Sound Blaster or motherboard audio?

Hello. I have a quick question. I have a Sound Blaster live model CT4670.
I will be upgrading my motherboard to one with onboard audio. It has a Real
Tek ALC850 chip with 7.1 channel audio output. The manual also says it has
integrated Sound Blaster/direct sound AC97 audio. I'm not familiar with
Reak Tek or onboard audio. Will the onboard audio produce better sound than
my Sound Blaster live? I don't plan on using more than two speakers.

Thanks

"Arthur Lipscomb" <> wrote in message
news:KJKdnRx7UsBQynHfRVn-...
> Hello. I have a quick question. I have a Sound Blaster live model
> CT4670.
> I will be upgrading my motherboard to one with onboard audio. It has a
> Real
> Tek ALC850 chip with 7.1 channel audio output. The manual also says it
> has
> integrated Sound Blaster/direct sound AC97 audio. I'm not familiar with
> Reak Tek or onboard audio. Will the onboard audio produce better sound
> than
> my Sound Blaster live? I don't plan on using more than two speakers.
>
> Thanks
>
>
>

I have always been led to believe that it is better to use a dedicated
soundcard if you have one. Not only will the sound be better (think of what
your sound card cost and then think about how much an onboard sound chip
will cost in comparison!), but there should be a performace gain in games as
the soundcard has dedicated processing power on board.

Jambo

On Sun, 31 Jul 2005 14:27:12 GMT As Androids Dreamed Of Electric Sheep
and then "Jambo" <> wrote :

>
>"Arthur Lipscomb" <> wrote in message
>news:KJKdnRx7UsBQynHfRVn-...
>> Hello. I have a quick question. I have a Sound Blaster live model
>> CT4670.
>> I will be upgrading my motherboard to one with onboard audio. It has a
>> Real
>> Tek ALC850 chip with 7.1 channel audio output. The manual also says it
>> has
>> integrated Sound Blaster/direct sound AC97 audio. I'm not familiar with
>> Reak Tek or onboard audio. Will the onboard audio produce better sound
>> than
>> my Sound Blaster live? I don't plan on using more than two speakers.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>>
>>
>
>I have always been led to believe that it is better to use a dedicated
>soundcard if you have one. Not only will the sound be better (think of what
>your sound card cost and then think about how much an onboard sound chip
>will cost in comparison!), but there should be a performace gain in games as
>the soundcard has dedicated processing power on board.
>
>Jambo
>

As above and most of these AC97 chips don't do hardware sound
acceleration,another bottleneck when using media files :/



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Thanks

"Jambo" <> wrote in message
news:4d5He.12035$...
>
> Not only will the sound be better (think of what your sound
> card cost and then think about how much an
> onboard sound chip will cost in comparison!)

I believe my SB Live can be purchased for about £10 or probably
less these days (if you can get it at all), though it cost
considerably more at the time. I'd've thought a deal of that
cost is associated with the fact that it's a separate board and
not down to the chips on it. I don't really know, but I suspect
there's little to choose in cost between an old SB LIve and a
modern on-board sound chip.

> but there should be a performace gain in games as the
> soundcard has dedicated processing power on board.
>

Having said that I still use my SB Live in preference to the
on-board sound chip on my MB, because I also have heard that the
on-board sound systems tend to use up CPU more than dedicated
cards. I've no real idea how true that is in my case, and I've
not tested it.