I have a Creative Soundblaster 1024 Live! 5.1 digital sound card from about three years back. When I upgraded my computer a couple of years ago I carried my old sound card across to my new computer. Many new computers these days have on-board sound chips. How do these compare with my sound card? In other words, if I bought a new computer with a 5.1 (or better) on-board sound chip would I be better off using the on-board chip or my old sound card (in terms of sound quality, given the same speakers)?
2006-07-04 08:17:20 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
Onboard sound vs Sound expansion card. Your sound card contains its own sound prosessor. Onboard sound relies on your systems central processing unit (CPU). Using a sound card (up to date) will almost always produce better sound than onboard chips. And will absolutely free up CPU usage for other processes. System performance will improve by using expansion cards for sound and video.
2006-07-04 08:41:02 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I currently have four sound cards on my PC and they work happily together. The on-board one I use for a headset for chat (because of the low stress that chat puts on the sound card), the Soundblaster Audigy I use with a 6.1 surround system for professional production and the other two are in a DJ controller that I use for mixing.
So, the main issue to consider is that anything 'on-board' i.e. on the motherboard (sound, graphics etc) will be slower than using an add in like a PCI sound card, AGP graphics card or USB/Firewire device (although USB and Firewire aren't very fast at transferring data).
With an on-board sound card, if you use your computer for sound-intensive applications at the same time as doing other motherboard-intensive tasks (that's just about anything), you risk the sound quality degrading and breaking up. This may not happen or might not be a problem if you are playing games at home, but if you are using your computer to DJ in a nightclub, you'd probably end up with an empty dance-floor.
2006-07-04 15:39:15 · answer #2 · answered by PAUL R 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the sound card has onboard memory (and most do) it has an advantage over the onboard chip, which generally doesn't have much real estate in the motherboard.
You are in an excellent position to try both and see what you think. You may have to disable the onboard chip in the bios to use the sound card.
2006-07-04 15:29:33 · answer #3 · answered by Computer Guy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In my experiance the sound quality of onboard sound cards isn't as good as add in cards, if they were add in manufacturers wouldn't exist. Keep the 1024, it's a reasonable card. Onboard cards use the CPU for alot of their processing which can inhibit performance - not that you'd notice on a modern PC.
2006-07-04 15:26:00 · answer #4 · answered by Tom F 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the onboard 5.1 sound chips are very good, you just don't have all the software you would have with the creative card
2006-07-04 15:19:51 · answer #5 · answered by butchell 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the on bord sound is beter with good quailty speakers
2006-07-04 15:30:09 · answer #6 · answered by staffieredspain 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋