Need advice about onboard sound vs Audigy

Durzel · 29 Sep 2006 at 11:34

In building my new PC I've come across a bit of a problem. I've got an aftermarket cooler on my Southbridge chip (as it gets pretty hot). This was a tight squeeze with my 2nd X1900 in the lower slot, but it fits with nothing touching.

The problem I've got now is that my Audigy 2 ZS card is too long to fit in the only remaining PCI slot on the board...

Although you can't really see it in that picture when I try and fit my Audigy 2 ZS card in the bottom PCI slot, the only way I can get it in is by turning that copper cooler clockwise, so it's essentially resting on the white motherboard header pins. With it tilted right over it is impossible to get the connectors in there.

I have a DTT3500 speaker system which requires the Digital DIN output on the Audigy 2 or Audigy 4 Pro (X-Fi doesn't work with it) to get proper digital 5.1, EAX, etc.

So at the moment I'm faced with the following options:
* Ditch the big copper cooler and use the standard one, and hope my overclock is still stable
* Ditch the Audigy 2 ZS and use the onboard sound on my motherboard (no idea how good this is, I suspect it cant be as good as a dedicated card)
* Ditch the HIS X1900 and get another X1900 with a different cooler

Any thoughts?

Durzel · 29 Sep 2006 at 11:57

Thanks guys.

The X-Fi isn't an option for me because I have an old set of Creative DTT3500 speakers, which Creative kindly removed support for in X-Fi upwards. I don't intend to sell a perfectly good set of speakers for no reason. Even if X-Fi was an option it looks like the cards are just as long as my current Audigy 2 ZS, so I would be stuck with the same problem.

Forgot to mention, I will be using phase change on the CPU so it'll be pretty heavily overclocked... I'm aiming for 4.3Ghz+ from my Conroe E6700.

Durzel · 29 Sep 2006 at 12:15

Nazbit said:
That will be fun

Already done it once

but my Vapo PCB died while I was priming

Durzel · 29 Sep 2006 at 12:17

Ive just noticed from looking at the pins that the only things I would be missing would be the power and HDD led. The rest of the pins I should be able to get in.

Durzel · 29 Sep 2006 at 12:18

Nazbit said:
Oh yes

Bet that was a brown trouser moment though

You can say that again, especially as it popped and flashed when it died. I thought it had nuked my motherboard & CPU.

Durzel · 29 Sep 2006 at 13:06

Has anyone else got any thoughts about this - I need to make a decision today so I can crack on with finishing the build

Durzel · 29 Sep 2006 at 14:38

Admiral Huddy said:
You could replace the SB cooler with a spot cooler so it's distributing cool air over the top.. This might give you some room.

Whats a spot cooler?

Durzel · 29 Sep 2006 at 16:32

There's probably nothing wrong with it persay, I just know it gets pretty damn hot so I figured there was no harm in improving the cooling on it...

After following some advice from another forum I ended up with this:

Hooray! Haven't got much room underneath for my SATA ports though! Mind you, they were already obstructed by the X1900.. design flaw imo! Shame OCUK doesn't sell right-angled SATA cables...

Thanks all for the help!