My old sound card or on-board sound - which to use?

[Bananadude]

I have a Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo 7.1 sound card that I've had a few years. It's a good card. Never had any problems with it anyway. I only have a 2.1 setup, although they're pretty good speakers.

I'm just wondering, as I'm about to upgrade and get an Asus P5W64-WS Pro Intel 975X, if the on-board sound of this board would be better than the Hercules sound card?

If a NEW sound card is going to make the world of difference, I'd consider buying one, but I'm just wondering how my old card would compare to the on-board sound of this motherboard.

 

[Bizarre]

I'm just wondering how my old card would compare to the on-board sound of this motherboard.

Shamelessly copied + pasted + chopped 'n' screwed from another site.

Most dedicated soundcards will almost always perform better (CPU and sound quality wise) because there is more hardware devoted to the task at hand. A dedicated sound card often has more chips and transistors to create sound, whereas most of the integrated solutions have only 1 chip, few transistors, and often rely on software emulation to produce sound. This causes CPU load and can also degrade the sound quality. To best answer your question though, I would suggest that you compare the P5W64-WS Pro's integrated sound (SoundMax 7.1-codec ADI 1988B) to that of the Fortissimo sound card and stick to the one that you prefer best.

Just for reference - I prefer my Audigy 4 a hell of a lot more than my P5B deluxe's onboard sound which uses the same SoundMax 7.1 codec as your P5W64-WS Pro.

GL.

 

[squiffy]

However I've found my older "better" soundcard SB Live has sound issues, tried CL and Knoxx? drivers, just weird sounds. Disabled EAX as well. Realtek 882 might be software, but it works. Not interested in the new CL cards either.

 

[Biglunn]

It seems like that motherboard has the same sound chip as on my motherboard, and on my P5B it sucks. Too many problems. Personally, I wouldnt rely on that sound - use the Hercules card or get yourself a new card.

If you must use onboard sound, then find a motherboard that doesnt use that chip.