"borrowing" 3rd party sound software?

[Spec-Chum]

I've got an MSI Gaming 5 mobo that comes with a Realtek ALC1150 chip and Sound Blaster Cinema II software, however the Gigabyte Gaming 5 mobo has the same ALC1150 but comes with Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3 software, which looks like it could be better, Sniper function etc

Reckon it'd work? Is the Sound Blaster a pure software solution, or is there a custom chip on each mobo?

I know I could just try, but I'm at work at the mo at just wanted to make sure no one has tried it and created a black-hole that ate their living room. Or something.

[Millennium]

You could give it a go. You'd probably need to mod an INF with the correct device ID. There are probably loads of forums out there that could just do that for you though, perhaps guru3d's custom driver modders would give it a shot - or Uni from the Uni Xonar project. Worth a shot, you'd be best off making a thread when asking just so others can also benefit.

Try Fidelizer and KM Player with reclock and WASAPI if you're already going to this much trouble, too. They are good solutions.
blief.