Which is better for someone who just wants basic sound? I’ve been using my SB Live Value for years but I have always noticed in some games it was “scratchy” (OP:FP, 1942) and I am thinking of using the mobo sound on my MSI K7TPro 2a with 1.2Ghz Athlon. Will it take away processor power?
As well, I’ll probably be upgrading within the next few months to a new mobo (undecided if AMD or Intel). Is newer mobo sound any different the 97? Just as good as a cheapo soundcard?
Thanks!
Uh, it is possible that your speakers are at fault.
With what? The scratching? No, its not. Its the card and possbily combatibility problems with some games/accelerated sound.
Soundblaster live value sucks…
It is called value for a reason… it is a cheap card… I hated the thing…
I bought an audigy… and I could not believe the difference in sound…
with that said… try to use the on-board sound… it is not going to be good, but if you don’t need great sound it will be fine… but will also use some RAM…
SOME onboard sound is good.
The onboard sound on the Nvidia NForce-based motherboards is as feature packed as any creative labs sound card (because its an off-shoot of Nvidia’s XBox audio chip).
For the most part though, they’re very basic. Might be better than your SB live – wouldn’t hurt to try.
As for Creative Labs, I’m sorry, they pump out card after card, year after year, claiming better sound on each one, and I’m just at the point that I think they’re just slapping new labels on the same old carp and suckering people into buying it.
Buy Turtle Beach! 
Depending on what you’re using it for, onboard sound can be perfectly fine. I would always prefer an actual soundcard, just because of how much I use my computer for everything–cds, mp3s, DVDs, TV, games, and so on. There can also be ActiveX conflicts with onboard sound. When I installed my copy of Unreal Tournament on the family computer which had an onboard sound, the audio had lots of pops and other problems because the ActiveX was conflicting.
If you can afford it, I would recommend getting an actual soundcard if you plan on playing lots of games, listening to music, or watching movies. If you just want to wordprocess and check email, then onboard is probably fine.