[linux-audio-user] APIC, IRQ, and an HDSP9652

[Nathan]

Hi all,
This is my first post here, so hello everybody.  I'm running
PlanetCCRMA's FC3 distro (low-latency kernel
2.6.11-0.3.rdt.rhfc3.ccrma) on an Athlon 64 3000+ w. an NF4 chipset. 
As far as sound goes, I'm using the integrated CK804 (w. snd-intel8x0
drivers) and an RME HDSP9652 (w. snd-hdsp).

The questions:
1. I've read a lot about getting the IRQ of the soundcard to as high a
priority as possible.  How important is this?  Is it possible with
setpci if I reserve an IRQ in the BIOS, or only by swapping cards?
2. Should I enable or disable APIC?  I've heard muddy answers, but
what I know is that it always leaves my HDSP9652 at IRQ's from 16-20. 
Here's the output of cat /proc/interrupts.
# cat /proc/interrupts
           CPU0
  0:    1556590          XT-PIC  timer  0/56590
  1:       3324          XT-PIC  i8042  0/3324
  2:          0          XT-PIC  cascade  0/0
  3:       3948          XT-PIC  NVidia CK804  0/3948
  4:          0          XT-PIC  hdsp  0/0
  5:      97413          XT-PIC  ohci_hcd, nvidia  0/97413
  7:          0          XT-PIC  parport0  0/0
  8:          1          XT-PIC  rtc  0/1
  9:          0          XT-PIC  acpi  0/0
 10:          0          XT-PIC  libata, ehci_hcd  0/0
 11:      37516          XT-PIC  libata, eth0  0/37516
 12:     146561          XT-PIC  i8042  0/46561
 14:      15416          XT-PIC  ide0  0/15416
 15:      12105          XT-PIC  ide1  0/12105
NMI:          0
LOC:    1556573
ERR:          0
MIS:          0

3. Would you recommend I set my first soundcard to be the CK804 or
should I leave the RME as the first soundcard?
4. Should I just disable the CK804 and throw in an emu10k1?  Becuase I
could do that, too.

Any help would be appreciated, and if I left something out, let me
know.  Thanks!
-Nathan