Why do i even have a sound card?

[Pollux]

My new system is built and running perfectly. except for a few minor glitches of course ;P. however one question is this. i have the creative labs pc-dvd encore with dxr3 , the creative labs soundblaster live! platinum , and the creative labs desktop theatre dtt2500 digital. my question is this. as of right now i have the analog from the dvd connected to the dxr3 card, the digital connected to the sound card, and the analog of my cd-rw connected to my sound card. however according to instruction booklets, i don't need anything connected to my sound card as long as i have the ac3 plugged into my digital receiver. in fact creative labs suggests not connecting the two cards. my question is how is my sound card used? not really a big problem, but an interesting question. thanks
-pollux

[tlwhite76]

Pollux: Hi, did you build it yourself or did you buy it that way?

[Pollux]

i built it myself.

Abit BP-6 with dual celeron 400's@595
CL TNT2 Ultra
Netgear 10/100 ethernet
CL pc-dvd with dxr3 decoder card
CL SoundBlaster Live! Platinum
Philips CD-RW
External 100mb Iomega Zip

It is having some problems with the dvd. the video sometimes skips and some programs (i.e. Power DVD) won't even run. However i still have the same question with the soundcard.
-pollux

[BBA]

You would be surprised to find out that the TNT2U plays DVD's better with WinDVD than the CL decoder card can even come close to!

I found it out by experimentation...I like watching DVD's at 1600x1200 smoothly over a poor overlay decoder card thats resolution challenged.

[Underclocked]

Hey, you gotta have a game port somewhere. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif