Can I use a sound card as well as onboard audio?

[keiron99]

I've just built a new PC. There is on board audio on the motherboard,
and I also have a PCI sound card. For various long winded reasons, I
want to operate both at the same time. However, as far as I can tell
with Vista, I cannot do this. I have to go into the settings and
switch between the two.

Does anyone know of a way of enabling them both to operate at the same
time?

 

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

With motherboards that have integrated audio or video chips, the integrated
chips are usually automatically disabled when you install an add-in card for
that function. The settings for this will be in the BIOS. You might want to
check the BIOS settings to see if there is something there that allows you
to enable the integrated sound with a separate card installed.

 

[Jay]

From my experience, and it has been the same for all OS's I've tried, one
sound source has to be set as default. Many programs requiring sound, such
as voice chat and multitrack recording/playback have a feature from which
you can choose the source you want to use.

Keep in mind, however, that many great long lived sound devices (Such as
Creative SB 64, 128, and 128 Live!) are no longer supported in the Vista
environment. The best thing to do is check the hardware compatability list
for Windows Vista.

Jay