Is there a speed hit using 686B sound codec on KT133A motherboards?

[kenr]

The title says it all. I'm curious whether or not using the Via AC97 Codec on the 686B Southbridge that's on many KT133A motherboards(in my case the Epox) reduces the speed of the system at all compared to using an actual hardware sound card. Is the codec offloading some of the work to the processor, or is it all in hardware? I've done some searching on the web and haven't found much. If anyone knows of an article where this is discussed, i'd appreciate it.

Thanks!
_Ken

 

[Peter]

Don't mix things up - the sound ENGINE is what's in the 686B, the sound CODEC is a separate little thingie (connected through an AC97 bus) that just does analog-to-digital (and back) conversions.

The codec does its work independently. The CPU load question is to be asked for the sound engine. These may be stupid and let the CPU do all the work, or intelligent. An AC97 connection to the codec is no sign of a stupid engine.

Now VIA's sound engine in 686A or 686B is a particularly stupid one, and has only two channels. This is good enough for a two-speaker setup for the occasional beep or music, but those in search of performance better use an add-on card.

SiS has a much better integrated sound engine - six channels and a brain of its own

Regards, Peter