Soundblaster Live 5.1 versus CT- 7NJL1 onboard sound

Hi,
I've posted this in the Chaintech ng as well, but thought I'd ask the
resident experts of u.c.h their opinions too...

Which will give me the best sound quality or possibilities?
I do not currently own a 5.1 speaker set (though I can patch the sound
through some quality Cambridge stereo speakers). At the moment I use the
onboard C-Media which is ok, but I don't know any better.... I just came
into possession of a SB Live card and wondered at the possibilities,
especially as I enjoy a lot of gaming... any opinions gladly accepted.

Cheers!
Andy

 

Onboard sound (the cmedia one anyway) is of sub-standard quality compared to
the sb live. However, I ditched my sb live in favour of the nforce 2 audio I
have on my abit and is far superior. It depends on the onboard sound chip
really, I know on my old asus that the cmedia onboard chip (8738 6 channel)
would eat into the cpu power and wasn't a very good chip compared to the sb
live......Hope that helps?