2 Channel Audio

[Foxtrot360]

OK, i just found out my new motherboard has AC'97 2 Channel audio , the AC'97 is the same as my old one , but i used to have 6 channel audio, is there that much a difference. oh and i used to be able to turn EAX 1.0-2.0 on , is there a difference?

Shuttle MK40VN Mainboard

Edited July 22, 2005 by Fragbox

[CR6]

OK, i just found out my new motherboard has AC'97 2 Channel audio , the AC'97 is the same as my old one , but i used to have 6 channel audio, is there that much a difference. oh and i used to be able to turn EAX 1.0-2.0 on , is there a difference?

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AC'97 (AC=Audio Codec) is a spec created by Intel. There are many different companies that make AC'97 compliant sound chips and the quality varies. (Similar to how there are several video chip companies that make DirectX 8 or 9 compliant video chips that differ vastly in performance.)

http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/audio/

Although some AC'97 compliant chips can possible support multichannel audio up to 6 channels, it doesn't mean all AC'97 chips do. So it sounds like you got a cheaper integrated sound chip on your new mobo.

EAX (I think it is supposed to stand for Environmental Audio) is a technology created for sound chips made by Creative (Sound Blaster Live/Audigy series) and is not part of the AC'97 spec.

http://www.soundblaster.com/eax/abouteax/

However, Creative made EAX 2.0 a public spec, so other sound chip manufacturers can make chips that support both AC'97 and EAX 2.0

http://www.soundblaster.com/eax/abouteax/eax2/welcome.asp

Because Sound Blaster cards are popular with gamers, many games are coded support EAX. However, with a lower-end AC'97 sound chip, you should turn off EAX support as it may potentially slow down games on your system. (The game will be making wasted EAX calls for hardware support that is not there)