VOGONS

Search

Common searches

AMD 890FX vs Intel X58 chipset: Best latency for sound cards (PCI-e)?

Topic actions

First post, by j^aws

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I'm looking at a DAW build with either an AMD 890FX or Intel X58 chipset. I'm trying to minimise testing time to get the best latency using a PCI-Express sound card. This card will be the host for digital mixing with live monitoring, so I'm looking for minimal lag.

I understand that there are various factors involved that affect latency, especially Round Trip Latency (RTL). But which aforementioned chipset and OS combination would be the best? It probably depends on chipset/ OS/ ASIO driver combination for a specific sound card?

Possible OS choices are: Win2000, WinXP, Win7, Win8. The digital source will be coming from multiple MIDI modules, and I already have an RME sound card.

Reply 1 of 2, by agent_x007

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I say this thing is MB specific, not platform in general.
If you have a crappy board (or one with lots of I/O stuff on PCI-e), latency will be higher.
Same applies to not optimised BIOS and/or OC'ing on top.

157143230295.png

Reply 2 of 2, by j^aws

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
agent_x007 wrote:

I say this thing is MB specific, not platform in general.
If you have a crappy board (or one with lots of I/O stuff on PCI-e), latency will be higher.
Same applies to not optimised BIOS and/or OC'ing on top.

Those make sense. I won't be OC'ing and definitely will check BIOS settings for optimisation.

Regarding boards with lots of I/O stuff on PCI-e, like SATA, USB etc., are you saying keep everything off PCI-e except the sound catd? What about small motherboards like mITX and mATX - would their size affect latency?

My current boards are full size ATX boards - an Asrock for the 890FX with AM3 Socket, and an MSI for the X58 with LGA1333 Socket.

Go to top of page Go to top of page
Back to Milliways
Close window
Close window