Soundcard question for ya.

[Donziboy2]

Ok my last sound card was the original Audigy Ex Platinum.
Now iv'e gone a few years with just onboard sound but im thinking of putting a card in. I wont touch Creative with somebody else's pole so i was looking at this.

HT | OMEGA STRIKER 7.1
or
ASUS Xonar DX 7.1

Im running vista 64 , on an EVGA 750i FTW and a Wolfdale e8500 oc'd to 3.8 ghz. With 2 EVGA 8800 Gts (g92) in SLI.
Both cards look to be nice. One is pci and the other is pci-e . Neither placement should impact my video cards.
Im wondering if it will add stability and maybe a few fps, more stability is never a bad thing. There are very few reviews on sound cards and none really put them all up side by side.

[juneau]

Xonar

/end thread.

I doubt it'll give you anymore stability and with modern day motherboards and CPU's i doubt you'll notice any performance increases either. You will however notice an improvement in sound quality and staging depending on your speakers/headphones.

If you want to read some strong customer reviews click here.

Asus Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-Express Sound Card (90-YAA060-1UAN00Z) [90-YAA060-1UAN00Z] Sound Cards

[DougBob]

I wont touch Creative with somebody else's pole so i was looking at this.

Alright Donzi, I'm not trying to hijack your thread, BUT you can't leave it there. WTH is the deal with Creative?

[Donziboy2]

Bloatware and vista issues to name a few. Even if they payed me I wouldnt want there card.

[Apache Warrior]

Auzentech, Inc. Sound Cards. Audio You Can Believe In. World First soundcards for Music, HTPC, and Gaming.

Here is a 3rd party X-Fi that is getting great reviews. Maximum PC gives it the edge over Xonar in gaming and general PC use.
The Xonar gets the edge in Home Theater use. The Xonar supports only EAX 2.0. The Prelude supports EAX 5.0.

Asus Xonar D2 | Maximum PC

Apache

[Donziboy2]

Yep and they both cost over $180 which is far beyond what im gone to spend if you noticed what I listed was under $100.

And if i was i would probably try this Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1 For around $140

But I just cant see spending that much on a sound card.

[Ghost_Rain]

The Asus Xonar DX 7.1 Brilliant card take it from someone that owns 1

[Duke{CLR}]

I had written off sound cards after issues with my creative and it's lousy driver support.

[Dead...Again]

Creative did drop the ball with Vista. I think all of the bugs have been worked out now, though. My X-Fi works great.