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I won some money so I can replace my current motherboard, Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Gaming 5 (rev. 1.0) in which the sound stinks. I need suggestions on a replacement with the requirements below. I'll be amazed if you could recommend a perfect replacement.

Motherboard Requirements

  • Socket: LGA1151
  • Form Factor: ATX
  • RAM Size: (4 x 16 GB) Dual Channels of RAM (288-PIN DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000Mhz (PC4 24000)
  • Audio: Integrated audio chip (not really necessary but would be nice)
  • Minimum Requirements due to Pioneer Blu-ray player
    • Graphics: Intel® HD Graphics 630
    • Output: HDCP 2.2/HDMI 2.0a
    • ATAPI interface: Serial ATA Revision 3.0
    • Other: Intel® SGX(Software Guard Extensions)
    • Other: Intel® 200 series motherboard
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  • While you can probably still find motherboards with this socket, Intel has moved on to newer generations of CPUs that use a different socket already. If you're having trouble finding a board with LGA1151, consider just getting a dedicated sound card. The board you have now is quite good for its time.
    – Romen
    Oct 19, 2020 at 14:20
  • ArtofCode, you edited out a huge chunk of background that I spent a lot of time on. Without it, I don't think anyone is going to answer this question. I was trying to create an interesting story so they would be invested in the question and so would be more likely to answer it. Can you please put it back?
    – QuietInMontana
    Oct 19, 2020 at 18:32
  • Romen, thanks for your help. The problem with the current board is that the audio chip doesn't work. Gigabyte deliberately deprecated it when they created a new campaign for another product. Giga still sold the motherboard, touting its sound abilities even though they deprecated it. Really sleazy, no? I sued Gigabyte and won. That's why I have money to get a different board, hopefully something with better sound. I can get another Gigabyte, I don't mind. It's just that with this board, the current driver doesn't allow the software to function. Giga also won't release the old driver.
    – QuietInMontana
    Oct 19, 2020 at 18:36
  • @Romen Romen, thanks for your help. The problem with the current board is that the audio chip doesn't work. Gigabyte deliberately deprecated it when they created a new campaign for another product. Giga still sold the motherboard, touting its sound abilities even though they deprecated it. Really sleazy, no? I sued Gigabyte and won. That's why I have money to get a different board, hopefully something with better sound. I can get another Gigabyte, I don't mind. It's just that with this board, the current driver messes with the software. Giga also won't release the old driver. They "lost" it.
    – QuietInMontana
    Oct 20, 2020 at 13:37

2 Answers 2

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Go buy a good sound card, and plug it into a pci-e slot on your motherboard.

How about the newest sound blaster whatever AE-5 last time I checked.

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your AORUS Gaming 5 mobo spec shows

Realtek® ALC1220 codec

Support for Sound BlasterX 720°

High Definition Audio 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel

Problem is even with a high end audio codec you can have poor audio if the manufacturer doesn't properly shield or uses poor components.

Is this true with that specific mobo you mentioned, I do not know. When you only say the sound stinks that is very subjective and can be caused by a number of things. To say the audio chip doesn't work yes it is possible that model motherboard you have not designed well with regards to audio. Or if it doesn't work then that strongly insinuates a broken motherboard... and a replacement would be just fine.

Look at any enthusiast motherboard from any other maker... asrock, asus, evga, msi. They all use Realtek. Many of the premium top of the line motherboards all use the ALC1220 codec at the moment, the other most popular was 892. While possible it could be a gigabyte problem with how they integrated audio on that specific motherboard that is purely speculation at this point with nothing else to go on.

Audio nowadays is all ruled by the realtek chip integrated on motherboards, simply check the audio specs of motherboards. If any of those does not meet your audio quality standards, however you measure that, you are then looking at a professional type audio card that plugs in via PCI-E and will all be shielded and purpose built, and not cheap, and then would likely not support your software [games].

It's just that with this board the current driver doesn't allow the software to function.

This does not mean the mobo or audio design is flawed. You need to be more forthcoming with all the information. The software that generates the audio can easily be 50% or more of the problem and would be unfair to blame it all on the audio driver / chipset / motherboard. Then there are the speakers you are using, as well as your own hearing that could be the problem.

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  • I was forthcoming with information but the Romen, the moderator in his wisdom took down all the background information I provided. Here is the story I had actually written by the moderator had taken down.
    – QuietInMontana
    Oct 20, 2020 at 13:27
  • I currently have a Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Gaming 5 (rev. 1.0) but I sued Gigabyte for fraud and got a little more than $1k back in court. Yay!! Why did I sue? Well, the motherboard came with an integrated audio chip that was advertised to produce SoundBlaster card quality sound. That's why it was expensive. It actually could produce the better sound but Gigabyte executives deprecated the audio chip a few months before I bought the motherboard. They started a new campaign called SoundBlaster Connect 2 and were selling sound cards.
    – QuietInMontana
    Oct 20, 2020 at 13:30
  • New drivers for the motherboard intentionally prevented the audio chips from producing quality sound. I called their tech support and they even admitted this to me. They also said they didn't have a single copy of the old driver. They said they lost it. Not a single copy? I searched everywhere in forums for about 3 months. I found 2-year-old posts which people state they were using the old driver and the sound was incredible but when I messaged them, they were all afk. The modern driver only plays dull sound, it doesn’t allow the SoundBlaster Connect software to produce quality sound.
    – QuietInMontana
    Oct 20, 2020 at 13:31
  • After wasting so much time, I decided to sue them. Well, luckily, in most states, what they did leads to triple damages for consumer fraud. There also is a federal law that states a company will get penalized for each incorrect statement they make about their warranty that is written, verbally stated, etc. I actually sued for $3k but the judge only gave me the $1k. That’s how it usually works though. If you have a similar problem, let me know and I’ll tell ya' how to sue. It takes a lot of time though like actually going to court and just waiting there and wasting a day. Just to warn ya'.
    – QuietInMontana
    Oct 20, 2020 at 13:32
  • Anyway, I now have the money to replace my motherboard. I would still like a motherboard around the $200 that I paid for my old one but I could pay more if there is something really great and worth it for a little more. I love this motherboard because it has a lot of great fast ports in which I use all of them. I never could afford a motherboard like this before. Only problem is that the audio chip which was supposed to be fantastic and supposed to sound like just a sound card, didn't work from the beginning.
    – QuietInMontana
    Oct 20, 2020 at 13:33

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