Does a soundcard really help take off CPU load?

I know that it won't do much, but please, let's not get into a discussion on why I am upgrading an old system instead of getting a new one.

Anyway, I have integrated sound on my desktop, and I read that some PCI soundcards can help with the audio processing, so I was wondering if I could help performance by any, if at all, if I installed a PCI soundcard to take some of the load off of the CPU when dealing with audio.

Would this help at all? Even by a little? And if so, any recommendations? I only need 2.0 stereo, nothing fancy.

I think that really applies to gaming more than anything else. I use both onboard audio and a Creative X-Fi (which is a soundcard where they do make claims about improving performance), and whichever I use, they are both at 0% CPU, as near as makes no difference. That is with plain audio listening, I don't do gaming, so I can't comment about whether it really does help with that. In short, I really don't think you would notice any performance benefits by adding a sound card.

If you are into gaming or audio recording, then a quality soundcard and speakers are a must. Otherwise, onboard sound (I'm talking Realtek here, not Hong Kong Billy's Hissing Soundchip Deluxe) is more than adequate. But, as SuperSparks said, you will not find any significant CPU performance differencers between the two. Onboard sound nowadays has just as much CPU draw as a soundcard for the most part.

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Originally Posted by bistro

Onboard sound nowadays has just as much CPU draw as a soundcard for the most part.

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This isn't a nowadays system though, its a Pentium 3.

Try doing some audio stuff and keep an eye on Task Manager at the same time. See if the onboard sound does appear to be using any noticeable amount of CPU cycles.