Whether PCI-based or not, my recollection is that an internal modem is functionally a "Winmodem" whether it bears that name or not.  This is because  internal modems (whether PCI or ISA) use the system CPU to perform some of their processing, while an external modem actually has a separate processor built into it and does not "steal" processing capacity from the system CPU.

Therefore, it's my understanding that you'll get better overall system performance by using an external modem.

Of course, to many, it appears more elegant or more "complete" to have the modem built into the system box.  However, even if performance was the same, I greatly prefer being able to watch the modem lights to see what's going on and internal modems just don't let you do that.

- Paul Dalton

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