NVIDIA nForce4 SLI XE: Enthusiast Features on a Budget
by Gary Key on March 23, 2006 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Audio Performance
We limited audio testing to the Rightmark 3D Sound version 2.2 CPU utilization test and tested with sound enabled to show the performance effects on several games. The Rightmark 3D Sound benchmark measures the overhead or CPU utilization required by a codec or hardware audio chip.
The Realtek ALC-883 was tested with the recently released 1.33 driver set. The Realtek audio drivers do not support more than 32 3D buffers at this time, so the scores cannot be directly compared to the Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-FI card in the benchmarks.
The output quality of audio with the Realtek ALC-883 ranks with the ALC-882 as the best of the on-board HD audio solutions that we have heard and continues to improve with each driver release. The vast majority of users should have no issues utilizing the ALC-883 as their primary audio solution, considering the overall quality of audio and performance at this time.
Obviously, if you are a serious gamer, then a dedicated sound card is still a requirement to ensure consistent frame rate averages across a wide variety of games and, in the case of the Sound Blaster X-FI, improved audio quality. The audio specifications for the ALC-883 can be located here.
We limited audio testing to the Rightmark 3D Sound version 2.2 CPU utilization test and tested with sound enabled to show the performance effects on several games. The Rightmark 3D Sound benchmark measures the overhead or CPU utilization required by a codec or hardware audio chip.
The Realtek ALC-883 was tested with the recently released 1.33 driver set. The Realtek audio drivers do not support more than 32 3D buffers at this time, so the scores cannot be directly compared to the Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-FI card in the benchmarks.
The output quality of audio with the Realtek ALC-883 ranks with the ALC-882 as the best of the on-board HD audio solutions that we have heard and continues to improve with each driver release. The vast majority of users should have no issues utilizing the ALC-883 as their primary audio solution, considering the overall quality of audio and performance at this time.
Obviously, if you are a serious gamer, then a dedicated sound card is still a requirement to ensure consistent frame rate averages across a wide variety of games and, in the case of the Sound Blaster X-FI, improved audio quality. The audio specifications for the ALC-883 can be located here.
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blackmetalegg - Friday, March 24, 2006 - link
"Unfortunately, we ran into an issue with this process as the clear CMOS process sometimes required the removal of the battery for the jumper process to work. This process is not acceptable, considering how well other BIOS recovery systems work."Sounds a lot like the reviewer is too lazy to use his finger to release the battery from its holder.
Gary Key - Friday, March 24, 2006 - link
Certainly not lazy as I removed the battery at least a dozen times during testing. The fact remains that having to remove the battery is not an acceptable option when the clear CMOS jumper does not work over 60% of the time because the bios self recovery routine fails 85% of the time when the memory settings are extended past the board's ability to boot properly. This only occurred a couple of times when setting the FSB past the board's limit.
kmmatney - Friday, March 24, 2006 - link
I hate removing the battery. I broke the flimsy battery clip off of one motherboard doing this, and had to solder new wires in place and dangle a new battery from it. Removing the battery for a BIOS clear is not good.cornfedone - Thursday, March 23, 2006 - link
Obviously this mobo wasn't tested before release or it wouldn't have all the problems it has.phillock - Thursday, February 1, 2018 - link
Sounds a lot like the reviewer is too lazy to use his finger to release the battery from its holder.https://jumjex.bandcamp.com/releases
Puddleglum - Thursday, March 23, 2006 - link
Not sure if it's worth fixing or not, but the Content Creation (Disk Controller Performance) chart shows the Biostar TForce4 in red, mistaken as the board being tested.smut - Thursday, March 23, 2006 - link
Is this going to be an Intel only board?Gary Key - Thursday, March 23, 2006 - link
Yes. The upcoming NVIDIA nForce 500 launch will address chipset updates to the AMD product family.
bldckstark - Thursday, March 23, 2006 - link
No, upon release the board will come with alternate CPU sockets included in the box. You got an AMD? Just pop out the Intel socket and plug in the AMD socket. Gat a VIA, Cyrix, or TI85 chip? Just break the chosen socket out of the plastic holders like a model car part.Oh, wait, I guess you want to know if ECS is going to make an AMD board. Duh.
Gary Key - Thursday, March 23, 2006 - link
Our next article will have a high resolution picture of the capacitors and other items of importance in a pop-up window. I am sure the capacitors utilized on this board will be of interest to you. ;->