Request for opinion time.
The scenario:
I have just bought a new motherboard, an MSI 865PE-based FIS2R, with on-board sound (C-Media 9739A)
<A HREF="http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=433&MODEL=MS-6728" target="_new">http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=433&MODEL=MS-6728</A>
I also have tucked away a Soundblaster 4.1 Digital PCI card(well actually it's a 512 or something but i was told about being able to use the 4.1 drivers which have always worked perfectly). This is, clearly, an old PCI card but works well.
The sound is output through an even older 'Seperates' amp, which was cheap and cheerful at the time, although has never given me reason to complain (40w RMS, don't intend on upgrading for a few years).
Now, i could just get off my lazy backside and do a number of changes and listen to quality differences, but i am, as stated, quite lazy.
My question therefore is this:
Will i get be better installing the old Soundblaster PCI card and using that, or using the on-board C-media? This question is both 'better' as measured by sound quality (mostly mp3's at 128 up to 192 rate) and in terms of CPU processing power (ie when i play UT2003 and have mp3 running on winamp at the same time).
<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=18108" target="_new">http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=18108</A>
The scenario:
I have just bought a new motherboard, an MSI 865PE-based FIS2R, with on-board sound (C-Media 9739A)
<A HREF="http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=433&MODEL=MS-6728" target="_new">http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=433&MODEL=MS-6728</A>
I also have tucked away a Soundblaster 4.1 Digital PCI card(well actually it's a 512 or something but i was told about being able to use the 4.1 drivers which have always worked perfectly). This is, clearly, an old PCI card but works well.
The sound is output through an even older 'Seperates' amp, which was cheap and cheerful at the time, although has never given me reason to complain (40w RMS, don't intend on upgrading for a few years).
Now, i could just get off my lazy backside and do a number of changes and listen to quality differences, but i am, as stated, quite lazy.
My question therefore is this:
Will i get be better installing the old Soundblaster PCI card and using that, or using the on-board C-media? This question is both 'better' as measured by sound quality (mostly mp3's at 128 up to 192 rate) and in terms of CPU processing power (ie when i play UT2003 and have mp3 running on winamp at the same time).
<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=18108" target="_new">http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=18108</A>
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