[Evisu]

hi there. i have just upgraded my motherboard from an Asus A8N32-SLi to intel DP35DPM. i have a modded X-fi soundcard which i am very happy with.

but noticed the SoundQuality has got worse since the upgrade. bass is not as deep and solid, soundstage is not as wide.

does anyone know of any good Intel(775) board that gives good soundquality?

p.s: i would actually want to keep the card rather than upgrading it to a usb soundcard/dac.

Thanks

 

[soul05]

try different drivers?

 

[1Time]

How much system memory did you have in your previous system, and how much do you have in your current system? Thanks

 

[brainsalad]

I can't imagine a motherboard making any difference. I'm sure you had to reload your OS so I would look to drivers, setup in the OS. If you didn't reload, I would reload and start from scratch.

 

[tusk]

There is no reason why a different motherboard should make a difference. You could try it in a different PCI slot. That may do the trick. You will have to reinstall drivers in this case, which is a good first step anyways.

 

[coredump]

A similar problem happened to me after an upgrade. I moved the sound card to another slot which was farther away from the video card and it seemed to fix the problem. I'm not sure if it was a bad slot or interference from the video card.

 

[Evisu]

thanks for the replies.

1gbx2 on previous and 2gbx2 on current

i have reinstalled windows. and using all updated drivers.

already using the furthest(lowest) slot away from video card.

 

[1Time]

Thanks for your reply regarding the memory in your two systems. Interesting problem you have there. My guess is this is due to a difference in settings between your two systems. Given the drivers are the same, I would start by checking system bios settings, system settings, and sound card settings. Also, please see the following thread I started for an informed response about memory.
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/re...uality-298065/

All other things being equal, it's hard for me to imagine the performance of a sound card being affected differently between one motherboard and the next.

 

[Maniac]

IMHO it could be the power supply circuits on the motherboard that's making the difference, or it could be that you may have upgraded your power supply when you upgrade the board?

I have found this can often change the way that the sound card plays. Previously I had modded a friend's RME card AND his motherboard for his requirement, the result was quite surprisingly good.

PSU of the computer is also playing a major role in sonic quality (Well, if a cable on a stereo can make a big difference, why won't the PSU of a computer do the same?), and you might want to swap back the old one if you did change the power supply.

 

[Evisu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maniac /img/forum/go_quote.gif IMHO it could be the power supply circuits on the motherboard that's making the difference, or it could be that you may have upgraded your power supply when you upgrade the board? I have found this can often change the way that the sound card plays. Previously I had modded a friend's RME card AND his motherboard for his requirement, the result was quite surprisingly good. PSU of the computer is also playing a major role in sonic quality (Well, if a cable on a stereo can make a big difference, why won't the PSU of a computer do the same?), and you might want to swap back the old one if you did change the power supply.

thanks for ur reply Maniac.

using the same PSU as before.
yes modding the Caps and Opamps can make a very noticeable difference indeed
Capacitors Card helps a little.

a noob question:
i noticed that my DP35DPM has some missing capacitors beside the PCI slot.
is it possible to solder some caps on there? maybe it will make a difference?

Edit:
those spots in the circled area

 

[LeonvB]

That would not make a difference: Intel designs these boards for multiple layouts. If you look at the board, you'll see several chips & connectors are "missing", which just means there are more versions (likely for an OEM).

What would help is checking if you're using the latest BIOS. Also, check if you're using the RECOMMENDED instead of the latest drivers. Seems there are problems with some of the latest sets, which degrade performance (mainly for network, but could affect sound too).

 

[Maniac]

I'm not so sure if it won't work completely, since if you have been in the industry you'd know one key jargon... Cost-down...

Designers often overdesign their product because incase you got performance beyond your need, you can always not install a few parts, but if you designed less than you need, you'd have to update or redesign the whole thing.

What's the performance that designer consider enough? so long as it runs to spec, that's all they ask for. Because if you go any further, they'd be pounded to ground by their company's bean counters.

This is especially true for low profit products like computer parts.


however, do check where the thing is going to, and the polarity before you stick the cap in.

Last and not the least, be careful and fast when soldering on delicate stuff like this, or you might blow or burn something.