What's better: Old soundcard or new onboard codec?

Hello newsgroup.

I am getting a new computer soon, the mainboard in the new pc has an
onboard audio chip (realtek ACL888).

Now, in my old computer I have the Soundblaster live installed (the
very first version from 1998). I am thinking about what I should using
in the new system: Should I stick with the onboard sound, or install
the soundcard from the old pc in the new one?

I can remember how onboards used to suck very much.. have they got
better? Are the new realteks better than the old creatives?

<PSiegmann@mail.nu> wrote in message
news:1181192841.579866.254000@n4g2000hsb.googlegro ups.com...
> Hello newsgroup.
>
> I am getting a new computer soon, the mainboard in the new pc has an
> onboard audio chip (realtek ACL888).
>
> Now, in my old computer I have the Soundblaster live installed (the
> very first version from 1998). I am thinking about what I should using
> in the new system: Should I stick with the onboard sound, or install
> the soundcard from the old pc in the new one?
>
> I can remember how onboards used to suck very much.. have they got
> better? Are the new realteks better than the old creatives?

If you're grating carrots, the SB live will work better.

What do you plan on DOING with the sound?

On Wed, 06 Jun 2007 22:07:21 -0700, PSiegmann@mail.nu wrote:

>Hello newsgroup.
>
>I am getting a new computer soon, the mainboard in the new pc has an
>onboard audio chip (realtek ACL888).
>
>Now, in my old computer I have the Soundblaster live installed (the
>very first version from 1998). I am thinking about what I should using
>in the new system: Should I stick with the onboard sound, or install
>the soundcard from the old pc in the new one?
>
>I can remember how onboards used to suck very much.. have they got
>better? Are the new realteks better than the old creatives?


Onboard audio now has more bells and whistles, and more
channels of output, even digital I/O in some cases but for
overall clean analog output the SB Live is better. I'm
very picky about audio and would say yes, practically all of
the truely onboard audio is horrible, but another person
might hear the same audio and think it isn't so bad, and
their amp/speakers may not be so sensitive to reveal some of
the noise others will hear.

When the "onboard" audio uses a riser card that does more
than just convert output pins to physical jacks, that can
help remove some of the difference but still if the SB live
supports the features you need, it's the best option. If
your card has the onboard speaker amp chip (think it's a
Phillips DIP16 chip towards the top and there'd be a jumper
for speaker vs (headphone?) mode, you'd be better off using
the (headphone?), unamp'd output then a separate amp to
drive the speakers in most cases.

<PSiegmann@mail.nu> wrote in message
news:1181192841.579866.254000@n4g2000hsb.googlegro ups.com...
> Hello newsgroup.
>
> I am getting a new computer soon, the mainboard in the new pc has an
> onboard audio chip (realtek ACL888).
>
> Now, in my old computer I have the Soundblaster live installed (the
> very first version from 1998). I am thinking about what I should using
> in the new system: Should I stick with the onboard sound, or install
> the soundcard from the old pc in the new one?
>
> I can remember how onboards used to suck very much.. have they got
> better? Are the new realteks better than the old creatives?

From 1998? Is that PCI or ISA? If it is ISA, then put it on ebay, you'll get
a tenner from someone. If it is PCI, then why not compare and contrast when
your new board arrives...

On 7 Jun., 11:58, "GT" <ContactGT_remo...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> From 1998? Is that PCI or ISA? If it is ISA, then put it on ebay, you'll get
> a tenner from someone. If it is PCI, then why not compare and contrast when
> your new board arrives...

It's PCI:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster_Live!

I have the live value btw.

<PSiegmann@mail.nu> wrote in message
news:1181218586.309415.225580@p47g2000hsd.googlegr oups.com...
> On 7 Jun., 11:58, "GT" <ContactGT_remo...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> From 1998? Is that PCI or ISA? If it is ISA, then put it on ebay, you'll
>> get
>> a tenner from someone. If it is PCI, then why not compare and contrast
>> when
>> your new board arrives...
>
> It's PCI:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster_Live!

In which case, just try it in your new PC and see if it improves anything
over the on-board sound.

The problem with using onboard audio is that the $5 audio chip on the
motherboard utilizes the CPU and main system RAM to process the sound, thus
slowing down your system.

--
---------------------
DaveW
<PSiegmann@mail.nu> wrote in message
news:1181192841.579866.254000@n4g2000hsb.googlegro ups.com...
> Hello newsgroup.
>
> I am getting a new computer soon, the mainboard in the new pc has an
> onboard audio chip (realtek ACL888).
>
> Now, in my old computer I have the Soundblaster live installed (the
> very first version from 1998). I am thinking about what I should using
> in the new system: Should I stick with the onboard sound, or install
> the soundcard from the old pc in the new one?
>
> I can remember how onboards used to suck very much.. have they got
> better? Are the new realteks better than the old creatives?
>

On Thu, 7 Jun 2007 15:02:50 -0700, "DaveW" <nothing@bot.org>
wrote:

>The problem with using onboard audio is that the $5 audio chip on the
>motherboard utilizes the CPU and main system RAM to process the sound, thus
>slowing down your system.

So do many sound cards, but neither are much overhead unless
talking about 3D environmental effects in some games.