The only difference is that this particular package was specifically adapted for use with the company's range of chipsets and audio solutions. The Realtek High Definition Audio Codec essentially follows the same standard that Intel established. However, as technological improvements to audio chipsets came, so did the need for a new standard. It featured 5.1 surround sound support and could process audio with up to a 96 kHz sampling rate at 20-bit resolution.
It was used on the majority of motherboards, modems, and sound cards during that time. AC'97 is an audio codec standard developed by Intel in the late 1990s.
