friend needs help - mainboard questions

[johnmassey]

Hi. I am running a gigabyte ga-ma78gm-s2h motherboard (£60)with a soundblaster elite pro soundcard(£250)
Unfortunatly the card is not sounding that good.
If i were to upgrade to a better board would the card sound any better?
Guess what i'm trying to ask is Do budget motherboards limit the performance of attached hardware? If not then do more expensive motherboards just give more features?
Many thanks in advance

[mjc]

Unfortunatly the card is not sounding that good.
If i were to upgrade to a better board would the card sound any better?

Probably not.

Yes, most boards that are 'better' boards have more features, usually geared towards the 'tweaker'...

[jlreich]

The motherboard has little to do with the performance of a dedicated sound card. All the work is done on the card. If it isn't performing as you think it should you need to either look at the software and drivers for the card, the media itself, or speakers as a possible cause. Or there is something wrong with the card.

[Whyzman]

Indeed, what operating system, and do you have the latest drivers?

[saphalline]

Unfortunatly the card is not sounding that good.Need more info.

What does it sound like? In which programs? Which "Elite Pro" from Creative Labs? X-Fi? Audigy series? Pre-Audigy? What OS? What steps have you taken so far to attempt to solve the problem?

[johnmassey]

Hi. I recently asked a question, if using an expensive motherboard would increase the performance of installed hardware. ie, would the sound card sound any better or would the video card look any better. The general opinion was, no. If that is the case what is the difference between budget boards and expensive boards as some people seem to spend hundreds on motherboards. My friend has an expensive board and he says that windows boots up and shuts down faster, the components of the board are more durable and of a higher quality so they will last longer and take more heat (overclocking). Seems very little gain for dishing out £200 on a board, is there something i am missing?

Many thanks in advance. John.

[saphalline]

Seems very little gain for dishing out £200 on a board, is there something i am missing?Yes.

More expensive mobo's use more expensive chipsets. And more expensive chipsets have more features and options available to them. For the most part, yeah, it's a bit overboard for the average builder; and waaaay overboard for the average PC. But for someone who knows his/her way around the BIOS, more expensive mobo's & chipsets are worth it.

Whether or not it would be worth it to you is another matter! ;)

[Paul Komski]

Unfortunatly the card is not sounding that good.
Do you have quality amplifiers/speakers etc? Don't expect quality sound on bog ordinary output hardware.