The State of Motherboard Audio

Dom · Jul 2, 2003, 11:30 PM

There was a time when the very thought of motherboard-down audio would give any self-respecting techie the willies.

High CPU overhead, low signal quality and poor game support topped a long list of shortcomings that kept motherboard-based audio solutions on the cheapest of desktop PCs. But in the mobile space, motherboard-down has been the standard on laptops for as long as there have been laptops.

Today, CPUs have plenty of cycles looking for something useful to do, and thanks to improvements in both codec designs and motherboard layouts, motherboard audio can be implemented in a way that even enthusiasts might consider using. Unfortunately, despite strong performance and good signal quality, a poor motherboard layout can doom an audio processor to mediocrity, or worse.

How far has motherboard-down audio come? We decided to find out. We tested five different solutions, and, came away mostly disappointed. Bad implementations, we found, can ruin even good solutions. It wasn't all bad news, though. We found some pleasant surprises along the way, and some very encouraging trends. Read on to find out more.

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Jul 2, 2003, 11:30 PM	#1
Dom DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 12,940 Rep Power: 0	The State of Motherboard Audio There was a time when the very thought of motherboard-down audio would give any self-respecting techie the willies. High CPU overhead, low signal quality and poor game support topped a long list of shortcomings that kept motherboard-based audio solutions on the cheapest of desktop PCs. But in the mobile space, motherboard-down has been the standard on laptops for as long as there have been laptops. Today, CPUs have plenty of cycles looking for something useful to do, and thanks to improvements in both codec designs and motherboard layouts, motherboard audio can be implemented in a way that even enthusiasts might consider using. Unfortunately, despite strong performance and good signal quality, a poor motherboard layout can doom an audio processor to mediocrity, or worse. How far has motherboard-down audio come? We decided to find out. We tested five different solutions, and, came away mostly disappointed. Bad implementations, we found, can ruin even good solutions. It wasn't all bad news, though. We found some pleasant surprises along the way, and some very encouraging trends. Read on to find out more. Read More...