SupremeFX X-fi 2 for HTPC?

[Darth Teddy Bär]

Hi,

It is so hard to find real world information on how good, or not, the "SupremeFX X-fi 2" is. I have not seen anything that even comes close to a real audio review and searches on OCAU immediately dish on the SupremeFX X-fi 2 as it is onboard. Is that still position?

The reason I am asking is that I am looking at building a HTPC on the ASUS Rampage III Gene Motherboard.

What part does the sound card play if using HDMI on a Radeon HD6850?

Cheers,

Darth Teddy Bear

[OPM881]

Originally Posted by Darth Teddy Bär

Hi,

It is so hard to find real world information on how good, or not, the "SupremeFX X-fi 2" is. I have not seen anything that even comes close to a real audio review and searches on OCAU immediately dish on the SupremeFX X-fi 2 as it is onboard. Is that still position?

The reason I am asking is that I am looking at building a HTPC on the ASUS Rampage III Gene Motherboard.

What part does the sound card play if using HDMI on a Radeon HD6850?

Cheers,

Darth Teddy Bear

Your planning on building a HTPC using a Rampage3? Either you have way too much money, no idea what you are doing, both, or are going to be using it as a gaming PC. It is incredible overkill, same with using a HD6850 unless you are using the HDMI for sound, and even then you could use a 4870 with a dvi to hdmi adaptor and you would get sound. For the cost of that mobo and GPU alone you could do a whole HTPC system capable of surround sound and HDMI.

Obviously if you are going to be playing games on it, it is a little different but still overkill.

If you are using a HD6850 its HDMI port can support up to 7.1 IIRC, so no real need for a sound card IMO, but I am no audiophile.

[d1ng0d4n]

mate the sound card on the board is bloody good. normal onboards arent anywhere near its quality. Maximus III GENE owner here, got the SupremeFX X-fi in mine

EDIT: agree with OPM881, ridiculous amount of balls for a HTPC

[Darth Teddy Bär]

OPM881,

I plead guilty to all the above and more....

My thinking on the board (which is a Micro ATX board) and the video card was to get a long life out of the hardware and to be assured I can play what I want how I want.

As to playing games, that is what I use my desktop for.

[2_stroke]

if your using digital ie. optical/coxail/hdmi then why the hell would you even worry about a soundcard. If you are using analog and want crazy sound then go a real soundcard, not saying these suck but IMO of the previous one it just couldn't compare with a extream music for headphones. Since its a HTPC why the hell would anyone use analog out over digital into a reciver is beyond me.

[Darth Teddy Bär]

Originally Posted by 2_stroke

if your using digital ie. optical/coxail/hdmi then why the hell would you even worry about a soundcard. If you are using analog and want crazy sound then go a real soundcard, not saying these suck but IMO of the previous one it just couldn't compare with a extream music for headphones. Since its a HTPC why the hell would anyone use analog out over digital into a reciver is beyond me.

Please excuse my ignorance on this subject matter.

Initially I will be using HDMI into the TV as I currently do not have surround sound. I have since been led to believe that for this I do not require any sound card as the Radeon HD6850 will enable this. I am also led to believe it matters little what sound chip in on the Radeon HD6850 in this situation?

Eventually I will have surround sound, and this is where the Optical S/PDIF for the SupremeFX X-fi 2 would be used and I wouldn't be using analogue?