Gigabyte G1 Sniper - Sound

..VeNoM..

Hi all,

Had to order a replacement board as my ASUS RIIIE died on me. I ordered a Gigabyte G1 Sniper and noticed it seems to have creative on board sound. My question being, am I better with my soundcard or use the boards own sound if it's better?

Darren Hodgson · 05-21-2012, 14:28 | posts: 9,677 | Location: England

I would guess that your X-Fi card would be better than the onboard Creative audio. The motherboard sound will likely have a cutdown Creative chip akin to the XtremeMusic card, which was inferior to the XtremeGamer one, but you can always test one then the other and decide which you prefer.

Darren Hodgson · 05-21-2012, 14:30 | posts: 9,677 | Location: England

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/mot...niper-review/1

"Once you’ve got past the superficial paint job and heatsinks, though, there is a lot to like about the G1.Sniper. For a start, it comes with some serious sound processing hardware in the shape of the Creative 20K2 Digital Audio Processor chip, which supports all the usual X-Fi features such as the Crystallizer and EAX HD 5.0."

stormy · 05-21-2012, 15:38 | posts: 2,520 | Location: Toronto, Ontario

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darren Hodgson

I would guess that your X-Fi card would be better than the onboard Creative audio. The motherboard sound will likely have a cutdown Creative chip akin to the XtremeMusic card, which was inferior to the XtremeGamer one, but you can always test one then the other and decide which you prefer.

Think you mean the Xtreme Audio, which is nothing more than a renamed Audigy SE basically. The Xtreme Music is a full fledged X-Fi, and the Xtreme gamer is actually a slightly cut down version of the Music.

..VeNoM.. · 05-21-2012, 17:14 | posts: 194 | Location: Liverpool, England

So is my soundcard better than the 20K2 chip?

stormy · 05-21-2012, 17:38 | posts: 2,520 | Location: Toronto, Ontario

Same one actually,

http://www.creative.com/oem/products/chips/ca20k2.asp

The 20K1 is on the first gen X-Fi's.

automaticman · 05-22-2012, 04:55 | posts: 663 | Location: Orange County, CA

yeah as I understood it Gigabyte basically squeezed a Titanium Fatality onto the motherboard.

..VeNoM.. · 05-22-2012, 05:53 | posts: 194 | Location: Liverpool, England

What I'll do is test the inboard sound whilst I wait on my RMA soundcard. Will be interesting to see what the headphone amp does as I don't think my soundcard has one on it.

..VeNoM.. · 05-24-2012, 08:23 | posts: 194 | Location: Liverpool, England

Well got my board yesterday and installed everything. I have a problem though... My computer restarts when it gets to checking dram size... Right before the windows splash screen. This happens 3 times the. Continues to windows. All 3 sticks of ram are detected but only 2 sticks is active. Tried bios defaults and even XMP settings with same results. I have an RMA from corsair but wanted to check with you guys before sending my ram.

Darren Hodgson · 05-24-2012, 11:26 | posts: 9,677 | Location: England

Quote:

Originally Posted by stormy

Think you mean the Xtreme Audio, which is nothing more than a renamed Audigy SE basically. The Xtreme Music is a full fledged X-Fi, and the Xtreme gamer is actually a slightly cut down version of the Music.

Yeah, sorry that's the one I meant as I almost made the mistake of buying that card when I selected my PC build from CyberPower in December 2008. Fortunately I was able to switch it to an XtremeGamer card before it was shipped.

The Gigabyte G1 Sniper board looks to have an extremely good audio chip then if it's the same as a Titanium Fatality. Saves on using a PCI-E slot too.

automaticman · 05-24-2012, 14:37 | posts: 663 | Location: Orange County, CA

Quote:

Originally Posted by ..VeNoM..

Well got my board yesterday and installed everything. I have a problem though... My computer restarts when it gets to checking dram size... Right before the windows splash screen. This happens 3 times the. Continues to windows. All 3 sticks of ram are detected but only 2 sticks is active. Tried bios defaults and even XMP settings with same results. I have an RMA from corsair but wanted to check with you guys before sending my ram.

Have you run Memtest yet? Try a single stick at a time or moving the sticks around. Try to determine if it's the ram that's the problem or a particular socket.

..VeNoM.. · 05-24-2012, 14:59 | posts: 194 | Location: Liverpool, England

I have ran memtest with all 3 sticks in for 4 hours and no errors detected. Tried each stick on it's own in port 1 and boots just fine without restarting. Tried port 1 and 3 with restart on booting... tried port 1 and 2 runs just fine. Could this be incompatible ram for this board? It's not listed at compatible on the Gigabyte web site... it's TR3X6G1600C9 on sticker but in windows it's registers as CM3X2G1600C9. Corsair didnt try trouble shooting my board so do you think it's a known problem with my RAM??

one thing, I forgot to fit the CPU bracket on the back of the board before fitting the board to my case so I used the cut out window around the back which is not centre for the CPU, I had to force it a little and scrached the back of the motherboard... only a small scratch though. That wouldnt make this problem would it?

stormy · 05-24-2012, 15:32 | posts: 2,520 | Location: Toronto, Ontario

Quote:

I had to force it a little and scrached the back of the motherboard... only a small scratch though. That wouldnt make this problem would it?

yes it can, especially if you scored any of the traces which can be the same as cutting a wire.

..VeNoM.. · 05-24-2012, 15:34 | posts: 194 | Location: Liverpool, England

I guess one way to find out is see if i can boot with 1 stick in each port at a time.. If the motherboard is capable of running a stick in any slot I should be able to work out if it's a fault with the board or RAM that is not compatible?

..VeNoM.. · 05-24-2012, 23:52 | posts: 194 | Location: Liverpool, England

Ok I haven't got around to testing the slots yet but I have decided to continue with my RAM RMA as I don't think mine is compatible with this board. Checked the corsair site and my RAM is not even listed on current products anymore. I'm just hoping that they change it for RAM that is compatible

automaticman · 05-25-2012, 02:01 | posts: 663 | Location: Orange County, CA

more likely you just got a bad stick, actual RAM compatibility issues seem pretty rare these days.

..VeNoM.. · 05-25-2012, 14:43 | posts: 194 | Location: Liverpool, England

Well I sent my RAM back to corsair. Hope it's the RAM that's at fault as i think the turn around on this RAM will take about 2 weeks as it has to go to the Netherlands. If they send the RAM back as being ok then I'll have to RMA the board. However if windows sees the 3 sticks but the board is only using 2 sticks then that seems like incompatibility to me. Google doesn't turn up anything though.