Realtek® ALC898 GAMING/Movies

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Hello,

On my new motherboard there is a Realtek® ALC898 and I was wondering should this be sufficient enough for gaming/watching movies via speakers/headset

Do I need to pick any specific speaker/headset to get the most out of them? or wont the top-end stuff benefit from this on-board audio chip?
 
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The ALC898 is very good, the DAC's are rated at 110db and the ADC's at 104db. That's very similar to the ALC889 which I have on my board and it's fantastic, so yes it's perfectly sufficient.

Regarding headphones, get ones rated for lower impedance, preferably 32ohms as the onboard will not be able to provide enough amplification to get the most out of high impedance headphones. Thankfully most cheaper headphones are suitable. You should be able to pick any PC speakers as they have integrated amps.
 
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Thank you.

So there wouldn't be any reason to invest in a sound card for Counter Strike; Global offensive and watching movies?
 
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The top end stuff can be greatly cleaned of noise and electrical interferance with an external usb DAC. 2nd best would be a cheaper xonar card and last of all would be your onboard sound which I would not use with headphones over £20. My onboard sounded ok until i got the xonar and literally was seriously annoyed i'd listened to such muddy hissy noise it's like the difference between having blown tweeters or not.
 
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The top end stuff can be greatly cleaned of noise and electrical interferance with an external usb DAC. 2nd best would be a cheaper xonar card and last of all would be your onboard sound which I would not use with headphones over £20. My onboard sounded ok until i got the xonar and literally was seriously annoyed i'd listened to such muddy hissy noise it's like the difference between having blown tweeters or not.

The ALC898 is a far reach above the usual on-board drivel and in fairness sounds better than my x-fi elite pro using HD595 headphones.

Onboard has come along way since the early days!
 
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The ALC898 is a far reach above the usual on-board drivel and in fairness sounds better than my x-fi elite pro using HD595 headphones.

Onboard has come along way since the early days!

That is still pretty astounding, it must be faulty/degrading due to age or else the ALC898 is just much better than the ALC889A that I have listened to, however the specs seem pretty similar.
 
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I got the ALC889A and a SB audigy 2ZS. I use the ALC889A for front panel header audio because creative didn't put front audio header on their soundcard.

I can't really notice the difference between the two on headphones. The mic input is much noisier though, and when loading you can hear it through the sound card sometimes. Dedicated sound card is a bit better, especially if you want to record stuff.
 
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That is still pretty astounding, it must be faulty/degrading due to age or else the ALC898 is just much better than the ALC889A that I have listened to, however the specs seem pretty similar.

I think its more of a case of the x-fi being 7 years old now. It still sounds good and thanks to its breakout box remains in use, but there's no doubting the onboard is better. (not to mention more stable!)

Perhaps the onboard is better at driving the headphones :confused:
 
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