onboard sound vs. pci128

[Guest]

hello all - i plan on building a system soon and have a question about the sound. i will be buying an epox 8kta3 mb and i know it comes with onboard sound, which i am sure is nothing spectacular. however, i will only be using a $40 two speaker + subwoofer 30 watt system. sound uses will mainly be listening to cds and some light gaming. so, to get to the point, would spending $35 on a creative labs soundblaster pci128 make any appreciable difference on this system`s sound?

thanks

 

[tartarhus]

yes, actually it will. this is especially the case if you intend to play games in pure dos mode. My experience has been that only intel boards have flawless integrated sound that offer no compatability problems with legacy games, or that yeild static free quality output. If you are interested in gaming or music quality i highly recommend purchasing a pci card. i would also recommend spending the extra few bucks to pick up a sound blaster live card, vs their pci128/pci16. Personally, i think it's worth the extra $20.

 

[Guest]

ok, thanks for your input tartarhus.