On Board Extras?

[Bablos]

Hi There...

I've been looking at the new Soyo KT333 motherboard, and it has some nice extras like onboard LAN, 6 channel audio, USB 2.0, etc.

My question is relating to the extras - will the onboard features affect the performance of the board at all?

Take the LAN connection as an example - will there be any difference between using a NIC or the onboard LAN? Will disabling the onboard LAN connector make any difference to the speed of the machine?

Similarly with the 6 channel sound connections - if I stick with my current VideoLogic DigiTheatre, am I likely to get better results than with the on-board sound? OK, I realise this is more complex, as I have a decent sound card, but will using on board sound use up more processing cycles than with a dedicated sound card, or do I have nothing to worry about at all?

Hope someone can help.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Most if not all onboard stuff will take grunt away from the cpu. 🙁

 

[Qumahlin]

The onboard lan and such will not hurt your performance at all. the audio is handled by the Media Control Processor which is actually VERY fast and can work better then a separate soundcard.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Does that apply to the above mentioned board or boards in general? 😕

 

[Sazar]

I concur with qumahlin... firstly because he is smarter than me, secondly because he has a higher iq, thirdly because he has more brain power than me and lastly because he has a better avatar...

the 6 channel may not be top of the line audigy type material but it is more than adequate... also the features you have listed do not appear to take away from the board itself... I checked out the board and its not bad... myself I am getting either an asus, abit or msi board supporting 333 mhz ddr but without raid... its cheaper... 🙂 and you can buy 4 usb external, 1 internal pci cards which support usb 2.0 so that is not a must have really...

 

[Bablos]

I'm not fully convinced by the Soyo board as of yet - it's price tag (£159.99 UK) puts me off. The equivalent MSI KT333 board with all the bells and whistles comes in at around £40 less, and allows it's BIOS to be updated whilst online in Windows - a bonus, as flashing BIOSes scares the hell out of me! Mind you, the MSI board doesn't have a LAN connection, or a nice little box containing LEDs and USB ports to mount in my spare 3.5" bay.

Decisions, decisions!