onboard audio causes decreased gaming performance?

[dud2k]

hi,
i was wondering if having an onboard audio card (rather than having a regular pci audio card) makes the game performanec not as good.
i have an aopen ax64 motherboard.
thanks

 

[johneetrash]

not much, maybe like a few fps

 

[PowerJoe]

The mere on-boardness of the sound chip doesn't matter. I mean, an on-board SB128 is the same as a PCI SB128. However, since on-board sound tends to use cheaper sound controllers, they may cause a slight decrease in performance.

-PJ

 

[Priit]

Any soundcard makes games running a little bit slower than without sound...

 

[damocles]

I have onboard sound on my VH6 and i find that it caused quite notable slowdown. Prior to installing the latest drivers (Win98) the sound card massively slowed down everything i did that was sound orientated. With the latest drivers my PC performace became acceptable when just doing one sound orientated thing, But terrible if i tried to do anything more (ie play mp3s and run even a wimpy gaming interface, such as a MUD). Getting an SB Live fixed all problems.

 

[Tsaico]

I would say the biggest drop in performance is the subpar choice in parts, but you get that when you buy el cheapo pci sound cards too, and the inefficent drivers usually provided. Other than that, I would say they are the same. I have used both types and haen't noticed anything too bad. Of course, most of the games I play I do not set to any special sounds. Just enough to know if my warriors are under attack... But obviously, if you play games with ambient sounds and effects, like UT, Quake, and a lot of RPGs then you will bite a performance dip.