Onboard Audio vs Dedicated Sound Card

[strike101]

Just found my old SBLive 5.1 (SB0200) on one of the old motherboard boxes ,

I'm not that picky when I comes to sound quality , my question is.. when it comes to performance , does these onboard audio like Realtek HD Audio (ALC892) consume less CPU resources than the SBlive 5.1 when it comes to gaming ?

 

[Pariah]

If you don't care about audio quality, the onboard will be fine. The performance differences are negligible.

 

[strike101]

ok thanks , I was just hoping to raise a few fps cause my processor is a bit slow

 

[mfenn]

An SB Live 5.1 is pretty vintage. In terms of technical codec quality, the ALC892 is almost certainly superior. The SB probably has better isolation from electrical noise, but that would only be an advantage if you currently hear hums, pops, etc in your onboard sound.

 

[Zorander]

If your onboard sounds ok or has no discernible pops, I say use it. I owned a Live before and I don't think it's that good sounding at all.

 

[BrightCandle]

Windows today is almost exclusively software driven for sound. Beyond the basics of the DACs there isn't any real benefit to the discrete card. It does presumably come with CMSS so you might find in games with surround sound that turning on CMSS 3D for headphones will give you a better surround sound effect than the realtek onboard but that really depends on your ear shape and the headphones you are using.

 

[corkyg]

Windows today is almost exclusively software driven for sound. Beyond the basics of the DACs there isn't any real benefit to the discrete card. It does presumably come with CMSS so you might find in games with surround sound that turning on CMSS 3D for headphones will give you a better surround sound effect than the realtek onboard but that really depends on your ear shape and the headphones you are using.

This! The ultimate judges of sound quality are your ears, and they will appreciate external transducer quality more than the digital source.

 

[lamedude]

Only thing a Live has going for it is DOS support if you want to use the real thing.