ASUS Launches STRIX-E, ProArt Creator and TUF Pro AMD X570 Motherboards

[trsttte]

A few cryboys in the forums, sure PR cares, but big deal.
CPUs are probably the least upgraded part in a PC, usually because there rarely are worthwile upgrades that are similar enough to be compatible.


Optical is extensively used in audio equipment, offering a low-latency problem-free audio interface.
If they add the expense of a built-in audio chip, they might as well add the only useful port to that chip.


Outside home AV, HDMI and DisplayPort in audio equipment is very rare. HDMI and DisplayPort are designed as AV standards, not as pure audio standards.
While Toslink being optical was originally mostly a gimmick, they do have substantial advantage of eliminating some hiss and other artifacts.


I was actually making fun of the claims from the product specifications about the built-in audio features.
Optical may be very useful for anyone hooking up audio equipment, especially for hobby musicians. Remember that such equipment may last for decades, and may not have USB etc.

But for the average user, as I said, using either optical or USB to an external DAC is something everyone should do. It will probably be the biggest upgrade in sound quality for most people. These days you can find good DACs with headphone amps or speaker preamps (often both) for less than $100. This gives very clean audio output and smooth volume adjustment, something you wouldn't get through a built-in audio chip in the motherboard no matter how good the chip is.

Just because toslink uses an optical signal it doesn't mean it is low latency, much less problem free. Toslink is a dead standard, audio purists try to argue that it's not but it is. It doesn't support any new technologies, has a limited bandwidth and cables are expensive and fragile. Home entusiasts like to use it and think that it's somehow special but i've never seen it on an actual stage or production environment.

Having an optical out is kind of meh, could be usefull for creators and anyone who'd want to use an external DAC+amp but those same people will also want a much better interface than what realtek provides anyway

Do we really need a 12 + 4 vrm design? lol. I bet in it's complete lifecycle you wont be peaking to any of that really. VRM has become a bit over the top last years really.

I mean take a proper server board for example that can hold a 64 core 128 thread Epyc. Simple 4 fase design with proper and more then enough current/switching frequency etc to do it's job under 24/7 load.

Better to have it and not need it than needing it and not having it
The comparison with server boards is also not that fair since the airflow and load profile on the vrm is very different (much more cooling available, a lot less spikes to to deal with)

 

[Chrispy_]

Outside home AV, HDMI and DisplayPort in audio equipment is very rare. HDMI and DisplayPort are designed as AV standards, not as pure audio standards.
While Toslink being optical was originally mostly a gimmick, they do have substantial advantage of eliminating some hiss and other artifacts.

Agreed, but we're talking about onboard audio for home AV here.

Anyone serious about sound from their PC won't be touching motherboard audio of any description.
I'm not even a proper audiophile and yet I insist on an external DAC with room calibration just to cut down on analogue hiss and room modes.

 

[mechtech]

Exactly.

Digital audio has been part of the HMDI/Displayport spec for so long it's ridiculous, and it finally caught on as the main method for digital audio about a decade ago.

TOSLINK isn't bad, but there are no advantages to using it over HDMI/DisplayPort and it does add cost and complexity. I always used to think that TOSLINK had a niche application for longer cable runs because HDMI cables get very expensive or go fiber optic beyond about 15M - Then I discovered that TOSLINK cables are plastic not glass and have a 3-5M effective length anyway.

Don't get me wrong, I usually just use the analog outputs since I typically just use a headset, but I have had issues with noise before also, and having the optical to fall back on is nice.

And Mussels................PS/2 ports are awesome

 

[Mussels]

Well if someone finds a way to stop the hiss on my soundbar when the connected analog device is turned off, i'd be even more anti optical

It's more that it only does 2 channel unless you want heavily compression

 

[Chrispy_]

Well if someone finds a way to stop the hiss on my soundbar when the connected analog device is turned off, i'd be even more anti optical

It's more that it only does 2 channel unless you want heavily compression

so there are two likely causes (out of dozens of possible ones):

1. Shitty auto-gain amplifier circuit - detects no signal on the analogue line and ups the gain in an attempt to rectify. All amplifiers hiss as their gain increases. If the hiss you hear with analogue device turned on is similar to the hiss you hear when the analogue device is on (but playing no sound) and you have the soundbar at max volume, this is likely to be your culprit.
   
   
2. When the connected analogue device is turned off, depending on the design of the outputs for that device it can leave the output circuit open when unpowered, turning your audio cable into an antenna. You can mitigate this by using shielded, twisted cable to reduce the length of the antenna, and for some frequencies a ferrite choke installed on the soundbar end of the cable can cut down on hiss produced by an open circuit acting as an antenna:
   
   

Honestly though, if you're using optical and it's working fine, "ain't broke don't fix it" applies; I'm only providing this info for educational puposes.

 

[Mussels]

so there are two likely causes (out of dozens of possible ones):

1. Shitty auto-gain amplifier circuit - detects no signal on the analogue line and ups the gain in an attempt to rectify. All amplifiers hiss as their gain increases. If the hiss you hear with analogue device turned on is similar to the hiss you hear when the analogue device is on (but playing no sound) and you have the soundbar at max volume, this is likely to be your culprit.
   
   
2. When the connected analogue device is turned off, depending on the design of the outputs for that device it can leave the output circuit open when unpowered, turning your audio cable into an antenna. You can mitigate this by using shielded, twisted cable to reduce the length of the antenna, and for some frequencies a ferrite choke installed on the soundbar end of the cable can cut down on hiss produced by an open circuit acting as an antenna:
   View attachment 212699

Honestly though, if you're using optical and it's working fine, "ain't broke don't fix it" applies; I'm only providing this info for educational puposes.

pretty sure its the first, you can set it to low volume and it still does it - and it only does it when the PC (or monitor etc) is off

 

[Chrispy_]

Just stop turning your PC off then

 

[Amerifax]

Here I am in 2022 and now that Asus discontinued the AMD ProArt X570 Creator WIFI Motherboards what do I do? I like the AMD X570 Motherboards so what will replace it? I need to replace my board this week. Hope someone can help me. Most important is:
AMD Ryzen 9 5950x
Windows 11 Pro 64bit Compatible
2-M.2
Thunderbolt 4
The ability to use a MATRIX-GTX980-4GD5 graphics card.
Asus would be nice but...
Bob

​

 

[Mussels]

Here I am in 2022 and now that Asus discontinued the AMD ProArt X570 Creator WIFI Motherboards what do I do? I like the AMD X570 Motherboards so what will replace it? I need to replace my board this week. Hope someone can help me. Most important is:
AMD Ryzen 9 5950x
Windows 11 Pro 64bit Compatible
2-M.2
Thunderbolt 4
The ability to use a MATRIX-GTX980-4GD5 graphics card.
Asus would be nice but...
Bob

​

I dont think anyone in this news thread is going to be able to help you

Go see what boards are available wherever in the world you are, at a store you use, at prices you can afford and choose one of them