Does the current DCS support 7.1 surround?

[GodsPrototype]

I was wondering if the current version of DCS supports 7.1 surround audio. If not, does anyone know if it will be supported in EDGE?

 

Thanks in advance!

[javelina1]

I have mine setup to a 5.1 system, and it sure sounds good though...

 

(using a dedicated sound card, and not an onboard sound chip - just an FYI).

[pacotito]

The sound quality is better if you have good speakers or headset. If you use the optical(fiber optic) output to an external receiver there won't be any difference since the processing is external. As for performance/fps increase it would be zero to minimal. As of vista Microsoft removed the sound Hal so the CPU is still used to process DirectX sound. You may see minimal improvement in performance with openal software since it still allows hardware sound processing. Creative alchemy can reenable hardware based sound by intercepting the DirectSound calls and converting them to openal.

Edited December 1, 2013 by pacotito

[Abburo]

Yes, I highly advise to use a separate PCI Sound Card like Sound Blaster, and disable the on-board chip all together in BIOS.

A dedicated Sound Processing Unit offloads the CPU and results in overall performance gain.

 

+1

Fully agree with you. People should consider this too, even it looks a bit odd for nowdays. Is not the first think it must be upgraded, but for sure it will help when is done. Just to keep in mind, it must be a hardware decoding device to really matter.

[SkateZilla]

I'll never part ways with my X-Fi Platinum Fatality.

 

On Board Sound, both VIA HD, and RealTek, are abysmal on every board I've owned since Slot A Boards.

[tarracta]

Naa when I see what a plastic crap of sound systems (speakers, headphones) most people are using there's no need for a dedicated PCIe-soundcard.

 

It makes sense if you have high-fidelity speakers or a good headphone far above 200$. But most people put their cardboard-subwoofer and their mini-squallers all together on the PC-desk and let them flame their ears...

 

BTT, it's quite dissapointing not to have real 5.1-channel-sound-support, stereophonie was state-of-the-art in the sixties

[BitMaster]

Some boards tho do offer good chipsets that are EAX 4.0 or 5.0 capable, with dedicated chips for hardware acceleration. Those are usually the high end mobos from Asus etc... also good Gaming Laptops have real good onboard sound like the older Dell XPS, now Alienware or Asus ROG Notebooks etc.. onboard does not always mean low quality.

 

 

For a dedicated gaming machine I still consider a dedicated SB card as a must.

[SkateZilla]

Creative Core3d Chips are no better than Onboard, All the Effects and Adjustments are software controlled w/ Creative's Bloatware.

 

Stick to X-Fi, Core3d and the Low End Z Series based on the next revision of Core3d is garbage.

 

An X-Fi Platinum/Fatat1ty/Gamer Edition PCI Card new or OEM from Dell is like $20 on Ebay.

[javelina1]

+1

Fully agree with you. People should consider this too, even it looks a bit odd for nowdays. Is not the first think it must be upgraded, but for sure it will help when is done. Just to keep in mind, it must be a hardware decoding device to really matter.

 

indeed, hardware decoding! not the software.

 

as noted, DCS really sounds good through my 5.1 Receiver, (via the PCI sound card).