Right Mark 3DS

Right Mark 3DS

Right mark 3DS audio testing provides synthetic gaming based tests that stress the CPU in a similar way that a game would for the various audio APIs such as direct sound 3D or EAX.

Direct Sound 2D

In the first series of our testing, we see the Xonar Xense provides improved performance in comparison to a entry level Xonar DX but is surpassed by the hardware based Auzentech Forte 7.1

Direct Sound 3D

We can see a similar pattern here, again the Xonar Xense trumps the Xonar DX but the Forte still surpasses the Xense 7.1.

Direct Sound 3D+EAX

This test would provide the most stress to the sound hardware, using both direct sound and EAX based audio routines.  Here we see the Xense once again pulling ahead of the DX but the Forte still trumps both flexing its DSP muscle.

Notes on 3Ds Testing

We were surprised at the data provided by the Xense and the DX comparison.  Both cards use similar chipsets and base drivers.  We theorized since the Xense is designed for gaming, that we are seeing driver optimizations from the DX to Xense drivers.  The Xonar still cannot surpass the performance of the hardware based DSP chip on the Forte which makes perfect sense.  We would suggest that hardware gaming seems to be coming less and less of an issue these days with higher power systems.