R
RWhite
Well-known member
Usually I'm pretty good on answering other's PC questions, but I want to get some other folks feedback on this issue.
First the background: In my main PC I use a Gadget Labs Wave 824 for audio recording. This unit uses a PCI card connected to an external box. I also have an old SoundBlaster 16 ISA card in the system. I have it for two reasons: one, in case I want to play the occasional game, and two because it has a Roland Sound Canvas daughtercard that I use for some MIDI sounds.
I also have an extra sound card, a Diamond Monster MX200 PCI, with a MIDI daughtercard sounding as good as the Roland. Its normal sound (i.e. games) is quite a bit better than the Sound Blaster 16.
Now here's the question: If my prime goal is to make sure my Gadget labs units keeps working flawlessly, am I better off using an ISA or a PCI soundcard? A Gadget Labs rep told me (before they went out of business) that a PCI sound card could theoretically cause some noise on the PCI bus which could be picked up by the Gadget Labs card. On the other hand, I know that ISA sound cards cause a much larger cpu resource "hit" than do PCI sound cards. I have seen test data that shows a working ISA sound card can consume up to 30% of your cpu resources, as opposed to the typical PCI card which is between 3-5%.
So far the SB16 has not caused me any problems, but I am temped to tinker with the system. Has anybody had any experiances with a similar situation?
First the background: In my main PC I use a Gadget Labs Wave 824 for audio recording. This unit uses a PCI card connected to an external box. I also have an old SoundBlaster 16 ISA card in the system. I have it for two reasons: one, in case I want to play the occasional game, and two because it has a Roland Sound Canvas daughtercard that I use for some MIDI sounds.
I also have an extra sound card, a Diamond Monster MX200 PCI, with a MIDI daughtercard sounding as good as the Roland. Its normal sound (i.e. games) is quite a bit better than the Sound Blaster 16.
Now here's the question: If my prime goal is to make sure my Gadget labs units keeps working flawlessly, am I better off using an ISA or a PCI soundcard? A Gadget Labs rep told me (before they went out of business) that a PCI sound card could theoretically cause some noise on the PCI bus which could be picked up by the Gadget Labs card. On the other hand, I know that ISA sound cards cause a much larger cpu resource "hit" than do PCI sound cards. I have seen test data that shows a working ISA sound card can consume up to 30% of your cpu resources, as opposed to the typical PCI card which is between 3-5%.
So far the SB16 has not caused me any problems, but I am temped to tinker with the system. Has anybody had any experiances with a similar situation?