What are AC'97 audio drivers?

Hey, was going to update my sound card driver, DxDiag says that I have Realtek HD audio, so I went to download off of the Realtek website and there's either HD audio or AC'97 audio, which one would I use since its a built in laptop sound card and how do I install them? Just install straight over the top? Cheers.

YOU DUN HAVE AC97

I know dis, you have HD AUDIO

install that, done.

indeed ac97 is OLD its only still kicking for legacy stuff and servers mostly.

its basically stereo audio while the other is modern channel HD audio. assuming you dont have a stupid old laptop its the one you want (hd audio)

Alright thanks for the info, just another quick question, when I downloaded the HD driver it automatically un-installed the previous audio driver but when my laptop came back on from a restart Vista automatically re-installed the previous driver I just un-installed before I could install the new one, how do I stop that auto update thing?

Vista and Win7 will install a generic audio driver if it has one in its driver database. My question is why are you trying to install new drivers? Audio drivers rarely need to be updated unless the new driver is adding a new feature or compatibility with a particular program or game. I recommend going to Windows Update and checking if it lists a new driver available. If it doesn't I wouldn't bother with updating the driver. Lastly, according to your sig you have a Creative SupremeFX, that is a sound card and therefore makes your onboard realtek audio useless.freesafety13