bad sound card=lower frame rate??!

**The_G** · 28th September 2002

here is the thing...
when i play games like mafia and gta3 with sound i get lower frame rate than without sound and the diffrence is pretty big,so i ask you-can i do somthing about it?is it like that with all the sound cards?Should i get a new sound card?
plz tell me cuz its pretty importent for example-i run mafia smooth on high detail and 1600*1200 without sound
but with sound i get like 20-30 fps in 1024*768...
WHAT SHOULD I DO???

**Wyld Tyme** · 29th September 2002

Ever notice why all benchmarks are done without sound?

Sound processing takes up CPU cycles (no matter what sound card), thus, slowing down other processing for your gaming (especially when using 3D sound).

What processor do you have?

**$m0ker** · 29th September 2002

might also help if we know what soundcard it is.

some soundcard's do audio acceleration with hardware, others do it with software(think winmodem), if the soundcard only does 3d sound via software then that is going to chew up alot more cycles then a hardware based card.

**Big D.** · 29th September 2002

Pretty much, yeah. I hear games like Mafia have great sound, but you need great hardware to get that sound without a performance loss. I'd suggest just not using 3D sound or EAX and such if you don't have a SB Audigy, since that seems to be what these new games need.

I'm not saying you shouldn't play with the sound on, but just that with older sound cards, EAX sound and such can really slow the game down.

**The_G** · 29th September 2002

yea i noticed that benchmarkes r allways made
without sound....
from what u ppl saying either i go and buy the best sound card out there or stay with my non-3d via pci audio card(i think its called ac97..)well sound was never 2
importent 2 me so for now i will stick with my card..
thanks for the help.

**Registered Abuser** · 29th September 2002

The_G, sounds like you are using onboard sound. I would spend the 20-30 odd dollars on a Hercules Fortissimo II or III if I were in your shoes. Then go on into the Control Panel, Sounds & Multimedia. Turn Hardware acceleration to max in the Performance tab. You don't need to spend a lot to get decent sound these days.

**Big D.** · 29th September 2002

Yeah I don't check the latest sound cards too often, but my card's pretty good with most games...EAX normally sounds great and doesn't slow down the games, so it's fine...I think it was like 50 canadian dollars last time I checked...Not sure though...

**$m0ker** · 30th September 2002

yeah , he's using the onboard sound chip.
onboard sound usually does all the 3d effects in software, so thats where the cpu cycles are going. you should be able to turn the 3d audio effects off in alot of games and get your normal framerates. if the 3d sound isnt really important to you then dont worry about upgrading it until it becomes important (or cheap)

**�ogic** · 30th September 2002

Hmmm never knew onboard audio was that bad for your computer, I just thought it produced lower quality sound, nothing about using software for 3d audio and slowing down the whole computer.

I'm going to try using my onboard audio and recording FPS in a game, and doing the same thing with my SB Live! 5.1 X-Gamer to see if FPS acctually do go down when you use onboard as apposed to a real sound card. I'll post again and tell you guys about it if I have time.

**The_G** · 30th September 2002

ok i checked some prices and herculas fortismo II is pretty decent so i think i will go with it,but first i need to upgrade my:mobo,ram and proccecor so its not in a high priority.