MSE K7T Pro - onboard audio or SB Live?

[Dethoff]

I am looking for advice as I am about to build the following system:


MSI KT7 PRO MB
AMD Duron 650 boxed
128 MB PC133 RAM
Zephyr Mid tower case
Maxtor 30GB 7200 RPM HD
CL Modem Blaster 56 K PCI fax
CL Annihilator 2 MX (a geforce 2 MX card)
Pioneer 10x DVD
Iomega Zip drive
Win 98 SE



The only thing I haven't decided on is whether to use the onboard sound or not. I actually own a Soundblaster Live MP3 card which is currently in an older computer. I could pull the SB Live out of the old box, but then have to replace it with the original equipment which was an Ensonic PCI card. On my old system, I had upgraded from the Ensonic to the SBLive but never really felt like it offered much more.


My question: Why bother to use the SB live rather than the on board audio? I don't want to go to the hassle of swapping cards, drivers, etc from the older machine unless there is a compelling reason.


I am not interested in overclocking. The machine will be used by my teenage daughter who listens to a lot of music, rips and downloads MP3's and plays some games. She has no interest in a four speaker set up.


I would appreciate your opinion and any other advice you might have before I start the process of building the machine.


Thanks so much for any hints you can give me.


John Dethoff

 

[watkins]

Start with the on board sound after all your are just loading drivers. You can always go to the hardware answer at a later date. It will at least give you the basics.

 

[hclarkjr]

i had that motherboard before my current one. i liked the built in sound on it very much. i think she will be happy with it. just make sure you have good speaker setup for it.

 

[DeezNtz]

If you truly cared about the sound then you would go for the SBLive! and a good 4.1 speaker setup but since the machine is for your daughter then the onboard audio is good enough. Just make sure to give her some decent speakers.

 

[Mem]

I have the same system(MSI K7T PRO & SBLIVE),it`s best to use the SBlive since you will have four speaker support ,better sound & it will only use around 1% of Cpu power where`s the Motherboard onboard audio would use more processor power which would hurt your FPS in games,but since the above things are not important to her needs use onboard audio for quick setup.