I would simply turn off the computer's onboard sound - you won't miss it - and use the 2496 for everything. I believe a simple setting in BIOS..? But your Mother Board instructions(Or where you bought your computer), should tell you how.

TG

I wouldn't be so sure about running all your sound on the 2496. I think I tried playing back media player through one at work and it didn't work too hot (could have been a screwy computer though). I know my RME card SUCKS for playing back windows sounds and games and DVDs and stuff. But that isn't what it was intended for. I would keep your onboard audio for regular stuff and use the 2496 for recording purposes.

Reggie,

You definitely need to do some work on your machine, here...

For one thing, a "serious" audio person turns off things like Windows Sounds - they can be problematic for an audio system. For another thing, if your RME card won't even play CD's, I would be REALLY looking for answers... My Lynx doesn't even have to be hooked up to the internal CD player(Actually it CAN'T be hooked up to the CD player!), but it still plays CD's - and EVERYTHING else - just fine... Your RME will, too!

TG

I'm rarely "serious" :P
But this guy is planning on using his computer for games and recreation (as do I) and I stand by my recommendation of using a separate sound card for extracurriculars. The RME sucked playing back game sound and DVD sound last time I tried. No worries though, because I have a SB Audigy for that junk. Retarded Windows beeps and other junk are of course turned off anyway, foo.

i have to agree with Teddy G,
i guess it's a bit a point of decision as well, if you have a "pro" soundcard why using the onboard crap?? (that doesn't make any sense!!!) if your "pro" soundcard wan't play CDs or DVDs and the like, than there is something SERIOUS wrong with your maschine, for SHURE it is screwed, on the other hand if you don't dedicate your comp for audio in the first place, and set it up so that the "pro" soundcard performs well, why bothering buying and installing a decent soundcard??, if you only or mostly use it for games, cds and the like you can happiely live with the onboard crap or a soundblaster, game / entertainment card.

ohh, and i have to add, the 2496 pci is a stunning little card for the MONEY YOU PAY and performs well, for recording and playing back ALL sort of sources, if set up propperly!! you probably forgot to disable the onbord card (forever), as teddy mentioned!

Speaking of "serious", I had an SB card of some sort, about 5 years ago(A couple of different ones actually) and I wanted to uninstall it/them. I emailed SB tech support for the "full manual uninstall" instuctions. I got a 3 page(+?) email in return with the instructions... In those instructions it said(Wildly paraphrased, it's been a while.): "...you may also have to "remove other things...", with no clue as to what those "other things" were? Inotherwords, even SB apparently could not tell me exactly how to get rid of the SB drivers completely! After pondering the email for awhile, I just reformatted(Which surely got rid of the "other things"!!) and moved on to a much better soundcard - in this case, a LynxOne, which handles everything very well. Serious, or not, at least dump the onboard "card" in favor of the 2496. If it, then, doesn't "do it all properly", contact the manufacturer for their instructions - which I hope are more complete than SB's...... Maybe the 2496 or RME model is not intended for some of one's purposes - surround, etc??? (I bet it is at least as good as any onboard device, but??? I don't know, I don't have one.). For now though the most likely cause of problems is that there are TWO(2) sound devices "fighting" for control. Disabling the onboard should allow the 2496 to "win". If not? You can always re-enable the onboard.

Speaking of serious sound problems. Another problem I've had "sound-wise", Lynx or not, is Windows Media Player, which has it's own set of problems. I have found no suitable replacement for WMP - have tried others but they all had their own set of bizarities.

I have(On my desktop) a download of Foobar 2000 Special, which I'm considering installing and trying, but will likely wait until I get another hard drive to try it on - I try hard to not try "new things" on my main drives. I have all HD's on drawers but as 4 of them went bye-bye, recently, I am not back up-to-speed yet(Only 2 of the 4 replaced) to have a "test drive" setup...

The single, biggest problem I see(On many machines) is that people "try stuff", then uninstall it(Not completely, as the "auto-uninstaller" never seems to get it all?). Then, they try something else and somethings else, etc. Soon the machine is so full of partial drivers and settings that nothing works right.

The hardest thing to do is to keep a "clean machine", but we must keep trying.

TG

if you have particular problems with either media player or winamp, which i have heard of, often (i don't personally have a PC, thou...) then try jet audio, many of my friends raving about it, and it seems to be trouble free... to run with any card for playback of ANY, audio and video format!!! out-there...

otherwise as teddy says... i agree.

I'll look into Jet Audio. Never heard of it(That's no surprise! I don't get around much...). All I need is a player to just play stuff I do and website audio, etc. I don't need "playlists"(Whatever they are?), fancy graphic displays while I listen, downloading of artists information(I know who I am!), whatever... JUST a PLAYER! For standard audio/video.

Thankx for the suggestion!

TG

yeah, it's really good,
i mean REALLY REALLY good, you can basically "disable" all the fancy stuff, the standard GUI is clean without fuzz, and it really plays about ALL known audio and video files incl. DVD and OGG VORBIS, etc., etc. it's from the iAudio guys http://eng.iaudio.com/

and it doesn't stick nasty meta info on your files like macamp, e.g.

plus the soundengine sounds superb, really nice it is...

after my knowledge the standard version is free...

Motherboard Monitor 5

Page 11 of the manual dudes. Take it up with RME. And it is just easier for me to use the SB for DVD.

Professional recording cards are built specifically for professional recording. Consumer sound cards are for consumer applications.

What Reggie suggests is absolutely fine.

Most (if not all) recording cards will let you lock a sample rate, to keep windows' sounds from affecting the soundcard while tracking.

Most (if not all) audio apps give you the option to release your drivers in the background, which you can always choose to not select.

I used to use an Audiophile 2496, and kept my soundblaster card at the same time for system sounds, no problems at all. The delta cards are great for recording, but the old drivers didn't support directsound or MME....a check at their website does show current driver support for it. YMMV, but I wouldn't disable your onbaord audio until you've tested the audiophile in media players, games, etc., if you want it to work for those things.

-eric.

edit: **you need to enable irq sharing (if it isn't already) in your bios to run two soundcards**