UT2004 performance

[rix]

Hi all,
    Today while playing UT2004 I decided I wanted to listen to a CD 
while playing the game. So I inserted the CD fired up alsaplayer and 
started UT2004 while listening to Smashing Pumkins. It works great, no 
music dropouts and smooth video performance. Concerned about the fps hit 
I am taking while using alsaplayer I decided to run the benchmark with 
alsaplayer running in the background. Here are the results:

UT2004 Build UT2004_Build_[2004-03-03_02.42]
x86 Linux
AuthenticAMD PentiumPro-class processor @ 2215 MHz
GeForce4 Ti 4800/AGP/SSE/3DNOW!
 
dm-rankin?spectatoronly=1?numbots=12?quickstart=1?attractcam=1 
-benchmark -seconds=77 -ini=default.ini 
-exec=..BenchmarkStuffbotmatchexec.txt
 
22.433994 / 68.405220 / 153.452713 fps         rand[788466878]
Score = 66.689217

Here are the results *without* alsaplayer running in the background:

UT2004 Build UT2004_Build_[2004-03-03_02.42]
x86 Linux
AuthenticAMD PentiumPro-class processor @ 2205 MHz
GeForce4 Ti 4800/AGP/SSE/3DNOW!
 
dm-rankin?spectatoronly=1?numbots=12?quickstart=1?attractcam=1 
-benchmark -seconds=77 -ini=default.ini 
-exec=..BenchmarkStuffbotmatchexec.txt
 
28.704493 / 57.508266 / 124.398933 fps         rand[788466878]
Score = 57.248047
 
My question is why am I getting 9 fps more with alsaplayer running? I 
would have thought I'd get less fps. Of course audio isn't working in 
the game while I'm running alsaplayer. By default does UT2004 use alsa? 
I see alot of references to OpenAL in the game and on the mailing list, 
how does this relate to ALSA. Can I keep this 9 fps gain simply by 
editing the right audio config files and using ALSA for the audio in the 
game?

                     TIA
                      Rick Belins