Hi people.
Few months ago I built my new pc (Celeron 1.1Ghz) which is standing on a Soyo (7vba 133U) motherboard. It comes with an integrated audio chip on-board (AC97 audio codec). I've been using it till now.

Meanwhile, i have this Sound Blaster AWE 64 (ISA) left in my older Pentium MMX which i kept (but almost never use).

The question is, which is better? I ask because for example, in Grand Theft Auto 3 and Grand Prix 4 games i've read that the integrated audio has a software buffer which drastically reduces performance, while the Add-on cards have it by hardware.
To put it simply, i would like to know two things: Which produces better sound quality, and if using the SB and disabling the onboard would leverage my computer performance (mainly at games).
If not, i'd rather keep the SB in the older machine so i have it sound equipped too (although i can reinstall it later if i need to).

BTW, i have Windows XP, 384MB of RAM and a GF2 MX200 32MB in case it helps.

If I was there, I would use SB AWE64 for performance wise. SB is great hardware, and great company. AC97, being that it is onboard, if by chance you damage the AC97 by speaker connection, you would loose your MB with a good chance. To save hardware and performance, I would use the SB. That way, if SB gets damaged, then you can either add another or use AC97. Yes, AC97 would have slower performance. Hardware controller is best way. If your looking for init cost side of this issue, then use AC97. AC97 is out there for mainly cost purpose. A lot of MB out there comes with AC97, due to limiting the cost of MB with added hardware. Who wants to pay double the amount on system to get extra parts to have what you already have on system that comes with onboard video, audio, ethernet, and modem. In the future sight and insurance, it is better to pay more than everything on onboard.

ISA generally comes with 8bit, 16bit, and 32bit. The SB you have, probably runs on 24 bit.

Thanks for your reply minotaur_23, i'll install the SB tonight and see how much i gain. I'll post back on Tuesday (when i get back to work!)
I know that having onboard stuff sucks (if you add it to having few expansion slots, an onboard chip ceases to function and the whole MB is useless)
That's why i bought a MB with only onboard sound and got sure it could be disabled if needed ;)

Well, you were right, there was a better performance under games! Both GTA3 and Grand Prix 4 stopped halting for short moments like they did before thus greatly enhancing gameplay. As for the sound quality, i didn't noticed any change (not better nor worse). If anyone knows which is capable of producing better quality, i'd like to know, however i suspect the SB wins at this point too, even being older.

If it where a newer SB I'd say it would, but on board audio has made great strides in recent years so they are at least par....with maybe a slight edge to the onboard for quality, but as you have found out performance is better with the add in card.

Maybe you're right, however since the difference is not noticeable for me i'll prioritize performance over sound quality and keep the SB. I may go with a newer EAX capable Soundblaster in the future, as of now my pockets are empty! :(