style "power brick", which sits outside the chassis.
The unit is available as a "barebone" - you need to add a HDD or SSD, memory, and load the OS, drivers etc.
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Agree, Intel nuc very good option. For media player you don't need good motherboard, just get a good make so it's reliable. For processor, consider power consumption of chip, think it's called thd is the specs. My media player is always on, can serve and transcode video to 3 tvs, projectors or mobile devices at a time and it's a low power i3. I run plex on a Linux machine. BTW, anyone spending 600 bucks on a dedicated dac and only noticing small improvement is doing something wrong, stu
Get one of the Newegg 64-100$ refurbished HP AMD dual core PC's.
I was astonished to get 2 perfect PC's with 10-20K hours on 250gig
hard drives , silent ... nearly new units with 1 year warranties.
2 PC's
- complete with a W7 upgrade (with license sticker ).
-keyboard/mouse/power cord/DVD
-Slots for PCI-E
All for 130$ free shipping.
Looks like they are out of AMD ... lots of core duo's
HP Desktop Computer DC7900 Dual Core 2.5GHz 2GB DDR2 160GB HDD Windows 7 Home Premium 1 Year Warranty (Microsoft Authorized Refurbish) - Newegg.com
OS
I was astonished to get 2 perfect PC's with 10-20K hours on 250gig
hard drives , silent ... nearly new units with 1 year warranties.
2 PC's
- complete with a W7 upgrade (with license sticker ).
-keyboard/mouse/power cord/DVD
-Slots for PCI-E
All for 130$ free shipping.
Looks like they are out of AMD ... lots of core duo's
HP Desktop Computer DC7900 Dual Core 2.5GHz 2GB DDR2 160GB HDD Windows 7 Home Premium 1 Year Warranty (Microsoft Authorized Refurbish) - Newegg.com
OS
Last edited:
AMD/INTEL
They still have the AMD's , just at the 80$ range.
HP Compaq DC5850 Small Form Factor Desktop (R2/Ready for Reuse) with AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000B@2.60 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 80 GB HD and licensed Windows 7 Home Premium from a Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher - Newegg.com
The AMD's use 1/2 the power of the Intel's .... fan never even comes
on in my two.
My 64$ AMD with a xonar sound card and Geforce 210 will render
1080p HTPC duty audio/video.
Why do you need a 400$ I5/I7 unit for basic audiio/video ?
PS - for # crunching , you need a quad core and DDR3/4
(video editing/converting/compression).
OS
They still have the AMD's , just at the 80$ range.
HP Compaq DC5850 Small Form Factor Desktop (R2/Ready for Reuse) with AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000B@2.60 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 80 GB HD and licensed Windows 7 Home Premium from a Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher - Newegg.com
The AMD's use 1/2 the power of the Intel's .... fan never even comes
on in my two.
My 64$ AMD with a xonar sound card and Geforce 210 will render
1080p HTPC duty audio/video.
Why do you need a 400$ I5/I7 unit for basic audiio/video ?
PS - for # crunching , you need a quad core and DDR3/4
(video editing/converting/compression).
OS
I have the next step up from them 64$ AMD's.
AMD Athlon II X4 640 3.0GHz Quad Core Processor Review - Page 14 of 14 - Legit ReviewsFinal Thoughts and conclusion
Even as it falls short of the entry level I7's - I got it for 80$ 2 years ago.
Little heatsink , it runs at 800mhz - 3000mhz.
(below) is just 300$ for the core system , and I could put a new 8 core
AMD into it.
But , why ? Audio or video can't strain anything .... most runs at idle !
OS
AMD Athlon II X4 640 3.0GHz Quad Core Processor Review - Page 14 of 14 - Legit ReviewsFinal Thoughts and conclusion
Even as it falls short of the entry level I7's - I got it for 80$ 2 years ago.
Little heatsink , it runs at 800mhz - 3000mhz.
(below) is just 300$ for the core system , and I could put a new 8 core
AMD into it.
But , why ? Audio or video can't strain anything .... most runs at idle !
OS
Attachments
I can't believe nobody suggested this GIGABYTE G1.Sniper Z97 (rev. 1.x) LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com. I have it and love it! This mobo has removable op amps. has a dedicated usb for a dac. Quad core audio processor. It does go on sale for about $109 frequently.
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