6 channel audio: another marketing trick? 1

[nagornyi]

Looking into the features of new motherboards that emerged after I last upgraded my PC, I see that many of them advertise 6 channel onboard audio. Looking into the description more attentively, I start thinking that "6 channel" probably relates to some internal charachteristics of audio signal processing, rather then to the real audio output. Because how 6 channel can be possible with the same old 3 audio sockets: MIC/IN/OUT?
Are there motherboards with real 5.1 audio?
Does it make sence to have this feature onboard for gaming?
Any comments appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Crowley16]

I believe there are 5.1 audio mobo's, you would use mic/in/out with 2front/2rear/center+sub

not sure about 6channel though, it's usually, n.1 channel

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Procrastinate Now!

 

[Nelviticus]

Some motherboards come with extra connectors for digital audio, either optical or coaxial. Digital audio can carry several sound channels on a single cable. Even if the motherboard doesn't have a digital connector built in it might come with an extra backplate with connectors on it.

You can still get multi-channel sound with just the Mic/In/Out on some motherboards - my Gigabyte GA7VA for example. There's a utility that lets me assign the Mic socket to be 'rear left + rear right' stereo and the In socket to be 'centre speaker + subwoofer' (I may have the sockets mixed up) with Out remaining 'front left + front right' stereo. It means I exchange the audio-in and mic functionality for surround sound. The connection for my surround sound speakers is three cables ending in mini-jacks.

For certain games, like 3d shooters where you can hear people behind you, surround sound can be great. Most of the time it just adds to the atmospherics though.

A more important consideration for gaming is the performance of your audio hardware. Using surround sound will slow things down a bit, but with a high-performance dedicated sound card the slowdown will be insignificant. For a cheapo sound card the slowdown can be noticeable. As with soundcards, some motherboards have high-performance audio hardware and some have cheapo rubbish. I'm not really into high-performance gaming so I haven't researched which motherboards are good audio performers (speed-wise), but I'm sure I remember seeing an article on Tom's Hardware that analysed the slowdown for several audio solutions, including motherboards and sound cards.

So the answers are "yes", there are motherboards out there with real 5.1 sound - in fact you'll be hard-pressed to find one without it - and "maybe", it can make sense to have it enabled for gaming, assuming you have room for six speakers and lots of wires!

Nelviticus

 

[mikker]

I have an Asus motherboard with 6 channel audio. I also have an Altec Lancing 5.1 channel surround sound systemmodel 251. You use the same three plugs on m/b Mic/In/Out. center and Bass hooks into the Mic port , 2front and 2rear hooks into the In and Out ports. When I play games on mine it really sounds incredible. It's only a 90 watt surround system but it really puts out.

 

[imstillatwork]

5.1 IS 6 channel audio......

5.1 = front l/r, rear l/r, center, sub. each is a full and seperate channel.

6.1 = 7 this adds a rear center.

7.1 =8, this is rare, but high end stuff supports it, front l/r, side l/r, rear l/r, sub.

 

[imstillatwork]

and 90 clean watts on good speakers is more then enough to hurt your ears. the problem is the high wattage cheap systems that put out such a crappy signal, you'll get distortion even on good speakers.

 

[funkjunky]

The Only true 6 channel sound card I have seen is the Yamaha SW1000XG it will record and play back 6 different channels. Designed for muscians for dgital recording it is about 7 years old and still state of the art. (way ahead of its time)

 

[AcidScars]

Most new M/B's have at least 6 Channel (5.1) audio integrated into the board, but lets face it, it sucks. The only semi-decent audio chipset is the NFORCE chipset. You can totally tell the difference in sound quality between your 5.1 Channel SoundMAX and a nice Audigy 2 card. It also puts more of a strain on your CPU since many auido chips are part of the SouthBridge chipset. Once you get your board, throw in a nice Audigy card and disable you onboard...give in to Creative...

 

[imstillatwork]

yep.